much of the ranging and ordering of Armies for a fight we shall in the ensuing Chapter give some Advertisement touching the Dislodgings Retreats and Entrenchments of a Camp-Royal CHAP. IX Observations upon the certainty of Orders for dislodging a Camp Of Retreats when to be made in a Campagne and when to be made in narrows How to be ordered and the Reasons Of an Army forced to lodge in open Fields Of the encamping of an Army Of the forms of Trenches Of Guards due to Entrenchments and where to be placed Forms of Entrenchments when an over-powerful Enemy is very near BEing in this Chapter to speak of the Dislodgings Retreats and Entrenchments of a Camp-Royal we will first begin with the first of them An Army being to dislodge and the General having given notice hereof to the Lord Marshal he the Marshal is to do the like to the Quarter-master-General and the Quarter-master to the Provost-Marshal-General and he to the Quartermasters of the Regiments and they to the Colonels and Captains and those to their subordinate Officers who are to warn the common men Now in the first place the Provost-Marshal-General is to give order to the Provost-Marshals of the Regiments that they give Command to the Pioneers Sucklers and the rest that are not Souldiers to be in a readiness and employ themselves in the filling up of the Trenches that they are to forsake and in the firing of the Quarters and this to be done whilest the whole Camp are putting themselves into their Arms that so nothing may remain entire to give relief or any way to serve the Enemies turn after they are forsaken by themselves This being done and the one half of the Scouts sent before to make discoveries that Corner or Wing of the Army which lay next to the Enemie is first to stir seconded by the Body of the Vaunt-guard Then succeedeth the other Wing and then marcheth the Battel followed by the Artillery and Baggage covered with the Rear-guard closed with Troops of Horse serving withal as Scouts to the Army and to beat up Stragglers This hath been received for a general order of dislodgings But surely this cannot be so precisely and punctually observed but may and must suffer alterations according to the quality and condition of the Country and Ground that the dislodging is to be made in for hereby an Army may sometimes be forced to march in broken ranks at another time have liberty to do it in an entire body neither can the place of the Baggage be so ascertained to be either before or after the Middle-guard but that in some cases it may better be ordered in the Flank of the Army provided that that Flank be the securest part for the place of most security is always the most proper for the placing the impediments And thus much touching dislodgings of an Army As for the ordering of Retreats it is to be done in Battalia if the ground will allow it when the Enemy is in sight and in Front And in the first place the Rear is to march off and whilest they turn faces about from the Enemy the Van and Battel are to stand their ground as ready to receive all charges This done the Battel or Middle-guard is to move and in all points to observe the orders and manner fore-practised by the Rear and in the mean time the Van to make a stand and when the Rear and Middle-guard have again made Alt the Van it self is to retreat and to have the Wings of the Horse at the same time to move and flank with it And lest the Enemy should charge upon the Rear some numbers of Musqueteers with some Cornets of Horse are to man it And thus may a whole Army maintain and continue a Retreat so long as the Enemy shall continue in a pursuit and the ground be a Champian But if an Army in the retreat the Enemy following be to pass through any narrows as upon Dikes thorow Lanes over Bridges in this case assoon as any considerable part of the Foot is entered any of these streights the Horse are to pass in the Rear of that first Division and in the room whence these Horse departed a strong stand of Pikes well flanked with Musqueteers are to make it good against the Enemies Horse and to stand firm and keep their ground And for the bringing off of these Pikes and Shot it will be necessary that some Brest-work or half Moon or both be cast up at the point of the entrance upon the narrow wherein Musqueteers are to be lodged and if cause require some small Field-pieces as Drakes or the like to beat upon the Enemy at his approach and make good the entrance The which small Pieces may be brought off upon the Narrow in the Rear of all upon their proper Carriages with their muzzles towards the Enemy and upon all occasions to be guarded and secured by the Pikes in whose Rear they retreat Now the grounds and motives of this Order are That though during a retreat in a champian and open ground the Horse may be ordered to come up and retreat in the Rear because with a small wheeling about they may advantagiously charge the Enemies Horse in Flank if they should attempt to fall on upon that Rear and the Rear of the Foot also with faces about may the whilest receive the Enemies charge with the Body of their Pikes and gall them with the Shot wherewith they are lined Yet when an Army is to pass in any streight these Horse shall then best secure themselves by wheeling about into that Rear of the Division of Foot which hath first entered upon that streight for hereby a stand or alt may be made good against the charge of the Enemies Horse by the rest of the Pikes which are not entered upon the streight and these Pikes brought off under the favour of the Field-pieces and Musqueteers in the half Moon and behind the Brest-work formerly mentioned and they themselves brought off under the protection of the last Rear of Pikes and the Drakes or Field-pieces in the Rear of them to be secured partly by their own beating upon the Enemy as they retreat and partly by the last Reserve of Pikes and Shot when he chargeth home And the want of the making use of this order in our retreat at the Island of Rey was the visible cause of our miscarrying in it For all the while we marched in open ground though all our Horse retreated in the Rear of our Foot and the Enemy both in Horse and Foot doubled our number yet meddled they not with us but made alt when we did and marched when we did But our Forces being got up to the narrow of the Dike betwixt the Salt Pans and our Van and Middle-guard well entered upon the Dike and the Front of our Rear so close up with them that our Horse could not wheel to put themselves betwixt the Rear of them and the Front of our Rear the Enemie
