more expeditiously redrest when the Field Officers and Captains Lodgments were between the Soldiers Hutts and the Victuallers than when only the Serjeants and Corporals were nearest to do it IV. The 40 foot wide Street between the Field Officers and Captains Lodgments and the Hutts of the Victuallers was judged most convenient because a 20 foot Street the whole wideness of the Regiments Lodgment was thought too narrow for the great resort of Wagons Carts and Carriages which were daily brought to furnish the Suttlers and Victuallers and in which Street the Soldiers usually stood which were to buy their necessaries of them In the observing this newer way of Incamping these four Inconveniencies seem to attend it 1. The Lieutenant Colonel and the Major have thereby no further Accommodation as to their Lodgment than the Captains though their Baggage and Equipage is usually greater unless the number of their Companies do make 2 or 3 Files of Hutts requisite for the Soldiers in which case only the breadth of the Field Officers Lodgments was proportionately inlarged fig 〈◊〉 th A the Colon lls Lodgem t 68 foot broad 80 foot long B the S t Colon lls Lodgem t 40 foot broad 40 foot long C the Majors Lodgem t 40 foot broad 40 foot long D the Provost Marshalls Lodgem t 20 foot long 24 foot broad E the Captains Lodgem t s 40 foot long 24 foot broad F the Cherurgeons Lodgem t 40 foot long and 24 foot broad G the Quarterm Lodgem t 40 foot long and 17 foot broad H the Chaplains Lodgem t 40 foot long and 17 foot broad I the â—…acuity for the Carriage c 100 foot long 68 foot wide K the Suttlers and Pictuallers hutts 20 foot long and wide according to the Company they belong to L the Street between the Offic s Lodgem t s and the Suttlers and Victuallers 40 foot wide M the Street between the Officers Lodgem s and the files of hutts 20 foot wide n the files of hutts for y e Souldiers 180 foot long 8 foot wide o the Lanes between the 〈◊〉 hutts 8 foot wide from p to q are the places for y e pikes and muskets the Square ones whereof are for y e musket Place this foll 96 2. All the Field Officers except the Colonel and all the Captains are almost in the very Rear of the Lodgment and consequently farthest from the Line and Alarum place where they ought to be the very first 3. There is no Breast-work between the Line of Circumvallation and the very Colours and Arms of the Regiment so that should the Line by surprize be entred by the Enemy he may the more easily act his ends 4. Twenty foot in the length of the 200 for the private Soldiers Hutts is cut off which may streighten them too much Whereas in the old manner of Incamping there seems to be these Advantages First The Colonel Lieutenant Colonel Major and all the Captains are at the head of the Lodgment and nearest the Alarum place and the Line where they ought in time of need to be the very first as well to give the requisite Orders to the Guards in Function as to act in their own persons and also the more to hasten the Soldiers to them which they are the more apt to do when they know their chief Officers are on the place to take notice who is most diligent and to dispose of them to the best advantage of the service as fast as ever they come Secondly The Field Officers and Captains are nearer the Colonel to receive and obey his Orders in time of sudden need Thirdly The Accommodation for the Lieutenant Colonel and Major is certainly larger though their Companies in number should be but equal to the Captains Fourthly The private Soldiers Corporals and Ensigns and Lieutenants have 20 foot more in length for their Hutts Fifthly The Regiments Lodgment is open in the Front of it which also being next the Alarum place where all Men generally walk and pass their time the Colours and Arms of the Regiment are the more exposed to prejudice and imbezling Sixthly The whole Lodgment of the Regiment is shut up by the old way of Incamping and the Lodgment of the Colonel Field Officers and Captains being every one inviron'd with a Breast-work it makes as it were a Retrenchment within the Line of Circumvallation and renders it the more defensible as also it more certainly covers and secures the Colours Pikes and Muskets by their having the Colonels Field Officers and Captains Lodgment between them and the Alarum place for none can come but within the Regiments intrench'd Lodgment to imbezel or prejudice them As to the narrow passages between the Field Officers and Captains Lodgment next the Alarum place it needs be no narrower than the Lane between the Files of the Soldiers Hutts and if they will pass the one they may as well pass the other nay better do it for the utmost length of those narrow passages is but 24 and the utmost length of the Lane is 180 foot I have thus shew'd the Forms of the ancienter and newer way of Incamping a Regiment and what advantages and disadvantages