A military dictionary

by William Duane

Small parties of cavalry are sent forward to seize all stragglers or scouts from the enemy, or to take possession of the different passes. In order to avoid being discovered in the object of the march, a different road must be taken from the one which you really propose to march through; and a fit opportunity must afterwards be embraced to get into the real track. Before you march out of a town or fortified place, the utmost care must be observed to prevent your intended route from being conveyed to the enemy. On this account the troops must be first marched out, and the gates immediately shut upon the rear, so that no stranger, &c. may be able to slip out with the men.

During a march of this nature, the troops must be provided with subsistence, stores, and ammunition, to last out until the object is attained. No scout or vedette is sent forward, when an army, or any part of it, advances to take possession of a post or place, to succour a town, to surprize an enemy, in a close or woody country, by favor of the night, or in hazy weather, or on any occasion when orders have been given to oppose and fight every thing it meets.

When an army marches for the direct purpose of forcing a passage, which is guarded by an enemy, a feint must be made in one quarter, whilst the real object is vigorously pursued in another. Sometimes you must appear suddenly disposed to make a retrograde movement, and then again as suddenly resume your progress; sometimes march beyond the spot you wish to occupy, insensibly drawing off the enemy’s attention; and whilst the whole army is thus pushing forward and is closely watched by its opponents, (who hang upon the flanks, and hug its line of march) let detached parties of cavalry and foot, that have lain in ambush, suddenly surprise the passage, and post themselves upon it.

When it is found expedient to advance rapidly into a country for the purpose of surprising an enemy, getting possession of a town or place, or avoiding superior forces, every species of baggage must be left behind (even the common necessaries of the men: if circumstances require,) the cavalry must be sent forward, and the infantry put in carts, carriages, and chaises, or mounted behind the dragoons. If there be spare horses enough in the different troops, or any can be procured from the inhabitants of the country, they must be led in order to relieve those that are double mounted, in the manner which is practised by the Tartars. Marches of this description and urgency, must be kept up night and day; and it is on such occasions that the value of a good staff or etat-major will have all its weight.

It must be observed, as a general maxim, that whenever troops are retiring from a weak position, or to avoid the approach of a superior force, the retreat must be so managed, as not to bear the least resemblance of a flight.

Order of March, which is observed in the Turkish army: this order of march may be considered as the movement of an army that combines its several operations according to some established system of military art. The Turks usually divide this movement into time distinct operations: the first comprehends that by which troops of several denominations, and from different quarters, assemble together at some given spot or rendezvous. Such, for instance, is the march of various corps of militia, both in Asia and Europe, belonging to the Ottoman empire, who must necessarily pass through several quarters, and cross the sea, to form a junction. From the many inconveniences which troops must unavoidably experience on these occasions, and from the irregularity that always grows out of them, this march cannot be strictly called a systematic movement of the army.

The second order of march among the Turks is that which they call alay; when the troops arrive, under the command of their several bachas, at the camp or given spot of rendezvous, for the purpose of being reviewed by the serasquier, the grand vizier or the sultan. This order is observed likewise by the janizaries when they repair to a similar place.

The third order of march must be considered as a real military movement. It is that which is performed by the army that first takes up its ground in a regular manner, and encamps. This is the commencement or beginning of military marches, because from a situation or arrangement of this sort, troops either leave one camp to pitch their tents elsewhere, or return again to their old one after having made an attempt against an enemy’s post, &c.

It is an established law in Turkey, whenever the sultan or grand vizier takes the field, to have their magnificent tents, with seven or five horse-tails displayed above them, regularly pitched on the plains of Constantinople, or in those of Adrianople, accordingly as the court happens to be in either of those imperial residences; which circumstance is announced throughout the empire, that every province, &c. may be made acquainted with the march of the sultan or grand vizier.

As soon as these pavilions or tents have been thus pitched, all the different armed corps that have not yet commenced their march receive their route: and those that are already on the march, advance with all the expedition they can, to the spot of general rendezvous. The troops from Egypt and Asia are particularly alert on these occasions, most especially if the war should be carried into Hungary. All the points from whence embarkations are to take place, appear conspicuously marked along the coast of the Marmora, Propontides, and the Archipelago, in order that the different bodies of troops may take the direct road to Constantinople, Andrianople, Philipolis Sophia, Nissa, and Belgrade, in which places was the general rendezvous of all the troops, when the Ottoman empire flourished. Those, however, were not included which were destined to act in Hungary and Bosnia. They met together, after having passed the bridge of Osek, and formed a junction with the main army. Kara-Mustapha followed these dispositions when he went to besiege Vienna.