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THE front of a column should not be frequently diminished and increased on a long march, as it unavoidably increases the fatigue of the column, particularly the rear of it: when, therefore, the front is diminished, it should not be increased until there is a probability that it will not be necessary to diminish it again for some time.
The detachments should be told off into two parties, one for the piece, the other for the caisson, in order to give their assistance in holding on, or whenever it may be required on the march, etc.
The officers commanding sections, in order to preserve them in place, will, without waiting for express instructions, give such orders as may be necessary for holding on in descents, for assisting horses out of difficulties, for the passage of obstacles, etc.
Artificers should always be carried on a march, as their duties commence when that of the other men may be said to end, and, if fatigued with marching, they cannot be expected to work with alacrity or efficiency, however willing.
An intelligent non-commissioned officer should be sent to reconnoitre the road or ground that artillery is to pass over, and, when necessary, to report the state of it. When the march is connected with military operations, an officer should be employed for this duty.
The distance of two yards between the carriages should always be maintained on the best roads, to prevent fatigue and unnecessary stoppage to the horses. In bad or difficult roads, it may be necessary to increase the distance to four yards or more, according to the nature of the ground. Even infantry, under such circumstances, open out and lose distance; with artillery it is unavoidable, and the horses suffer much from being alternately checked and urged on.
The strictest attention, however, should be constantly paid to the preservation of distances; not opening out more than is absolutely necessary. The loss of distances with small bodies of artillery may be made up; but with large bodies, or when acting with infantry, this cannot be done without serious disadvantage, particularly to the infantry; therefore, this point cannot be too strongly insisted upon, as being one of essential consequence.
Officers commanding sections should frequently halt to see that their carriages are well up, and marching in proper order.
When an accident happens to a carriage, it should, if possible, be drawn out of the column, so as not to interrupt the march of the other carriages or troops. The carriages in its rear must pass it by the most convenient flank, and close to proper distance. The disabled carriage resumes its position as soon as the damage is repaired; when the road is narrow, it must fall into the first interval it finds, and use every opportunity afforded by a wider space to regain its proper place.
A caisson belonging to a disabled piece must remain with it; a piece, however, should not remain with its disabled caisson, but merely leave a sufficient number of men to repair it.
When it is necessary to move a carriage along a slope, where a small jerk may overturn it, a drag rope should be fastened to the lowest side of the carriage, passed over the top of it, and held by two or three men, marching on the upper side of the slope; a small effort by these means will prevent a carriage from overturning on a very steep slope.
Whenever the ruts are very deep, the carriages must quarter the road; when however the road is narrow and sunk between banks, the horses should be left to themselves and not hurried. In such circumstances a skilful driver will save his horses much, particularly the wheel horses.
In passing over deep furrows, or small ditches or drains, the carriages should cross them obliquely; when they are crossed perpendicularly, the horses not only encounter greater difficulty, but they, as well as the harness, suffer much from the jerks. The former line of march should be resumed as soon as they are passed.
When the roads are good or even tolerable, the artillery is always obliged to wait for infantry, which is attended with much additional fatigue to the horses, from having the harness so much longer upon them. When, therefore, there is no danger, the artillery should be allowed to regulate its own rate of marching.
On ordinary marches the detachments may be in front, rear, right, or left of their respective pieces; or they may all be in front or rear of the column of carriages, as the circumstances may require. But when the detachments are thus separated from their carriages, one man should march with each.
The preservation of horses is an important duty of an artillery officer.
The greatest care should be given to the fitting of the saddles and collars. Sore backs and galled shoulders arise chiefly from neglect on the march. By prompt attention on the part of the officers, many horses may be preserved for service which would otherwise be disabled for months. The drivers must never be suffered to lounge or sit uneven on their saddles. A folded blanket under the saddle, is the best preventive of sore backs, as it adapts the shape of the saddle to any loss of flesh in the horse.
Every driver should have attached to his harness a pair of pads of soft leather, about six inches by four, stuffed with hair; basil leather is the best for this purpose.
The moment any tenderness is perceived in a horse's shoulders, the pressure must be removed by placing the pads under the collar above and below the tender part.
When a battery arrives in camp, quarters, or a cantonment, each non-commissioned officer will immediately examine every part of the carriage under his charge, especially the wheels, to the greasing of which he must attend: he will report to the officer of his section, who reports to the commander of the battery. All damages must be repaired without delay.