seem to attend them and so leave it to the judgment of those who shall command in chief to elect which form all things consider'd they most approve Before I conclude what is to be observed in the Incamping of a Regiment I shall set down these two following particulars 1. When that Regiment is to be quartered in one Division which has also often been done especially when Incampings are but for a very little time the more to shorten the work of Intrenching the whole Army the usual manner of the Lodgment of the Companies of it is thus The Colonels Company is quartered on the right hand the Lieutenant Colonels on the left the Majors next the Colonels the eldest Captains next to him and so all the rest of the Captains by their Seniorities in order from the right hand 2. If the Regiment be quartered in two Divisions which is the usual practice then the Lieutenant Colonels Company quarters on the right hand of the second Division and the Serjeant Majors Company on the left hand of the first Division the eldest Captains next the Colonels the second on the left hand of the second Division the third next the eldest the fourth next the Lieutenant Colonels the fifth next the third the sixth next the fourth in the second Division and so all the rest of the Captains according to this order This is the usual method but in the Ichnographie in the newer way of Incamping a Regiment I have placed the Lieutenant Colonel and his Companies Lodgment to close the right flank of the right hand Division and the Majors to close the left flank of the left hand Division whereby the Colonel is in the Centre of the Lodgment the Lieutenant Colonel on the right flank of the Regiment and the Major on the left
which seems to be the best form of distributing the Lodgments of the three Field Officers and in my poor opinion will sooner and better answer the service on a sudden for by the new Form of Incamping all the Field Officers and Captains of the Regiment being lodged in the Rear of the Lodgment are consequently farthest from the Alarum place and Line of Circumvallation and can hasten to it with their Soldiers but through Lanes 8 Foot broad where but 3 Men at most can pass a-breast and therefore I offer to consideration the Lodgment of the Lieutenant Colonels and Majors with their Companies to be on the right and left flanks of the Regiment for all gross Lodgments are to be divided the one from the other by Streets at least 50 Foot wide through which Street on either flank of the Regiments Lodgments the two Field Officers of it may readily march their Men up to the Alarum place about 18 a-breast when as by their own and their Companies being lodged the usual way the Lieutenant Colonel on the right hand of the second Division and the Major on the left hand of the first they and their Companies have but 8 Foot passage to that place of action where 't is to be wish'd they were still the very first and well follow'd But since this is not according to the practised Form I only propound it to consideration with some of the Reasons which makes me do it Having thus shewed the several wayes of Incamping a Regiment I shall now proceed to shew how an Army may be Incamped within a Line or Intrenchment with the several gross Lodgments for the General the General Officers Train of Artillery Carriages the Regiments of Horse and Foot and all other gross Lodgments and Requisites belonging to an Army Only I would first recommend to Consideration That the Lodgment for the Powder Fireworks and other combustible things be at one of the Angles next the Alarum places because two parts of four of that Ground is not near other Lodgments and in which if Fire should take by accident or design unless the Wind blows maliciously they may the better avoid the danger of it I would still have the Powder and Fireworks in the General of the Artilleries own Lodgment and in a Redoubt apart cover'd with Hair-cloth or Sod where his own eye and the immediate care of his own Officers may prevent or remedy much mischief I would also recommend that the Lodgments for the Cannon and Wagons of the Train might be next to one of the sides of the Alarum place that the bringing them in and drawing them out on any occasion may be with less incumbrance to the rest of the Camp which will follow if the 300 foot wideness of the Alarum place and not the 50 foot streets be made the passage to their Lodgments When the Ground for Incamping is pitch'd upon the usual way to put the doing of it in practice is That the Quartermaster General and the Officers belonging to him or who are to receive their Orders from him together with the Engineer General and his Assistants do forthwith meet and on fine Pasteboard draw several parallel Lines by a small Scale at 300 foot distance for that is the standing measure of the length of every gross Lodgment and then besides the said 