486....Mounted men are to be employed to carry dispatches only in special and urgent cases. 487....The precise time when the dispatch is sent off, and the rate at which it is to be conveyed, are to be written clearly on the covers of all letters transmitted by a mounted orderly, and the necessary instructions to him, and the rate of travel going and returning, are to be distinctly explained to him. DEPÔTS. 488....The grand depôts of an army are established where the military operations would not expose them to be broken up. Smaller depôts are organized for the divisions and the several arms. They are commanded by officers temporarily disabled for field service, or by other officers when necessary, and comprise, as much as possible, the hospitals and depôts for convalescents. When conveniently placed, they serve as points for the halting and assembling of detachments. They receive the disabled from the corps on the march; and the officers in command of the depôts send with the detachments to the army those at the depôts who have become fit for service. CAMPS. 489....Camp is the place where troops are established in tents, in huts, or in bivouac. Cantonments are the inhabited places which troops occupy for shelter when not put in barracks. The campingparty is a detachment detailed to prepare a camp. 490....Reconnoissances should precede the establishment of the camp. For a camp of troops on the march, it is only necessary to look to the health and comfort of the troops, the facility of the communications, the convenience of wood and water, and the resources in provisions and forage. The ground for an intrenched camp, or a camp to cover a country, or one designed to deceive the enemy as to the strength of the army, must be selected, and the camp arranged for the object in view. 491....The camping-party of a regiment consists of the regimental Quartermaster and Quartermaster-Sergeant, and a Corporal and two men per company. The General decides whether the regiments camp separately or together, and whether the police guard shall accompany the camping-party, or a larger escort shall be sent. 492.... Neither baggage nor led horses are permitted to move with the camping-party. 493....When the General can send in advance to prepare the camp, he gives his instructions to the chief of the Quartermaster's Department, who calls on the regiments for their camping-parties, and is accompanied, if necessary, by an Engineer to propose the defenses and communications. 494....The watering-places are examined, and signals placed at those that are dangerous. Any work required to make them of easier access is done by the police guard or Quartermaster's men. Sentinels, to be relieved by the guards of the regiment when they come up, are placed by the camping-party over the water if it is scarce, and over the houses and stores of provisions and forage in the vicinity. 495....If the camping-party does not precede the regiment, the Quartermaster attends to these things as soon as the regiment reaches the camp. 496....On reaching the ground, the infantry form on the color front; the cavalry in rear of its camp. 497....The Generals establish the troops in camp as rapidly as possible, particularly after long, fatiguing marches. 498....The number of men to be furnished for guards, pickets, and orderlies; the fatigue parties to be sent for supplies; the work to be done, and the strength of the working parties; the time and place for issues; the hour of marching, &c., are then announced by the Brigadier-Generals to the Colonels, and by them to the field officers-the Adjutant and Captains formed in front of the regiment, the First Sergeants taking post behind their Captains. The Adjutant then makes the details, and the First Sergeants warn the men. The regimental officer of the day forms the picket, and sends the guards to their posts. The colors are then planted at the centre of the color line, and the arms are stacked on the line; the fatigue parties to procure supplies, and the working parties, form in rear of the arms; the men not on detail pitch the tents. 499....If the camp is near the enemy, the picket remains under arms until the return of the fatigue parties, and, if necessary, is reenforced by details from each company. 500....In the cavalry, each troop moves a little in rear of the point at which its horses are to be secured, and forms in one rank; the men then dismount; a detail is made to hold the horses; the rest stack their arms and fix the picket rope; after the horses are attended to, the tents are pitched, and each horseman places his carbine at the side from the weather, and hangs his sabre and bridle on it. 501.... The standard is then carried to the tent of the Colonel. 502....The terms front, flank, right, left, file, and rank, have the same meaning when applied to camps as to the order of battle. 503....The front of the camp is usually equal to the front of the troops. The tents are arranged in ranks and files. The number of ranks varies with the strength of the companies and the size of the tents. 504....No officer will be allowed to occupy a house, although vacant and on the ground of his camp, except by permission of the commander of the brigade, who shall report it to the commander of the division. 505....The staff officer charged with establishing the camp will designate the place for the shambles. The offal will be buried. CAMP OF INFANTRY. 506....Each company has its tents in two files, facing on a street perpendicular to the color line. The width of the street depends on the front of the camp, but should not be less than 5 paces. The interval between the ranks of tents is 2 paces; between the files of tents of adjacent companies, 2 paces; between regiments, 22 paces. 507....The color line is 10 paces in front of the front rank of tents. The kitchens are 20 paces behind the rear rank of company tents; the non-commissioned staff and sutler, 20 paces in rear of the kitchens; the company officers, 20 paces farther in rear; and the field and staff, 20 paces in rear of the company officers. 508....The company officers are in rear of their respective companies; the Captains on the right. 509....The Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel are near the centre of the line of field and staff; the Adjutant, a Major and Surgeon, on the right; the Quartermaster, a Major and Assistant Surgeon, on the left. 510....The police guard is at the centre of the line of the noncommissioned staff, the tents facing to the front, the stacks of arms on the left. 511.... The advanced post of the police guard is about 200 paces in front of the color line, and opposite the centre of the regiment, or on the best ground; the prisoners' tent about 4 paces in rear. In a regiment of the second line, the advanced post of the police guard is 200 paces in rear of the line of its field and staff. 512.... The horses of the staff officers and of the baggage train are 25 paces in rear of the tents of the field and staff; the wagons are parked on the same line, and the men of the train camped near them. 513....The sinks of the men are 150 paces in front of the color `line-those of the officers 100 paces in rear of the train. Both are concealed by bushes. When convenient, the sinks of the men may be placed in rear or on a flank. A portion of the earth dug out for sinks to be thrown back occasionally. |