shot in their Front the better to give fire continually upon the breach until the armed men have recovered the top of it And during the whole time of the assault all the Trenches to be furnished with the very best of the shot who are to beat the Enemie from their Parapet that they may not give any aid to the defendants in Flank And the whole Camp besides to be in Arms both Horse and Foot as well for the more terrour to the Defendants as for the intercepting of the Enemie upon all occasions and interruptions And if it fall out that in the assault of the Breach the Ditch cannot be conveniently passed over by the way of Galleries formerly described the most proper course in stead of them may be after the Breach is thoroughly made and the approaches under the covert of the Trenches brought to the brink of the Ditch to fill up the said Ditch with earth and fagots towards which also the ruines and rubbish of the Wall made by the Batterie will much conduce neither is there any Moat of standing water or Ditch so deep but by this course may be surmounted True it is that sometimes to this purpose long and great Trees are thrown into the Ditch covered over and fastned together with planks and shadowed on the sides with Blindes But this is not held so certain as the former though both of them are in use where the Ditch hath in it a standing water But if the water of the Ditch be a current and any thing swift then the best way is to make a bridge upon a large boat the which being apted and contrived to the breadth of the Ditch over against the Breach is to have certain Draw-bridges belonging to it at each end one so fitted that they may serve for Blindes and coverts also to shadow such men as are to conduct the bridge And being thus contrived and manned it is to be suffered to float down with the stream from the place where it was first framed which must be in a place freest from danger of the Enemie and to be moored and made fast directly upon the breach that so the Draw-bridges formerly mentioned being then let fall the Souldiers which are upon the main bridge may not onely finde a sufficient and well-secured passage for themselves but for the rest of the Army also as many of them as shall be thought needful to assault the Breach and to storm and carry the Town CHAP. XV. Of all kindes and forms of Battels Of double Batteries and the like How the Guns are to be mounted in double Batteries Of the Guns proper for Batteries how imployed BEfore we leave this subject touching Assaults upon Towns and Forts and the approaches due unto them and though somewhat also hath formerly been noted touching Batteries yet for the better understanding of them every way it will be necessary to add somewhat more at large Batteries are Mounts of earth and their Forms are generally thus contrived the sides of the Works toward the Enemy are to be made Cannon-proof that is of twenty five foot in thickness in the Rear and Flank of them they are to have a Wall of fifteen foot thick onely the one side of this Wall is to be thicker then the rest as rising with a Walk and a Parapet on the inside in their Front they are to be lined with two exteriour Angles and their faces to be raised with open Windows or Ports as they are generally called thorow which the great Guns are to play on their insides they are to have a good groundselling or floor made of Turff Fagots or the like of eight foot in heighth and in breadth answerable to the greatness of the whole Work And this floor is to be covered with planks for the better traversing and reverse of the Guns But before the raising or planting of any of these Batteries especial observation is to be taken whether there be any possibility or likelyhood of succour to be brought to the place against which this Battery is raised for if there be then care is to be had that though the Enemy should give on with a main force yet the Ordnance upon the Batterie may either be retreated or defended And this may be probably effected by firming the Battery on all sides and by so blocking up all Avenues and making of convenient Parapets that the Enemie shall not be able to make any other accesses save by the very Ports where the Pieces lie And if the Battery be of necessity to be planted upon a Dike and thereby may be in peril of being drowned the heighth of the Dike is to be considered and provision made accordingly and a passage toward the Campagnia to be guarded and kept free that so the Pieces may be carried off that way if there be no other remedie And because it is generally necessary and especially in some cases that the Pieces of Batterie be lodged in secret and as much obscured from the Enemies Cannon in the Town as possibly may be one especial course tending this way may be practised by making a convenient descent in the Platform and that in such a manner that the Pieces may make their reverses so downwards as being reversed may fully hide themselves from the Enemies view and then to be drawn up again by pullies and cords well fastned to the heads of the Carriages and the Wall of the Batterie aloft True it is that these Guns thus lodged are onely to be imployed upon the very nick of occasion and not ordinarily A second way therefore there is by making a double Battery in this manner First of all a Battery is to be raised with Shoulders and Ports sufficiently deep equal and large as well before as behinde in such a fashion that thorow them the Enemies Cannon may be discovered in a right line This done another Battery is to be framed with Ports and Shoulders in a due and answerable proportion ten foot behind this from which through the Ports of the other the Enemies Pieces may also be perfectly seen in a right line And in these innermost Ports the great Guns are to be mounted the which nevertheless by reason of the foremost Batterie will lie so closely shadowed and hidden that the Enemy shall very hardly discover them or at the least to any hurt or damage A third way to this purpose may be by the choice and laying out of a natural piece of ground before which a Ditch being sunk to the depth of eleven foot which will give a sufficient defence for the Guns and those that manage them a sufficient quantity of ground is to be allowed for the reverse of the Guns with the distance of twenty foot one from another in their being lodged having an over-plus of ground behind them which by the help of Pioneers is so to be sunk that men may safely pass to and again behind them undiscovered upon which planks being artificially laid the Guns are
to the first Requirable in the making of a War and that is Munition It remains to take some notice of Powder and Victual and so to end this our first Book And first concerning Powder Of which I shall onely speak of the choice of it and the lodging of it when it is gotten For the choice of it or the trial of it That Powder which being laid upon a smooth stone or plank or the like having fire given unto it doth mount upwards with a clear fire and flame without much smoak and without leaving any soil or mark upon the stone or plank may be received for good Powder On the contrary if upon the firing there remain any moist white substance somewhat blewish it is a sign that the Brimstone is not sufficiently purified wherewith that Powder is mixed if there remain any grains of an earthly colour it is an evidence that it was not well grounded nor cleansed if there be whitish grains it is a sign that the Salt-Peter is too salt and neither well grounded nor purified if there be seen any reddish or tawnyish grains it is a token that the Coals were not well prepared if Powder some small quantity being laid upon ones hand and there fired offend not the hand at all or very little but result with a small noise or puff it is a singular sign of excellent good powder As for the ways of trial without fire if Powder being bitten by ones teeth taste moderately salt it is a tolerable token of its goodness if it be of colour not over-black nor obscure but somewhat tending to a red it is a very good evidence of good Powder As touching the safe laying of it up It is a most-necessary providence for the ordering of Powder for the use of an Army in action that it be disposed into two or three