300 foot parallel Lines to draw other parallel Lines of 50 or 100 foot asunder for the streets between the first Line of the gross Lodgments and the second Line of them and so in sequence till they have Lodgment Lines and street Lines for all the Army to be Incamped then calculating what breadth every Lodgment is to consist of according to the exact numbers of every Regiment both as to the quantity of the Companies and Troops and as to the true number of every Troop and Company to divide the said parallel Lines at 300 foot distance into the due breadth of every Regiments Lodgment respectively and so of all other gross Lodgments and to write in the square for the Lodgment the name of the gross Lodgment or of the Regiments with the number of feet allow'd in breadth to every Lodgment and an Alphabetical Letter in it to which reference is to be made This being done to cut off of the Pasteboard every Lodgment and then to turn them to and fro until you have adjusted them on a large sheet of Paper into a long Square with the Streets between every Line of the Lodgments which are to be at least 50 foot wide the whole breadth of the Armies Incamping and then the other Streets of the like wideness where it may be between every gross Lodgment and gross Lodgment the length of the Armies Incamping and observing these following Rules First That the four Outsides of the whole Incamping which are next to the Alarum places be in even Lines for else your Alarum places would not be 300 or 206 foot wide as you like best in the clear which must regularly be observed both for the decency and the usefulness Secondly That from the proper front of the whole Incamping there be but one Line of Lodgments between the Alarum place and the Generals own Lodgment Thirdly That from the Alarum place next the front of the Generals own Lodgment even till you come at it there be a Piazza or space of 400 foot wide and on each side of his own Lodgment a Street of 200 foot wide the whole length of his Lodgment for the more State and Honour and for the Officers and others to walk in who resort unto him for business or out of respect and duty and for his Guards to draw up in in case of danger from the Enemy or tumult within the Camp Fourthly The Lodgments for the General Officers and for Strangers and Volunteers of Quality are usually to be in the same Line of the Generals own Lodgment and on the right and left hand of it that they may be the nearer on all sudden occasions to be advised with and to receive his Orders but the General of the Artilleries Lodgment to be at one of the Angles of the whole Incamping which is probably farthest from and the unlikeliest to be attacked by the Enemy for the Reasons before exprest Lastly whereas the unequal Numbers of Regiments and the various breadth of other gross Lodgments renders it impossible to make the intire Camping of the Army on the four sides of it an exact long Square if the breadth of every Street between gross Lodgment and gross Lodgment be kept to 50 foot therefore they may be inlarged or shortned to a breadth sufficient to answer the making of the four outsides of the general incamping in right Lines which last must never be omitted These are the usual Rules and in this manner are adjusted your several Pasteboard gross Lodgments with the Piazza and all their Streets on a sheet of large Paper to which with some Mouth Glew they may be fasten'd so that you may be certain if
exactly obedient to it to keep silence And when the Parties are numerous enough to compose Battalions and Squadrons to observe in going to the Charge the just wideness of the Intervals for the Reserves or second Line to relieve the first Line But if there must be any Error therein to be sure the Interval ground be rather inlarged than streightned For 't is better the Reserves should have too much room to march up to the Front than too little since the latter will render them almost useless But before I come to Treat of that part of Disciplining the Soldiery which consists in drawing them up into Battalions and Squadrons which I intend to discourse of when I come to Treat of Battels I shall crave leave to offer some Considerations on what we generally observe and seldom or never alter whatever the occasion requires And that is the drawing up our Shot and Pike six deep and our Horse three deep And this I should not presume to do had not I been emboldened to it by some Experiments of my own which God did bless with success For when I found my self over-winged by the Enemy they drawing up their Foot six deep and their Horse three deep I judged it best for me to Fight my Foot four deep and my Horse two deep whereby I added one third of more hands to the Front and Breadth of my Battalions and Squadrons For I was fully satisfied that it was likelier I should be worsted by the Enemy if he fell into my Flanks and