A military dictionary

by William Duane

March of the line, in a collective sense of the word, is a military movement, executed upon established principles, governed by local circumstances, and influenced by the nature of the service for which it is performed. After a general has obtained an accurate knowlege of the country through which his army is to move, his next care must be the arrangement of all its different component parts, with which he will form his column of route.

March of the Column of Route. The order in which a battalion should at all times move; that the columns of an army should perform their marches; that an enemy should be approached; and that safety can be ensured to the troops in their transitions from one point to another is in columns of divisions, and never on a less front than 6 files where the formation is 3 deep, or 4 files where it is 2 deep, nor does any advantage arise from such column, if it is an open column, exceeding 16 or 24 files in front, where a considerable space is to be gone over.

At no time whatever ought a column of manœuvre, or of route, to occupy a greater extent of ground in marching than what is equal to its front when in order of battle; no situation can require it as an advantage. Therefore, the marching of great bodies in file, where improper extension is unavoidable, must be looked upon as an unmilitary practice, and ought only to be had recourse to when unavoidably necessary. Where woods, inclosures, and bad or narrow routes absolutely require a march in file, there is no remedy for the delay in forming, and man may be obliged to come up after man; and if circumstances admit, and there are openings for their passage, the divisions or platoons may be faced to the left and wheeled to the right, and severally marched to the same front; but these circumstances, which should be regarded as exceptions from the primary and desired order of march on a greater front, should tend the more to enforce the great principle of preventing improper distances, and of getting out of so weak a situation as soon as the nature of the ground will allow of the front of the march being increased.

In common route marching, the battalion or more considerable column may be carried on at a natural pace of about 75 steps in a minute, or near two miles and an half in an hour: the attention of the soldier is allowed to be relaxed, he moves without the restraint of cadence of step, or carried arms; rear ranks are opened to one or two paces; files are loosened but never confounded; in no situation is the ordered distance between divisions ever to be increased, and the proper flank officers and under officers remain answerable for them.

If the column is halted, the whole must be put in march at the same time. The movement of the head division must be steady and equal; the descending of heights must not be hurried, that the part of the column ascending may properly keep up. Alterations occasioned by the windings of the route are executed without losing distance. Soldiers are not to break to avoid mud or small spots of water. The guides and pivots must trace out such a path for themselves as will best avoid small obstructions, and the men of the division will open from, and not press upon their pivots. When platoon officers are permitted to be mounted, each will remain on the flank of his division watching over its exactness, and that the proper distance of march is kept by the flank pivot and guide under the officer appointed to preserve it.

Where the arrival of a column at a given point is to be perfectly punctual, in that case the distance being known, the head, must move at an equal cadenced step, and the rear must conform; and a guide, expressly appointed, will, at the head of the column, take such step as the nature of the route shall permit the column to comply with.

Nothing so much fatigues troops in a considerable column, and is more to be avoided than an inequality of march. One great reason is, that the rear of the column frequently and unnecessarily deviates from the line which its head traces out; and in endeavouring to regain that line, and their first distances, the divisions must of course run or stop, and again take up their march. It is unnecessary to attempt the same scrupulous observances in common route marching, as when going to enter into the alignement; but even a general attention to this circumstance will in that case prevent unnecessary winding in the march, which tends to prolong it, and to harass the soldier.

When the probable required formation of the line will be to a flank, then the column of march is an open one, and except the cannon, no impediment or circumstance whatever must be allowed betwixt the divisions or in the intervals of battalions. When cannon can possibly move on the flank of the battalion, they ought, and mounted officers or bat horses must not be permitted between the divisions. If the probable formation may be to the front, then distances are more closed up, and bat horses, &c. may be allowed between the brigades of a column, but not between the battalions of a brigade.

It is always time well employed to halt the head of a considerable column, and enlarge an opening, or repair a bad step in the road, rather than to diminish the front, or lengthen out the line of march. No individual is to presume to march on a less front than what the leader of the column directs, and all doublings must therefore come from the head only. The preservation of the original front of march, on all occasions, is a point of the highest consequence, and it is a most meritorious service in any officer to prevent all unnecessary doublings, or to correct them as soon as made; no advantage can arrive from them, and therefore each commanding officer, when he arrives near the cause, should be assured that it is necessary before he permits his battalion so to double: on all occasions he should continue his march on the greatest front, that, without crowding, the road or openings will allow, although the regiment or divisions before him may be marching on a narrower front.

All openings made for the march of a column should be sufficient for the greatest front on which it is to march, they should be all of the same width, otherwise each smaller one becomes a defile.