A military dictionary

by William Duane

To March according to time and measure, (marcher en cadence, Fr.) Marshal Saxe, in page 23, art. 6. of the folio edition of his Reveries or Memoires sur l’Art de la Guerre, is of opinion, that marching to time and measure constitutes one of the essential requisites in war; he calls it indeed the principal one to be observed by troops who are going into action. By marching according to time and measure, we understand, that regular movement of a large body of men whose steps are cadenced and uniformly the same, and which are kept so by the artificial aid of music.

The marshal observes, that although military men will enter into much desultory conversation respecting the tactic, (la tactique) of the ancients, they seldom or ever understand the real definition of the word. It is, in fact, so much corrupted in modern times, that what really conveyed no more than a regular principle in marching, has since been made to signify the exercise and evolutions of troops. All the world know how to beat a march, without comprehending the real object, and half the world imagine, that the noise of a drum or fife is nothing more than military parade.

It is ridiculous to suppose, that martial sounds and military music, were first invented for the sole purpose of confounding each other on the day of battle. Let us indulge a better opinion of the good understanding of the ancients, particularly of the Romans, and endeavor to prove, that regularity in marching, (which depends wholly upon the cadenced step,) is the ground-work of military operations, and that nothing is more simple because it corresponds with nature. This was, in fact, the military step which the Romans brought to so great a perfection, and which has since been so closely followed by the Prussians. It was upon this principle, that marches were first devised, and that the drum was adopted to second the purposes. This is literally nothing more than a certain beat or tact, as the marshal expresses it, and which is evidently derived from the Roman word tactum, touch, and by means of which men may be taught to move in quick or slow time. As long as this principle can be followed up, the rear will never lag behind, soldiers will preserve the same step and march with the same foot; the wheelings will be made uniformly together, without confusion or delay; and the men will be less fatigued than if they were suffered to march or wheel at random. Every person of the least reflection or observation, will be convinced of the truth of this last remark. Let one man, for instance, be ordered to dance two hours, without the assistance of any sort of musical instrument, and let another, with the same bodily powers and activity, go through the same operation, during double the time accompanied by music, and let it then be determined which of the two has been most fatigued. It will evidently appear that the former has: for it is an unquestionable fact, that sounds of concord and harmony have a wonderful secret influence over the human frame, and that they render the exercises and functions of the body extremely easy. It is well known, that when the camel drivers wish to make their camels get on, they never flog or strike them with sticks, but sing, whistle, or repeat some humorous song.

Should it be asked what sort of music is best adapted to the human organs in military movements? It may safely be replied all those simple tunes which can be played by the fife and drum; I shall perhaps be told, (observes the marshal) that many men have no ear for music; this I deny, as far as the observation regards marching, which is a movement so easy to the human frame, that it comes, as it were, naturally to man. I have often remarked, that when the long roll has beat, the men in repairing to their several parades, have insensibly preserved the regular step, without knowing that they did so: nature, in fact, and instinct go together. If marching according to time and measure be considered in a mere superficial manner, the cadence step will undoubtedly appear of little importance; but if it be considered as an essential requisite to quicken or slacken the movement of troops who are going into action, it must be found an important object. No evolution, in fact, can be well done at close order without its assistance. The military step of the Romans, was the cadence or measured movement, and they were thereby enabled to march with ease upwards of 24 miles in five hours. This, however, would be looked upon as great exertion, if not fatigue, among some modern troops, although it constituted a principal part of the Roman exercise. Hence some opinion may be formed of the attention which they paid to that species of training, by which men were habituated to long marches; and this they accomplished by means of the tact or cadenced movement.

In order to prove the validity of our observations, let us, for a moment, imagine a thing which is scarcely possible to be accomplished by troops that do not march according to time and measure. Let us suppose, that two battalions, advancing to attack one another, should march up without floating, overlapping, or breaking in the least; under these circumstances, which would obtain the superiority? the one that should imprudently have commenced firing, or that which should have reserved its fire? Every intelligent and able officer will instantly determine in favor of the latter; and his decision would unquestionably be correct; for the former, besides being disheartened by seeing men advance against them with a reserved fire, would necessarily be retarded in their march in order to prime and load; and it must be evident to every man, that their antagonists would completely overthrow them by advancing with a rapid and cadenced step.