The best grease for wheels is coarse sweet oil and tallow, (in equal parts melted together;) next to that, old soft lard. When these cannot be procured, slush may be used. Black-lead should be mixed with the grease.
The drivers must immediately report to the non-commissioned officers of their carriages any loss or breakage of their harness, and also any gall or other hurt which may have happened to their horses; any neglect on this point must be punished. In camp, greasy heels are the most common disability with which horses are affected; as these proceed from cold, occasioning humors to settle, the best preventive is hand rubbing and exercise to keep up a circulation.
Unless for some particular purpose, the elevating screws should never be raised higher than half their length: on a march they must be covered with a piece of canvas, or old flannel cartridge bag, to prevent their being clogged with dirt.
The pintle hooks and lunettes should be greased previous to marching.
If a battery is parked in hot weather, the naves of the wheels must be protected as much as possible from the effect of the sun, by sods, tarpaulings, or other covering.
If the ascent be long and steep, the road in a bad state, or, if from any other cause, the exertion of the horses is likely to be great, a part of the carriages should halt, the leaders of them be hitched on to those in front, and, when they arrive at the top, be sent back with as many more leaders as may be necessary.
Whatever may be the difficulties of the road, not more than ten horses can be hitched with effect to the same carriage; beyond this number, and even with it, it is difficult to make the horses pull together.
It may be sometimes necessary to make the detachments assist with bricoles or drag ropes.
After going up a short steep hill the horses should be halted; but when that cannot be done, they should be made to move slowly to allow them to recover their wind.
In going up a hill, carriages may be halted to rest the horses by bringing them across it, and locking the limbers or chocking the wheels. For this purpose it may be advisable to divide the carriages into portions of three or four each, starting them from the bottom in succession, with an interval of twenty or thirty yards, or more, between each portion.
The drivers should never dismount in going down hill. The wheel driver holds his near horse well in hand, and his off horse very short; the other drivers barely stretch their traces.
In descending steep hills the cannoneers must hold on. For this purpose, previous to marching off, the end of a drag rope is passed twice round the tulip of the piece, and the running part passed into the hook and pulled tight; the rope is then wound round the muzzle, or formed into a small coil and hung on it.
At the caisson the drag rope is fastened to one of the hind irons, or to the hind axletree. With a light battery, holding on will generally be sufficient; but, if necessary, the wheels must also be locked.
In steep and difficult descents the wheel horses only are left in the carriage, the others being taken out and led in rear; the cannoneers hold on with drag ropes.
When it is necessary to lock, the middle driver, or with four horses the leading one, dismounts for that purpose. Should there be a ditch, or other dangerous part on the side of the road, the wheel towards that side is locked in preference to the other.
Each carriage should preserve a distance of ten or twelve yards from its file leader, to prevent its being halted. An officer or non-commissioned officer should be posted where the ground presents the greatest difficulty, to instruct the drivers how to conduct their teams. The horses must be made to draw freely and quicken the gait. If the ground is very miry it may be necessary to assist with drag ropes, or even to use them alone, crossing the teams separately.
The prolonge must be fixed and the handspike taken out. If the ditch be a difficult one, the horses are halted at the edge of it, and the piece is run by hand close to the limber, which then proceeds gently until the piece is at the bottom of the ditch, when it moves quickly until the piece is out. Should the ditch be narrow it may be necessary to cut down the edges and hold on with drag ropes. If in passing over, the trail sinks into the ground, it must be disengaged by a drag rope fixed to it, or by the handspike.
When the water is deep and the current strong, great attention must be paid in fording. The person conducting a column over a direct ford, should keep his eyes steadily fixed on some object on the opposite bank, which marks the place of going out. He must not look at the stream, which would deceive him by appearing to carry him down.
All those in rear should keep their eyes on those in front.
In order to resist the power of the stream, it is necessary to wade rather against it.
When the bottom of the ford, or the bank on the opposite side is bad, the leaders of the rear carriages should be hitched to those in front, and an officer stationed at the entrance, and another at the place of going out. The former causes the distances to be observed, and directs the drivers as to the manner of crossing the ford, and the latter directs them in their leaving it.
The management of the horses and the regulation of their gaits, are the same as prescribed for crossing swampy ground. Above all things, the horses must not be allowed to drink, halt, or trot either in passing the ford or in leaving it. If, however, the stream to be forded is small, and neither deep nor rapid, and there are no troops immediately in rear, this opportunity of watering the horses, or, at least, of giving them a mouthful of water may be embraced.