several places and many Magazines the better to avoid the danger as well of casual fires as treasons and the Enemies surprizes And for the safe keeping and certain security of it in Towns and especially where mighty Magazines are to be provided it was the practise of a wise Republique to lay up the several materials and ingredients in several parcels as the Salt-Peter by it self the Brimstone by it self and the Cole by it self the which upon all occasions might suddenly be fitted for present use And in the mean time all the hazards and mischiefs that might otherwise ensue be absolutely prevented And thus much touching the particular of Powder As for that of Victual it is obvious to every judgment that it must be provided according to the number of the Army and the length of the March and the nature and condition of the Country that the Army is to pass thorow I shall therefore speak onely of the course of conducting it and of those kinde of people that are to sell it termed Sucklers For the order of conduction of Victuals to or for an Army especially when there is peril of being charged by an Enemie upon the way command is to be given that all the disordered multitude of Carriages and Waggons wherein the Victuals and the like Baggage is to be carried be put in equipage either before day or very early in the morning of that day wherein they are to march And in the first place some Troops of Horse are to be sent out to discover upon all the Advennes of the Enemy and for the better safe-guard the Artillery appointed for their guard may be usefully placed both in the Van of these Carriages and in their Rear and that not onely to beat upon the Enemie if he shall approach by any of those ways but by their thundering to give notice which way the Enemie comes that so the Souldiers may take a general Alarm and according to former direction repair to the part that shall most require assistance Both sides of the ways also where the Carts of Provisions are to pass are to be guarded with loose Wings of Horse and with them some numbers of Musqueteers may be advantagiously intermixed and the best of the Horse may bring up the Rear And in this manner may the Carriages march and be ready to receive any Charge Diligence is likewise to be used that such ways of March as much as may be be made choice of as are least subject to ambushments and that whensoever they are to come to blows it may be in places of advantage To which end either Altes are to be made or a quick March to be practised as cause requires And to this purpose also good use may be made of Waggons in stead of a Trench drawing the Souldiers within them when a desperate Charge is attempted by the Enemie As for the prime Conductor of these Victuallers and Victual he is to be the first man out of the Quarter when these Troops are to march and to make a stand and to take a view of them all and to hasten them forwards And when they are well-near all passed by he is to march in the Rear of all though now and then he may advance before into such parts as he conceives may most require his presence but ought to be the last man that takes up his Quarter He is also to observe that all the Carriages and the Souldiers of that guard be quartered before the dark of the night that so whilest there is yet some day-light he may ride round about the Quarter to see that all things be sure Care is likewise to be had if possibly it may be that intelligence be gotten from the inhabitant Peasants as well of the Ways as of the Enemie and that as well for conveniency as safety To which end all Bridges and Passages are to be known possest and guarded Spies also are continually to be employed to gain knowledge and to give notice of the Enemies designs And Centinels in the night-time to be placed upon all Avenues And if an extraordinary strength be expected to assault it will be necessary to raise some Redoubts and Forts upon the Ways and Passages and upon all places where an Enemie may oportunely give on Touching the Victuallers or Sucklers and Merchants and Artificers which follow an Army they are not any of them to bring any of their Commodities or Merchandise into the Camp without licence from the General who is to command to have them well viewed lest their Victuals should be corrupt and infect the Souldiers with sickness and their Merchandise sophisticated and the Souldier cheated and abused Nor are these men to sell any of their Commodities but in that part and place where the Quarter-master-General shall appoint lest disorders grow in the Quarters nor there neither but at such times and at such a rate as shall be allowed by the Provost-Marshall-General that so there may be no extortion upon the Souldiers And if any of these shall be found Delinquents in any of these kindes he is to incur the penalty of Imprisonment and Confiscation of his
belongs unto them as four Waggons of Powder eight Waggons of Shor with all things answerable And these are the repartitions of the Artillery which are to be ordered to march in the Van of an Army of forty thousand men After this body and division of these Ordnance three thousand Light-horse or Dragoons are to be ordered to march and after them ten thousand Foot And in the Rear of these all the Munitions belonging to the one half of the Army as Bridges Planks Powder Shot Cordage Pallisadoes Pikes Shovels Crabs Coins as well of Wood as Iron together with all the Tools belonging to the Carpenters Smiths and the like Artificers All which are to be handsomely lodged in Waggons The Victuallers or Sucklers of the moyety of the Army are to be ordered to march in the next place with the Hospital followed with the Carriages and Waggons belonging to the General and the other Commanders in chief and after them that part of the Baggage belonging partly to the Vant-guard and partly to the Battel After these may march twelve thousand Foot ordered into small Bodies having in the Rear of them a Body of Waggons of Baggage whereof part is to belong to the middle-Guard or Battel and part to the Rear-Guard followed with the Generals Life-Guards and the suit of the Ambassadours Next again after these may follow the Munitions and Engines serving for the use of the Rear with the Artillery Bridges and the like appurtenances and after them eight thousand Foot making the Gross of the Rear Then as formerly in the Van may be ordered to march four Cannons four Demy-Cannons three Culverins or Quart du Cannons and lastly three Field-pieces with all that belongs unto them both of Powder Shot and other necessaries with the requisite attendants And after them two thousand Foot to serve as a defence and coverture to all the Artillery of the Rear And last of all are to march five hundred Horse answerable to the like number in the point of the Van who are to bring up the Rear and to discover that part of the Campagnia that way that so no un-foreseen Alarms may be given by the Enemy to any considerable loss And in this order may an Army on all sides be sufficiently provided in a march against all attempts especially when the Enemy is not in view but somewhat remote But if the Enemy be in view and an assault to be expected and the Army nevertheless of necessity to march and this befall in a large Plain or Champion Country this order now described is to receive some alterations For it will be needful to have a large Front of Pikes being ten