This was the plain and effectual method of the Romans. It may, perhaps, be said, that their ignorance of the use of gunpowder alters the case with respect to our manner of fighting. Let it, however, be recollected, that they fought with missile weapons, which did full as much mischief as our fire arms can produce. Gunpowder, in fact, is not so destructive as most people are apt to imagine. Few men are killed in regular fought actions, by the two armies engaging with musquetry only. Marshal Saxe does not scruple to assert, that it is impossible for a battalion of armed men to charge its enemy with vigor and effect, unless it preserve the cadenced step. For the ranks must unavoidably open during the march in line; and when the troops get within 50 or 60 paces of their opponents, the commanding officers see chasms, cry out serre, or close into the centre: and in the hurry of so doing, one rank overlaps another, and the centre itself becomes insensibly broken, standing eight or ten deep, while the wings are at two, three, or four. To remedy this defect, the whole line is halted, and if the enemy be wise enough to advance in regular order, during this operation, it is ten to one that he turns the flank of his opponent, and completely routs him. With regard to the musquetry firing, it may be laid down as a certain fact, that the mischief it does in pitched battles is more imaginary than real. It has been acknowleged by the most experienced officers, it is, indeed, positively asserted by marshal Saxe, (page 29 of the folio edition) that the closest vollies have produced little or no effect against a line of determined steady troops. I have seen, observes the marshal, a whole volley of cool directed musquetry, occasion the loss of no more than four men; while the troops against which it has been poured, have calmly marched up, reserved their fire till they got in contact with the enemy, and then amply revenged the deaths of their comrades by discharging their pieces and following up with the bayonet.

It is at this stage of the battle, that a real carnage commences, and its execution rests wholly with the victorious party; and we need scarcely add, that its success must be attributed to that composed, steady movement, or cadenced step, which enabled the troops to act together, when they came to close action. The military reader will be gratified by a perusal of two or three interesting anecdotes in pages 29, 30, 31, of the Reveries, fol. edit.

March in prolongation of the line.—This operation is gone through when a battalion standing in open column, with the pivot flanks of its divisions on the line, and advanced points being ascertained, moves forward at the word march, which is given by the commanding officer. Whenever the battalion wheels into open column, in order to prolong the line on which it was formed, and that no distant point in that prolongation is previously given, the serjeant guide of the leading company will advance 15 or 20 paces, and place himself in the line of the pivot flanks, and the leading officer will thereby (taking a line over his head) be enabled to ascertain the direction in which he is to move.

March by the inversion of files, or countermarch. A compound word signifying retrocession, backward movement, change of measures or conduct, any alteration, in fact, of an original conception or undertaking. Thus the countermarch of ideas in the mind is the precursor of the different changes made by the body. In a military sense it is variously applicable; and as every countermarch or backward movement necessarily implies a previous march, or forward movement, we shall extract under this article the most material instructions that have been published in good authors relative to the countermarch of the component parts of a battalion, &c. observing generally that the word countermarch may be applied to the most extensive scale of military operations. Thus a whole army which has advanced into an enemy’s country, is said to countermarch when it not only ceases to make progress in a forward direction, but changes its whole plan of manœuvre, and treads back the ground over which it had advanced. To countermarch in a more desultory manner, means to quit different positions by the countermarching of detached bodies, by changing their relative fronts, without abandoning the field, or scene of general operation. In order to execute such evolutions and inversions with accuracy, every battalion should be well instructed in the prescribed methods of changing front by the inversion of its files to right or left, in front or in rear of a leading division, from and on its centre.

The Countermarch by files.—According to the last printed regulations, this movement is of two kinds. Either successive (the body being halted) by each file successively turning on its own ground, the moment it is disengaged by the departure of its preceding file: or progressive (the body being in motion) by each file turning when it arrives at the point from which the leading or head file first wheeled. In the first case the body must shift its ground to a flank a space at least equal to its front: in the second it will perform this operation of the countermarch on its original ground, exchanging flanks and fronts; so that what before stood as the leading or head division will become the rear of the column; or, if in line, what was the right flank fronting one way, will still remain the right flank fronting another. In both cases the pivots are in a small degree moveable, but they must be so as little as possible, since a solid and compact inversion of the files is as requisite to a true and close formation in line or column, as the lock-step is indispensible in every other movement by files.