The passage should be effected with as large a front as possible. After reaching the opposite bank, the leading carriages should move on to such distance from the ford as not to impede those in rear.
If the ford is not well known, it must be examined, and the dangerous places well marked, before the carriages attempt to cross.
Artillery carriages can pass a ford three feet and one-third deep; and this depth may be attempted when the ammunition boxes are perfectly water tight, or means have been taken to raise them sufficiently high; although much depends upon the bottom and the strength of the current.
When the ammunition boxes are not water tight, and are at their usual height of two feet ten inches above the ground, the depth attempted should not exceed two feet four inches.
At the entrance of the bridge all but the wheel drivers dismount; the dismounted drivers march at their horses' heads, holding the reins of the near horse with the right hand near the bit. A distance of twenty yards is kept between the carriages. The gait must be free and decided, and the drivers should conduct the carriages as near the middle of the flooring as possible; if the flooring is wet, they must attend particularly to keeping the horses from slipping. Battens should, in this case, be nailed across the bridge. It may sometimes be necessary to pass the carriages and horses separately.
There should be no halt on the bridge. Whenever it is perceived to rock, the passage of the troops must be stopped. If the bridge cracks under a carriage, it should increase its gait and pass as quickly as possible.
In passing over a flying bridge the drivers hold the horses, facing towards them; it may occasionally be advisable to take the horses out; and in boisterous weather, or at night, the wheels should be locked.
Ice 2 inches thick will bear infantry.
4 " " cavalry or light guns.
6 " " heavy field guns.
8 " " 24-pounder gun on sledges; weight not over 1000 pounds to the square foot.
REVERSING A BATTERY IN A NARROW ROAD.
All the carriages should be drawn close to one side of the road, and the pieces and caissons unlimbered and reversed. The limbers are then brought in front of their carriages, which are then to be limbered up. If there is not room to reverse the limbers, the horses must be taken out.
Should this road be so narrow that the limbers cannot pass their carriages, the trails of the pieces and stocks of the caissons must be brought into a direction perpendicular to the road; if it has a bank on either side, the wheels must run close to the bank, and the trails and stocks made to rest upon it. On a dyke, or road with a ditch on each side, the carriages must be run as close to the edge as possible, and the trails and stocks held up while the limbers pass. Great care must be taken not to run the carriages too far, and the wheels must be scotched or locked at the edge of the dyke or ditch.
REMARKS. - When a battery is in stationary quarters, there must be a weekly inspection of every part of it, and, when circumstances permit, a parade in marching order; at which parade every part of the harness, carriages, and appointments of the cannoneers is expected to be in the best order. Particular attention should be given to the state of the ammunition, which must be frequently aired.
The battery should frequently take out a day's forage, secured and arranged as for service; the detachments being in marching order, and their blankets, etc. properly fixed.
It should be made to go over all sorts of ground, up and down steep slopes and across ditches. The intrenching tools should be occasionally taken off, and used in filling up holes and making ramps, to enable the carriages to pass over difficult ground.
INSTRUCTION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HARNESS.
The preservation of harness requires two kinds of attention: one, that of neatness, which must be continual; the other, strictly that of preservation, which consists in oiling the leather parts two or three times a year.
To keep the harness neat, the men should wipe and carefully clean it whenever it has been used.
Collars, which it is important to keep soft and supple, must be carefully attended to.
Airing and beating with a rope or small mallet, the stuffing of the collars and saddles, are important duties, which must not be omitted on continued marches.
In giving the second kind of attention to harness, that of preservation, the oiling should be done oftener in summer than in winter.
The best oil for this use is neat's-foot oil, the unctuous property of which is particularly suitable for preserving the suppleness of the leather. This oil contains no siccative part, and may be used unpurified. As a maximum, four pints and a half will answer, each time, for oiling the harness of a team of six horses.
Before using the oil, every part of the leather must be perfectly cleaned and washed, without, however, allowing the water to penetrate deeply into the leather. While still damp, blacken those places which have become red, with hatter's dye, ink-ball, or acetate of iron; and when the leather begins to dry, oil it, spreading the oil on with a sponge, or thick and soft brush. When neat's-foot oil cannot be obtained, fish oil, if pure, may be used. This is very good for preserving black leathers; but it must be carefully ascertained not to contain any siccative matter, as that would render it injurious.