Rear holding me also to equal Play in the Front than if four Ranks of my Foot should be broken or two Ranks of my Horse that the third Rank of the Horse and the fifth and sixth Ranks of my Foot should recover all again for I had often seen Battalions and Squadrons defeated by being overwinged But I never saw the last Rank of the Horse and the two last Ranks of the Foot restore the Field when the four first Ranks of the Foot and the two first Ranks of the Horse were Routed For commonly if the two first Ranks of the Horse are Routed they themselves for they still are broken inward Rout the third Rank and though the like cannot truly be said of the Foot in all points yet in a great measure it usually follows But I must confess that he who makes such an alteration in Military Discipline unless he be a Sovereign Prince or have sufficient Orders to do it ought to resolve his success only must Apologize for it that is to be victorious or be kill'd I should therefore humbly desire that fighting no deeper than four for the Foot and two for the Horse where the ground is fit might well be considered and then let true Reason give the Rule For my own part I will ingeniously acknowledge that after having as throughly weighed all the Arguments for and against it as my weak judgment could suggest to me I would without hesitation if it were left to my own Election fight my Foot and Horse no deeper than four and two in any case where the ground would admit me to extend my Battalions and Squadrons to the full For if I fight against equal Numbers and equally good Soldiers to my own 't is more likely falling into their Flanks and as much into their Rear also as I overwing them the depth of a File in each Flank that I shall Rout them then it is that before I perform that they shall have pierced through my four Ranks since Rank to Rank of equally good Soldiers and equal in Number will more probably hold longer play one with the other than Soldiers equally good can defend themselves at once if briskly charged in Front Flanks and Rear and since the Flanks and Rear of Foot them selves fight with great disadvantage against those who Charge them there all at once but when Horse are Charged in the Flanks and in the Rear 't is next of kin to a miracle if they 'scape being broken For the Troopers in the Ranks when they go to Charge are as close as the Riders knees can endure it and therefore 't is impossible for the Flanks to do any thing or the last Rank to face about and consequently they must have their backs expos'd to the Shot and Swords of their Enemy The Foot indeed will easily face about but then if the depth of Files be the advantage I have it who Charge every where four deep and they every way defend but three deep at the most If this way of fighting will afford me solid and great advantages against an Enemy equal to me in the goodness and number of his Soldiers I do not think it can be denied but if I fight against fewer or worse men than mine but greater and more certain benefits will result from it The chief Objection to this way of fighting that I know of is as to the Musketeers who being but four deep and advancing firing the first Rank cannot have loaded their Muskets again by that time the fourth Rank has done firing so that there will be an intermission of shooting To that I answer Let the Musketeers Charge their Muskets with such Cartridges as I have mentioned and the first Rank will be as soon ready if you are but four deep as the first Rank will be if you are six deep loading with Bandeleers especially if I use the Fire-lock and the Enemy the Match-lock Besides you will still have a Rank to fire till you fall in if you begin to fire but at a short distance which I would do to choose if I were six deep Lastly were both these denied which yet I must say I have on Experiment found to be true and a demonstration is the strongest proof It is not enough to say one method hath such Objections to it which the other hath not but all Objections to both methods are to be examined and that Rule is to be observed which on the whole matter has the least For how few things in the world would be entertained as best if only such were so against which no Objection could be made The first of the Ancients which I have read of who found it much more advantageous when the ground allowed it rather to extend the Ranks than deepen the Files was that great Captain Cyrus in his famous Battel against Cressus King of Lydia for Cyrus finding himself over numbred took off half the depth of his Files and added them to his Front whereby he won the Victory by overwinging Cressus As the drawing up the Infantry but four deep and the Cavalry but two deep where the ground will allow it has great advantages in Fight over those who draw up the Foot six deep and the Horse three deep so it has in marching for the shallower the Files are in the several Divisions the shorter the Army or Regiment must be in their long march which is a great ease to the Soldiers in and towards the Rear of