or six deep in File with wings of Shot on each side the which all together are to make an equal Front between which Shot and Pikes the Artillery is to march in the intervals And in the midst right behind the Cannon or Artillery may march two Bodies of Pikes and betwixt them the Carriages or Baggage And last of all in the Rear of all may be ordered a Body of Pikes with divisions of Shot on each side equalizing with those of the Front and on each side of them some Troops of Horse to serve as wings to this Body of the Rear And in this Form and Order an Army may both march and if need be fight without being disordered or much impedited in its way For if the Enemy shall charge in Front this order may be maintained and receive the Enemies charge be it either of Horse or Foot by the Front of Pikes and the Shot in the wings shall oportunely gall them in the mean time and the Artillery also give them a Salve as they make up and both Shot and Cannon be well secured either by the Pikes if the Enemies Foot shall charge or by the Horse in the Rear which are to advance if the Enemie charge with his Horse And if the Enemy charge in any of the Flanks it may be sustained by those Pikes which march there if his charge be with Foot and withal he shall be galled by the shot both of Van and Rear and if his charge be with Horse it may be opposed by the Horse marching in the Rear who are to advance to that end And if the Enemy give on in the Rear his Foot may be received with Faces about by the Body of Pikes which are ordered there and also be much annoyed by those Shot flanking those Pikes and the Shot well secured as well by their own Pikes as the Pikes in the Flank and especially by the Horse marching in the Flanks of this Rear And all this while the Carriages of Baggage and Munition may likewise be very sufficiently secured by their being ordered to march in the very center of the Body of Pikes But because it may fall out upon occasions either of passages or ways or present work and employment that the Train of Artillery may be forced to march by it self apart and severed from the main Body of the Army in this case the order and conduction of it may be that half the Pioneers and Labourers make the Van marching under their Chiefs and Commissaries and to be freed from the trouble of any strangers not belonging to their Train nor with any of their Waggons After which Pioneers all such Waggons are to march as carry the Spades Mattocks and the like Utensils Next unto these the Field-pieces are to follow after them the Culverins then the Demy-Cannons and lastly the Cannons And thus ordered marcheth the Vant-Guard and in the very same order may also march the Rear And after the Cannons in the Rear may follow all the Furniture belonging to the Artillery and with it the Bridges the Boats the reserve of the Munitions and especially the Magazine of Powder the Tents in general and the Generals Tents Though true it is that these are sometimes ordered to march in the Van that so they may be first in the Quarters the better to be fitted for receit and entertainment After these are to march all the Fire-works all the Ladders Planks Chains Nails and Sacks and the like implements And after them the rest of the Pioneers and Miners followed with the Waggons of small shot with the Store of Lead with those of the Pikes and Arms to spare And then the Waggons of the great shot the which though properly they are to be ordered to march next after the great Guns yet in respect that the small shot and other small parcels are more subject to the pillage of the Common Souldier they may best be secured in this manner And in the last place are to come up the Waggons belonging to the General of the Ordnance his Lieutenants with the Gentlemen and Officers of that Train And then again the Smiths and Carpenters And in rear of all the Provost of the Artillery is to march together with the remainder of the Baggage and the Victuals of the whole Train And thus may the Artillery belonging
Rocks Islands Hills and Necks of Land But herein it is carefully to be observed that none of these places be commanded by an external height or if they be that that part be fortified also Observation is also to be made that the soil of the part be not Sandie for then there can be no repairs either against Battery or Sap. Respect is likewise to be had to the air that it be wholsom and especially that the place be well provided with water and so that it cannot be cut off by the Enemie That it be in a Country well furnished with Victual of all kindes and withal so sited that it may serve as a Bull-work unto that Country either by a Guard of a Port or the Defence of a Passage That it be apt to offend an Enemy on all sides by Sallies for so it shall be apt also to be relieved and cannot be blockt up with any one Fort alone That it be not so great as to require over-many men to Man and Defend it nor so little as not of capacity to receive a sufficiencie of hands to give an impediment to an Enemie in his passage the mean betwixt these two being when in the Diameter it consisteth of three or four hundred paces and lastly That it be in such a part as that no Siege can be brought before it but by an Army divided To which end the situation upon Rivers and Tongues of Land lying betwixt two Rivers are most proper and convenient And these are the usual Advertisements and Observations to be made and received in the point of choice of the Place and Part that is fit for Fortification Whereunto I shall only add thus much confirmed herein by Gyrolamo Maggi lib. della Fortif l. 1. fol. 4. and Iacomo Castriotto approved Engineers that in new parts to be inhabited upon any terra firma or any large Islands where all Landing-places are too many to be secured by Fortification the most useful and provident part to raise the strongest piece upon is in some Mid-land place where there is an Intention to settle the which nevertheless is to have some smaller pieces of Fortification round about it or near unto it upon the most likely and obvious Avenues that so an assaulting Enemie may be impedited in his approaches as not daring to leave an Enemy behinde him whereby he may be in eminent peril of being cut off from all manner of supplies and may expect to receive continual molestation by those in the Forts left behind him and likewise the Inhabitants may finde means not onely to shelter themselves in their persons but to save their goods and cattle within and under the command of this Fort thus situated CHAP. IV. The perfection of Works due to Fortification in the point of a Bulwork and its parts and in the point of the Curtains and its defences THe part proper for Fortification being thus found some Caveats are to be received touching the perfecting of the works And these are that an especial care be taken that the Bull-works be not hollow and that the Piazza or Plain thereof be raised equal with the Rampart to the foot of the Parapet And that there be no Vault nor Casemate that may give Impediment to the play of the great Guns either by blindings with smoak or any other way That no Angle of a Bulwork be over-small lest it prove easie to be battered nor over-large lest the point with a small battery be hidden from the flank That every Bull-work have his Counter-mine the which though some think by way of saving of charge may be timely enough done when an Enemy