Other oils may be usefully employed, as whale oil, when they can be obtained pure; this is not easily done, and it is difficult to detect the fraud. Vegetable oils are very injurious. On campaigns, good oils can rarely be procured; under these circumstances a mixture of three-quarters of melted lard and one quarter of whale oil may be used: it should be spread over the leather with a piece of woollen cloth, and rubbed in well.
TRANSPORT OF BATTERIES BY SEA.
Transports for horses should be prepared specially for the purpose. The stalls should be, preferably, between decks; never, if it can be avoided, in the hold; and there should be a sufficient number of ports for light and ventilation. Stalls should be about 61 feet long, 28 inches wide; tail boards, fastened to the rear posts, and padded as low as the hough; breast boards and side boards fitted in grooves about 4 feet from the floor, the first padded on the inner side and upper edge; the latter on both sides: the floors of the stalls set on blocks, that the water may pass under them; four slats across each floor to give the horses foot hold. Troughs should be made to hang with hooks so as easily to be disengaged. Before the embarkation, the side boards are removed, and replaced as each horse is put in his stall. Should horses be stalled on the spar deck, on no account should anything be stowed upon the sheds.
If the embarkation can be made from a wharf, the horses are slung; or, if the height of the vessel's side will permit, they are led by ramps to the deck, and then lowered. If the transport cannot lay at a wharf, the horses are brought alongside in lighters and transferred by slings; the ascent and descent of the horse are regulated by two guys, attached to the halter; one to be held on the lighter; the other on the transport. In a sea way the horses must be run up rapidly to avoid injury. The sling is made of stout canvas, two feet in width and about four in length, doubled on the edges one inch, and hemmed down. The ends are separated by pieces of wood of sufficient strength, to the extremities of which the ropes are attached. Breast straps and breeching of rope complete the sling.
The pieces and caissons are brought to the wharf or shore and unlimbered; the ammunition chests, and wheels taken off; each set of implements is strapped together, the washers and linch pins are put in a box; the harness is tied and labelled in sets. The forge and battery wagon are unlimbered, and the front boxes taken off, as well as the spare parts outside of the wagon. All of the chests are to be distinctly marked, so that it can immediately be seen where they belong. Too much care cannot be observed to separate and distinguish the ammunition of the howitzers. The place for dismounting the guns depends upon the manner of embarking, as they can readily be lifted from their carriages. In the transport, the guns are the first to be lowered to their places between decks; then the carriages, limbers, implements, and wheels; the harness is placed (regard being had to its preservation) where it may be of easy access. The box of washers and linch pins is in the especial charge of a non-commissioned officer. The battery wagon and forge, with their limbers and limberchests, are stowed away from the battery, but where they will be accessible.
When the transport is at a wharf no especial directions are necessary. Generally, the debarkation is in the inverse order of the embarkation. At a distance from the shore, lighters are employed upon whose decks the horses are lowered; when these have approached as near the shore as possible, the horses are backed over their sides. The battery may be landed in surf-boats or fiats, according to the nature of the shore.
In the face of the enemy the guns should be mounted, and when the boat has beached, it can be dismounted overboard, and hauled up by drag ropes, and the carriages brought ashore by hand.
IN ACTION, OR PREPARING FOR ACTION.
In those formations in battery in which the pieces or sections are brought up successively on the right for action front, each piece should reserve its fire until the one on its right is unlimbered, and its limber reversed: by not attending to this, the horses become so frightened as not to be brought up to the piece without difficulty.
No positive rule can be laid down with respect to the caissons in presence of an enemy. This must depend upon a variety of circumstances; but, in general, it will be found expedient to place them under charge of an officer, who will conform to the movements of the main body, in such a manner, and at such distance, as to enable him to supply the pieces with ammunition before that which is in the limbers is expended.
In a hilly road, when any obstruction is expected from the enemy, the leading gun should always be twenty-five or thirty yards in advance of the others, in order to leave room for the limber to take its place in rear when it comes into action, without the necessity of running back the rest of the column. This might be avoided in some cases, by running the piece forward, but cases may arise where it would not be advisable to do so.
When pieces are in position on the brow of a hill, they should be retired from it as far as they can be without losing the command, in order that the men may be covered as much as possible.
If it is necessary to place them close to the edge, it should not be done until the firing is about to commence.