ground to believe he will attempt you during the obscurity and while you are unintrenched to cause great Piles of Wood or Fagots or some such combustible stuff to be ready to be kindled in fit places and at fit distances that if he advances you may the better see how to point your Cannon and dispose of your small Shot most effectually and by such Fires also terrifie and disorder his Horses which generally are frighted at the sight of Fire especially in the Night This I find was practised near Lorges in Beausse by Anthony King of Navarre Francis Duke of Guise and the Constable Montmorancy when Lewis Prince of Conde and the Admiral of Chastillion prest by the necessity of their Affairs went to attack the Royal Army by Night and which so much disheartned the Assaulters as they retreated The Quartering of your Army at all times but especially when that of the Enemies is very near ought to be in such manner as that the Soldiers may be soonest in Battalia to receive him and therefore to lodge it in the Form you will fight is still the very best that is that such Forces as compose your Wings and Body may have only to go out of their Hutts Tents Villages or Houses to be in the Figure you will fight in else in case of an Alarm the disorders will be many and dangerous but this way there can be but few if any The nearer you draw towards your Enemy or your Enemy to you your Quarters must alwayes be brought closer and your advanced Guards of Horse and Foot the stronger and your discovery the more vigilant III. The third is To be the first drawn up on the Ground you will fight in which is constantly attended with three considerable benefits The point of Honor which you gain by being the earliest on the spot which animates your own Party and often daunts your Enemies The being thereby enabled without opposition to possess all the advantages of the Ground either for the planting of your Cannon or for casting up Parapetts on some Eminencies which command all about it as Sir Francis Vere did at the Battel of Newport or by drawing up your Carriages or making a Ditch to cover one or both the Flanks of your Wings which you cannot well do if your Enemy be earlier or as early as you on the place The being thereby sometimes in a posture to fall upon and cut off your Enemies Squadrons and Battalions or to Rake them with your Cannon while they are drawing up which is an advantage when it may be taken that is of great use IV. The fourth is That your Squadrons of Horse ought not to be too great for the Reasons which I have formerly mentioned in that Chapter which Treats of the Disciplining of your Soldiery Yet if that need requires two nay three of the small ones may be put into one great one but still I would advise that the same Officers should command the same Squadrons when united as they did before By which means they will retain the Agility which is in small Parties and yet when there is need have the force of great ones and this I propound to be observed because whoever has been practically versed in fighting will hardly deny but that 150 Horse in two Squadrons will be likely to rout and beat 200 Horse in one Squadron And the reason to me seems very evident for besides the opportunity you have thereby to fall into his Flank and Rear whatever Body of Men does fight or has fought disorders it self though it gets the better and being disorder'd a less Number that is not to speak humanely must if the Men be equally good overthrow a greater that is And daily Experience shews how difficult if possible it is suddenly to Rally great Squadrons when by Fighting they have been disorder'd especially if but a small Squadron is at hand to fall on them and improve their being so discomposed Nor indeed can great Squadrons march many Paces though the Ground be clear and level without disordering their Ranks but if it be uneven or rugged they are almost out of their fighting Order before they come to fight which are mischiefs that less Squadrons are not so liable unto But Battalions of Foot as being more Governable may be large according to the occasion and need especially those which are composed of Pikes for a great Battalion or Stand of those in the Vanguard the Battel and the Rearguard of the Infantry are the safety of the whole and under their shelter All Rallyings may be best made V. The fifth is A General must never omit in the drawing up of his Army so to dispose of his Squadrons and Battalions as probably every one of them may come to fight again and again if the need requires before they are totally overthrown It is also observable that in a Battel whoever keeps in Reserve a Body of Men that are not led to fight until all the Enemies Squadrons have fought