begins to make his Approaches yet for my part I cannot approve of so thrifty a presumption That every Bull-work have two Sally-Ports as secretly contrived as may be to which end the Angle of the ears of the Bull-work is the most proper part That every Flank regard the face of the opposite Bull-work that so the Enemy may be dislodged from Mining the Rampart That the Angle of the Flank be a right Angle because an obtuse Angle layeth the Cannoniers or Port-holes over-open and a sharp Angle disordereth the Face of the Piazza of the Bull-work and of the ears thereof That there be in every Flank one piece of Ordnance at the least so secured as that it may serve for a constant defence for the opposite Bullwork That the Port-holes next to the Angles of the Curtain lie as little discover'd as possibly may be provided nevertheless that they regard and scour the ditch and the covered way or false Bray with some part of the circumjacent Campagnia That the defence of the Face of every Bulwork be taken out of half of the Curtain and so be made that it may be re-guarded by the Flank thereby prohibiting an Enemie to Mine the which cannot be done if the defence should be taken from the Angle of the Flank as of old That the distance from the Angle of the Flank to the point of the opposite Bulwork be not above two hundred paces within which distance the great Guns may work their effects nor fewer then one hundred and fiftie that so the Defendants guarding in the Flank may not be offended by the Enemies Musquetiers from the point of the Counterscarp That the Ports be made in the midst of the Curtains and not of the Flanks nor Ears which otherwise might be weakned by them That no part be discovered from the Spalto or shoulder so shall it not be subject to batteries or at the least not to the same batterie of the Point or Flank That the Curtains between the Bulworks be drawn in a right line That no Bridge lead directly to any part of the Work that so the use of Petards may be frustrated and this also may be done by Draw-bridges That the whole Work command round every way over all the plain where it is erected And these are the material and principal observations and advertisements due to Works of Fortification when new ones are to be raised and the choice of the place to be had at pleasure CHAP. V. Of defective pieces of Fortification Of the Forms of Works the Triangular the worst Form WE are in the next place to make some advertisements touching such pieces of Fortification as are defective either in respect of Form or otherwise and all such are so to be held which participate not of the correspondence and defence which they should borrow one of another Now this mal-correspondence may be reformed by giving to the parts of the same denomination equal proportion in heighth breadth length and declination if the situation will possibly permit And the defences are secured and amended by increasing of the points of the Bulworks to such a moderation as that they be not carried to the prohibited terms of sharpness the which for all that serves not for the reformation of all old Works but onely for such as are regular As for the irregular besides the
Borse where the expence in these kinds alone was on the Assailants part infinite great and the effects no less admirable CHAP. IX Of Guns in a Town of War Where best to be placed HAving gone thus far in the point of Forts and Fortifyings of Towns of VVar we are to give some advertisements about the Artillery and Guns belonging and due unto them It is the general opinion that in a Town of VVar of the true size which as before said is to be in the diameter betwixt three and four hundred paces there are not to be fewer then sixty pieces of Ordnance which are thus qualified Of Cannons twelve shooting forty pounds of iron which are to be imployed in Counter-Batteries Of Demy-cannons eighteen shooting twenty four pounds of iron for the defeat of the Enemies defences and trenches Of those called by the French Quarts du Cannons shooting ten pounds of iron wherewith to offend the Enemie in his approaches and to endanger his Sentinels and Out-watches Of Field-pieces twenty shooting five pounds of iron or seven and a half of lead to be imployed not onely upon the Walls and Ramparts but upon the entries of Breaches and besides all these three Morter-pieces at the least for the throwing of Granadoes and Fire-works into the Enemies Trenches and to give light in the night-time for discoverie of the Enemies Works These are the Repartitions of the great Guns accounted requisite for the defence of a well-fortified Town wherein I shall onely advise to change the twelve whole Cannons for so many half ones And my reasons are first because they are more manageable secondly in that they may the oftner and with more ease be charged discharged and recharged thirdly in regard that they do not over-shake their Walls and Works as Cannons do and lastly in that they exact not so many hands to manage them nor require so great expence of Powder as the other As for the parts and particular places where these great Guns are to be lodged and especially during the time of a Siege the Rules are that if the Enemie plant his Batteries against the Curtains of the VVall the Guns in the Town are to be mounted upon the Bulworks next unto that Curtain where the Enemie batters lodging withall some few Pieces upon the inmost brink of the ditch which flankers with the breach But in this point especiall care is to be taken that these Pieces as well on the Bastion as Ditch be never suffered to play save when the Enemie presents himself in multitudes to force the breach that so they may lie undiscovered But if the Enemie batters upon the Bulworks then the neck of the Bastion is to be cut and retrenched and within this retrenchment some great Guns are to be laid and with good shoulders to be well covered and shadowed until the Enemie adventures to force the breach and then to be thorowly imployed on the sudden And this retrenchment may also be used in defence of the Curtains if there be a void place for the making of a half Moon or the like piece of VVork And thus are the great Guns to be lodged and imployed in a well-fortified Town of VVar. CHAP. X. Of the Out-works requisite to a Town of War Of the Ditch the Ravelins Horn-work Counter-Scarp Half Moons HAving thus far discoursed of the inward VVorks of a Town of VVar we shall now advertise somewhat also of the Out-works And first of the Moat or Ditch which lieth the next without the Town-VVall and is sometimes in some places without water sometimes filled with water and again sometimes filled with a standing water sometimes with a current Now of these particulars as also of the breadth of the Ditch some disputes have been which should be the best Of which as affecting brevity I shall onely say That the drie Ditch may be fittest in respect of the VVorks that may be made in it and the wet in regard of retarding and troubling of an Enemie and forcing of him to fill it up or to lay Galleries over it The second Out-work without the VValls are the Ravelins and these generally are cut out triangle-wise and are raised for the most part in the middle of the Ditch and serve as well to defend and scowre the Ditch as also in the nature of Casemates The third VVork without-dores is that called the Counter-Scarp and it is a kinde of Brest-work cut enclining