Should a battery be ordered to come into action to a flank upon a dyke, or road which is entirely open, with a ditch on each side of it, the carriages must take double distance from each other, and the caissons turn so as to bring their rear towards the enemy. When the piece is unlimbered, the limber moves near the caisson and turns its rear also towards the enemy.
If the road is too narrow to allow the caissons to change their direction, they remain in the same line with the pieces, and in the middle of the interval between two of them; the limbers do not reverse, but move forward to the caisson of the preceding piece.
When pieces are placed on the edge of a considerable slope, they may be run down by hand, the limbers backing so far as to allow the pieces, when the prolonges are stretched, to fire with effect, and command the whole slope. The pieces should, however, be only run down sufficiently to effect this purpose, that the limbers may be as far as possible from the edge, and, consequently, in some degree covered.
Should there be anything at hand, the wheels may be scotched; or, if there is time, a small cut may be made across the hill. By these precautions pieces may be fired down a slope so considerable, that they would otherwise run down themselves.
Should there be any fear of a piece running forward, when unlimbered for action on the brow of a hill, the wheel should be locked with the lock chain, prolonge, or drag rope. It must be applied to the top felloe, or spoke of the wheel, instead of the lower one.
In passing a defile or bridge with the enemy on the other side, and likely to oppose the advance, the pieces alone should move forward, leaving the caissons to follow in rear by themselves. In retiring through a defile or over a bridge in the presence of an enemy, the caissons should be sent to the rear; one or two may be kept nearer than the others for supplying ammunition.
The prolonge should be generally used when artillery is retiring slowly. When the rear of the column retires with the prolonge along a road, cavalry will hesitate to attack it, if its flank be secure. After firing, either on drill or in action, the bore of the piece should be washed and the piece depressed.
REPLACING KILLED OR DISABLED HORSES.
The teams of the pieces must always be kept complete at the expense of those of the caissons. A disabled horse, in the first instance, is replaced by the corresponding one at the caisson, leaving the caission to refit with a spare horse and the harness of the disabled one. After all the spare horses have been used, those of the caissons should be taken in succession, so that they may be gradually and regularly reduced.
ORDER OF ENCAMPMENT FOR A BATTERY OF ARTILLERY.
PLATES 3 and 4 represent the ordinary modes of encampment. Other modes or combinations of these two are adopted when the circumstances require.
FIRST MODE.
In this mode the pieces are parked with diminished intervals; and the tents and horses are placed upon the flanks in lines parallel to each other and perpendicular to the front, so as to give the encampment a front of the same extent as the battery in line. The horses of each half battery are picketed together upon their appropriate flank. The team of the flank piece is placed at the end of the picket rope in front, and that of its caisson next. Then come the teams of the next piece and caisson, and so on in the same order.
The horses of the chiefs of pieces are with their appropriate teams. The teams of the other carriages are afterwards picketed in the same order with reference to their positions in park; and finally the horses of the officers near the end of the rope.
When two or more batteries are encamped together, the interval between the camps is equal to that between two batteries in line; and the captain's tent is between those of his lieutenants. In horse artillery, the front of the encampment would be 97 yards, and the interval between the pieces The horses of each detachment would be picketed after the teams of its caisson.
SECOND MODE.
In this mode the pieces are parked with full intervals, and the horses and tents are placed in parallel lines in rear. When a single line of picket rope is not sufficient for the horses, a second is placed 4 yards in rear of the first, and the horses made to face each other.
The teams of the pieces and caissons are placed in the order of their pieces along the centre of the first line, and those of the other carriages are placed upon their flanks opposite the half batteries to which they belong. If necessary a part of them are placed in rear of the second line. The horses of the officers are at the extremities of the line.
In horse artillery, in which the second line is always necessary, the horses of the detachments are picketed together in their proper order along the centre of that line; and the officers' horses at the extremities of the same. In this mode of encampment the intervals between two adjoining batteries and the position of the captain's tent are subject to the same rules as in the other. Instead of placing the harness in lines as represented in the plates of the preceding modes of encampment, it may be placed upon the carriages and covered by tarpaulings when it is possible to do so. The saddles and bridles of the riding horses may also be covered by placing them in the tents with the men.
The number of lines upon which a battery is parked varies according to the number of spare carriages attached. The battery of manceuvre, which is composed of the pieces and their appropriate caissons occupying the two front lines.
| 1st Plan of Encampment. | 2d Plan of Encampment. |
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