by little and little downwards and sited on the outmost shore or side of the Ditch and it serves for the safety of Musquetiers The fourth VVork of this nature is termed a Horn-work and it is contrived to secure and scowre the Curtains of the Counter-Scarp And it takes the name by having their corners of the Fronts shaped like a Fork or two Horns joyned together Last of all before these Horn-works are again cut out certain places of a safe Retreat called Half Moons and these are also fortified with a Counter-Scarp about one Cubit in heighth And into these Half Moons are passages cut out for the Souldiers to go from the Front of the Horn-work behinde them over little Draw-bridges thrown over their Ditches And these are the chief and prime of all those Pieces termed Out-works which to speak truly are rather the Repairs and Succours of faultie Pieces of Fortification then any true ones themselves Touching all which in general and especial care is to be had that both the outward and inward VVorks of a true fortified place be so contrived and so correspond one to another that some of them lying higher then others and others again in an equal heighth they may with the more surety defend each other from the Flanks and from above so that from the outmost to the next to it and from thence to the rest there may be a safe retreat for the Defendants upon all occasions CHAP. XI Ways of Defence by Protraction Frustration Batteries Mines Assaults how to make void Defence of Towns by way of Sallies How to carry off a Garison out of a Sea-Town WE shall now propound some courses of defence by way of Protraction and others by way of Frustration whereby a besieged place may haply preserve it self against expugnation Now the courses by Protraction are either by the raising of some small Forts or by Counter-approaches or Sallies The Forts to this purpose are to be raised within Musquet-shot of the Town whose Ditches are to be emboqued from the Flanks of the Bulwork or at the least from some part of the Curtain from which also the platforms of the Forts are to be wholly discovered that if the Enemy should gain them he may as suddenly be beaten out and disabled from maintaining them The Counter-approaches are to be emboqued from the Flanks and to begin at the Counter-Scarp and so to be carried towards the Enemies approaches And the use of these are both to delay the Enemie in his approaches and to lodge Souldiers in from whence they may aid the Defendants
a private Company and so proceed to the whole body of an Army To Exercise a Company exactly it is to be divided into three Corporalships and then subdivided into as many Files as the number will bear and every File into Fellowships or Cameradoes The Corporal of every Corporalship is to be the leader of the chief File thereof and the Lanceprisado who in the Corporals absence when he is upon the Guard or elsewhere executes the Corporals duties is to lead another File and the practick and ready men of every Corporalship are to lead the rest The Company being thus divided and ordered these things are mainly to be taught the carriage and use of Arms Marches and Motions and the understanding of the sounds of the Drum and words of Command and Direction which are rightly termed the Souldiers Vocabula Artis The carriage of Arms is to be appropriated to the most of comeliness and use The use of the Pike is either in receiving or giving a charge By being taught the first the Souldier learns to withstand the Horse by the second to encounter with the Enemies Pikes and to understand when and how every man and so every rank are to give their push or blow In the use of the Musquet the Souldier is first to learn how to present his Piece how to take his level and when to give his Volley with those of his Rank Now the ancient and vulgar manner of Discipline for the giving of Volleys of shot was that all the shot of one Corporalship should give fire at once But this was absolutely condemnable for either those in the Rear must hazard the shooting of their leaders through their heads or else over-shoot the Enemy and spend their Powder in vain And besides the Volley thus delivered being once given the Enemy may come on without impeachment or annoyance In stead of this therefore a more useful practice hath been to order the first Rank onely to give their Volley and if the body of the Company march then that Rank that hath given the Volley to stand and the second Rank to pass thorough it and to give their Volley and then they to stand and then the third Rank to advance and give fire and so all the rest of the Ranks in order But if the Company or Brigade or Battaglia stand firm then the first Rank having given their Volleys are to fall back and the second to come in their rooms and so the third fourth and the rest And by this course the men being commanded men the Vollies may be continued and the Enemy never free from annoyance And all this is easily performed if at the first all the shot be caused to open their Files to open distance But because even this also is defective in respect that there cannot be brought up so many hands to give fire at once upon the Enemie as were to be wisht that absolute Souldier the late King of Swedeland disciplin'd his shot to give fire three ranks at once and this was done by causing the first rank to give their Volleys upon their knees the second somewhat stooping over their leaders heads the third rank standing upright to give their Volleys over all their heads and this to be done at one and the same time And by this means and course was poured more Lead upon the Enemie at once then otherwise by far by any of the other ways And this manner of giving fire must needs also be very useful and advantagious in all Wood-Services and wheresoever an Enemie is to be encountred in narrow Lanes or Paths where men cannot be led up but in a single file for if the three first men thus giving fire be instructed after they have given their Volley to place themselves close up by the sides of the path where the Enemie presents himself and so stand there sidelong towards the Enemie and give place for three others of their followers to advance and do the like a continued Volley of Shot may be thus delivered although the whole file of men should consist but of fifteen in all As for the Discipline belonging to Marches after every man once knoweth his proper place and understandeth how to observe his file and rank there is no difficulty at all in a plain march In a Countermarch also if the leaders of the files be well chosen and that every man observe his leading man there is no great difficulty neither As touching motions some are performed without change of place by turning onely their faces to the right hand or to the left or about as the Enemie is found to charge either in Flank or Rear Some require a change of place and these motions are performed by removing from one rank to another and then some move and some stand still And these kindes of motions are called doublings of ranks and doublings of files as the Enemie or Ground shall give cause to make the Front or Flank greater or lesser There is besides these another kinde of motion to be taught in which all do move and yet none do march And this is done by the opening and closing of files and is practised not onely when one rank is to pass thorow another or the whole Brigade to make a Counter-march but also when there is an intention to draw the Troop together in haste and yet in order more to the one hand then the other And thus far only shall be spoken in this place touching Motions intending to speak more at large of the use of them hereafter Concerning the understanding of the sound of the Drum the Souldiers are to be taught not only to know and observe what the Drummer beats but what time he keeps in beating that accordingly they may hasten or slack their marchings As by the voice they are called upon to all other motions of which likewise we shall say more as occasion shall require CHAP. IV. Of great Guns due to an Army-Royal of the kindes and choice of them Of the number of Horse to draw great Guns The best way of drawing heavie Guns WE have gone thus far towards the proportioning of the body of an Army as to bring the Men or Bodies together to fit them with Chiefs and Commanders and to give them some knowledge in the use of their Arms We have likewise spoken in the beginning of our first Book of such kindes of Arms as are fitted for the persons of men and are portable in their hands It remains that we give some advertisements touching those sorts of Arms or Weapons which are to be carried with Armies but are not portable by the men And these are comprehended under the name of Artillery or great Guns of which though we have spoken somewhat in the former part of our Treatise yet it was onely of such as were to be lodged in Forts and Towns of War and to be employed against them and not of those to be used in the Field and to accompany and march with an
did then furiously French-like charge with their Horse upon ours and being by far the greater number instantly routed them forcing such of our Horse as sought their safety by flight to break in upon our own Foot to their utter disorder and the rest of our Horse that could not do so were all either taken or slain The execution likewise upon our Foot became hereby very great and the greater by reason that there were no kindes of Works cast up to command the entrance of the passage upon the Dike So that the Enemy was emboldned to charge home all alongst the way of our march upon the very Dike it self even to the very Bridge that we were to pass over where also by reason of the improvidence in making it without rails on the sides our men in the haste and terrour of their disorder thrust one another into a Creek of the Sea and were there smothered in the water and mud And here it was that we lost the most and best of our men Now because in these Retreats it may fall out even with the most provident Generals that an Army may be forced to lie and lodge in the open Field very near unto an Enemy it will not be amiss to propound some courses touching this particular And in this case it hath been practised that every Regiment should lie down and lodge in the very same order that they marched all the day before with all their Arms by them the Pikes to stick up an end close by the bearers as they lay and every Rot or File that is every six of Musqueteers to bring their Musquets to their Rot-masters or leaders of their File who were to see them set with their mouths upright and so bound together with a piece of Match that they might stand ready at hand upon all alarms As for the person of the General himself and the Officers of the Field they were to bestow themselves in their Coaches or the like and the private Captains to make use of such kinde of frames of wood as in the Low-Countries are termed Horses being very proper for that purpose and of which it is good for every Captain to have one Touching the Horse-Regiments every man was to ease himself and his Horse by alighting and resting himself on the ground and by feeding his Horse near unto him And in this posture to take repast and sleep and so to attend the light of the ensuing morn for the pursuance of their intended retreat And thus having given some notes touching the Dislodgings and Retreats of an Army we will finish this Chapter with some Rules touching Incampings In these Incampings the General Quarter-master is especially to observe these particulars following That friends as near as may be be lodged by friends and this as well for preventing of tumults as the faithful seconding one of another That such Horse as are most unready and unfit for sudden occasions be covered with Foot for three parts of them at least That no impediments as Merchants Victuallers Artificers be lodged amongst the Souldiers and That the Camp be well entrenched And because an Army be it never so well entrenched lying thus will be forced to send Forragers abroad it is a necessary Providence and especially if the Enemy be any thing near that some convenient number of Troops do by turns stand by their Arms that they be always ready to answer all alarms which is greatly furthered and a Rescue the sooner and with less dismay performed when some Captains are thus found always in point and ready to march at the first word of Command And hereof we have a punctual example at Caesars first landing in this our Island For he having received a great loss in his Shipping by a Tempest the which encouraged the Britains so much the more to oppose him the which himself also suspecting he caused his Army to be strongly entrenched And sending out one of his Legions in its turn to fetch in Corn the Enemy on a sudden assaulted it the which being discovered by an unusual dust Caesar instantly took two Cohorts which might amount to the number of 720 men which were in station before the Ports of the Camp commanding that other two should supply their places and led them on to the succour of the Legion that was abroad the which he found in a dangerous fight with the Enemy And without this oportune supply had in all likelyhood been cut off and was thus relieved As for the Forms of Trenches they are to be regulated either by the advantage or disadvantage of the site Their flanks are to be distanced about seventy Paces one from another Their depth bredth and heighth according to the time and intention of stay in that place and the expectance of an Enemy In them entrances or passages are to be laid out for Horse Foot and Carriages And to be covered with Ravelins without and Bars within And these Trenches are to be furnished with convenient Artillery so ordered and mounted that being well flanked they may command the Campagna round about And besides all this the Camp is to be secured by strong and vigilant Guards some whereof are the main Guards the rest the pettie Guards One main-Guard is to be near the Generals Quarter and the Commander thereof is stiled The Captain General of the Watch. Another main-Guard is to be in every Regiment which hath likewise its Captain by whom the Rounds are laid out and the Rounders sent abroad to visit the Guards of the Companies and out of the Main-guard by the Generals Lodging the Rounders are taken out to visit all the petty Guards And because it may be dangerous when in one Discipline two Rounds meet in their Circuit that they which speak first in taking the Word of the other may hereby help the Enemie to rob the Word To prevent it it hath by some been thought a provident course that the two elder Rounders should make an exchange of their Companions and so proceed to finish their Circuit without giving or taking the word of any Round at all The which I onely offer to our present Commanders to take into their consideration As for the petty Guards they are of two sorts for either they consist of many persons and are then termed a Corps du Guard or of one single man who is called a Centinel A Corps du Guard may either be of Horse which is a Guard without the entrenchments of the Camp or of Foot who watch within before or at the Ports of the Trenches or any where else where the Ser jeant-Major shall hold it fit In the setting out of the Centinels it is to be observed that they be not placed over-far from any Corps du Guard lest by being surprized by an Enemy the secrets of the Army be discovered And because it cannot chuse but be full of hazard and subject to many casualties for an Army to be brought up any thing near to an over-powerful Enemy a
weather contagion of sickness or the strength of the Enemie And thus far concerning such considerations and Counsels as are aforehand to be taken in point of an Invasive War As for such as are to be practised in a War Defensive though the surest Defence is Offence yet such as are forced unto it are by all means to assure themselves of their neighbours by Leagues or by provision of Treasure to defray all charges or by an Army so governed by discretion that no fight be admitted in heat and rashness and yet so avoided that the Army may not seem to forbear the battel for fear which may utterly discourage the common Souldier or encourage the Enemy but rather as done out of policie And withal that the Country be on all sides wasted where the Enemy is to pass so that nothing may be found for him to make use of And in the interim the defensive Army to be commodiously entrenched having withal a guard upon the Enemies Army on all sides that no relief or as little as may be may be brought unto it This defensive War may also be maintained by the erecting of Forts and the fortifying of Towns for hereby the Defendants may not onely secure their lives from all sudden irruptions and keep short the Enemy from relief but defer battels at pleasure and thereby abate the Enemies heat and pride As for the parts where these Fortifications are to be raised they are those which may give the most impediment to the Enemies attempts and most security to the Defendants as upon the Sea-coasts the Ports and Landing places and in the Mid-land parts upon Narrows and streight passages and the Capital Cities And these Forts are not to be so great but that they may be manned and furnished as well with Munition as Men without the weakning of the main Army in the field nor to be so small but to be sufficiently capacious to receive the Peasants and the best of their substance in case of necessity CHAP. II. Of a Defensive War how best made and maintained That when a Victory may be gained without blows a Battel is not to be admitted How Troops suspected either for courage or Loyalty are to be ordered in Battel What part of the Enemies Army is first to be charged Requisite considerations in and after battel IN the foregoing Chapter occasionally onely we made some mention touching the avoiding of Battels in case of a defensive War But in this we shall enlarge our advertisements concerning that particular It hath been always a sure maxime of War that whensoever by foresight well grounded Victory cometh towards one without blows or wounds as either by blocking up the passages and so cutting off all supplies or by any the like means that in such cases an Enemie is not to be assaulted nor admitted to the terms of a Battel for it sutes better with the worth of the spirit and the essence of our nature so to direct the course of an action that an Enemy may be conquered rather by Wit then War And hereof we have an example in Caesars Commentaries where Caesar having shut up Afranius and Petreius in a place of advantage although he might have cut them to pieces by an assault yet finding the Victory sure without a fight without blood and without hazard he thus answered his Captains who urged him to storm them Cur secundo Praelio aliquos ex suis amitteret Cur vulnerari pateretur optime de se meritos milites Cur denique fortunam periclitaretur And indeed before the falling upon a battel at any time these following particulars are constantly to be received That a view be taken of the strength of the Army and impartially compared with that of the Enemie That the place of Battel be near some safe Retreat either of a Camp well entrenched and sufficiently left with Guards or some Town of defence near to friend That all courses be taken to give courage and confidence to the Souldiers either by some fit applied words of exhortation or by some incouraging stratagems or by shews of contempt of the Enemies strength or augmentation of his own or by making shew of some secret intelligence from the Enemies Camp or reporting some rumours of their fears and diffidence That in the ordering of the Army to the Battel the Enemies order be heedfully observed as also the site and form of the place and ground where the Battel is to be fought to which an answerable accommodation is in every respect to be observed as well in relation to the form as number of Divisions as also for the ordering of the Artillery to the best use and most annoyance of the Enemie And if there be any new Troops that may be suspected in their worth and especially loyalty That they be placed rather in the Battel or Middle-Guard it self then any of the Wings for being thus ordered they shall neither be so put to it in point of courage if they be wanting that way nor can they find means or scope to fling out or to take advantage to a mischief as if they were ordered in the Wings for the Wings in a set Battel are the strength of it and the principal instruments and it hath ever been found that as long as they stand firm the day stands fair for by them the Enemy is kept from surrounding the main body of the Army And the same Army in the mean time hath the advantage of charging the Enemie in the Flank upon all occasions and oportunities Consideration is also to be had whether it be for the advantage to charge or to attend the charge If to charge which is most approvable in an open Country that then it be performed with the whole Front at once rather then by light skirmishes in the Wings and Corners lest such of these as may chance to be rebutted upon the Main-Vant-guard strike a terrour and perhaps disorder through the whole body of the Army of which there have been infinite examples An especial observation is likewise to be made touching the part of the Enemies Army which is first to be charged With the Ancients and many of the Moderns it was a Maxime that it was to be the weakest part And this was practised by Caesar in his first Battel with Arionistus and by Scipio in Spain And the motives hereunto seem to be in regard that mens judgments are favourable to that which happens well at the first the sequel of every action depending for the most part upon the beginning neither can there be a good end without a good beginning for though a beginning be often disastrous and unlucky and the end fortunate and happy yet before it came to that end there was a fortunate beginning And therefore that an Army might foresee a happy end in a good beginning it was the ground of this Maxime that the beginning of the assault should be with the best of the Army upon the weakest part of the Enemy And