rarely misses to carry away the Victory and whoever has the last Reserves is very likely at last to be the Victorious One signal Illustration of this Truth among many I shall instance At the Battel of Dreux in France where the Constable Montmorancy assisted by Francis Duke of Guise the greatest Captains of that Age commanded the Royallists and Lewis Prince of Condé and the Admiral the Protestants He and the Admiral defeated all the Forces they saw took the Constable Prisoner past over the Bellies of the Swissers who made almost a miraculous resistance and concluded they had therefore won the Victory In the mean while the Duke of Guise who led the Left Wing of the French King's Army either by design as his Enemies said or as an act of high conduct so cover'd his Troops with the Village of Blainville and the Trees and Shrubs about it that he was not so much as seen by the Protestants nor moved from thence until the Constable was taken Prisoner the Mareschal de St. André killed and all those Forces which were considered by the Protestants as the whole Army of the Royalists were intirely routed and so confusedly flying as he was in no danger to have his Squadrons disordered by the Runawayes of his own Party but then advancing his Troops which were entire he soon turned the Fortune of the day took the Prince of Condé Prisoner and overthrew all that opposed him For 't is a tedious and difficult if not an impossible task to put into good order again an Army that has newly fought so as to bring it suddenly to fight again some being busied about the Pillage and Prisoners they have taken or are pursuing others being loth to return to new dangers and all in effect being so heated and disordered that they do not or will not hear the Commands of their Superiors VI. A sixth is A General must never bring all his Troops to fight at once and therefore is still to draw up his
much and if but moving a few paces the mischief is probably in some degree to be run into then so much the more care ought to be taken that as few paces may be so marched as possibly you can contrive I cannot see any solid Objection can be made hereunto in reference to your Artillery for those usually being drawn in the Front of your Battalions till you come to place them where they are to do execution they may be advanced still before the Front of your Army though you should march it but in one Line till you come near the Enemy but this as all things I write I shall chearfully submit to better judgments If you are desirous to come to a Battel with your Enemy and that he endeavors to shun it by constant Intrenched Campings and by having good Magazines and Arsenals with or near him and a plentiful Countrey at his devotion behind him which is usually the best Game of him whose Countrey is invaded for he has little reason to give you Battel when by keeping unfought with you cannot safely enter far into his Countrey leaving his Army intire behind you I say in such a case you ought by often Removings to try for an opportunity to give him Battel for since he is to attend your motions sometimes an occasion to fight him unexpectedly both to him and you may be offer'd you Sometimes also by your suddenly sitting down before a Garison of his and endangering the taking of it he may be induced to give you Battel which he would not do but in hope to prevent such a loss Sometimes it may be adviseable for you if you are much his Superior in strength with as little Baggage as possible and with as much Bread as your Men can carry and with Herds of fat Cattle to be driven with you which last is a Provision that carries it self to make Inroads into his Countrey both to destroy and pillage it this may provoke him to follow you lest his Countrey esteem him careless in the defence of it and thereby you may find opportunities to fight him And sometimes by your invading parts of his Territories at a considerable distance from those places where he has formed his Magazines either necessitate him to remove from them or else expose to your Army those Countries of his which you fall upon As Caesar by the like method drew Pompe from his Magazines and Fleet at Dirachium and made him follow him into Thessaly by which means Caesar won his famous Battel of Pharsalia I look upon it as a Maxim in War never to have the Army of the Invaded Countrey to give Battel to the Invading Army but on very great necessity or on very great advantages for the Invaded by losing a Battel may lose his Countrey but the Invader by losing one will but lose his Hopes his Baggage and as many Men as are kill'd in the defeat and few discreet Gamesters will play their All against little or nothing comparatively Therefore as the Invaded must still be careful to avoid a Battel so the Invader must still be forward to offer it on any fitting terms for should he not nothing else will keep up his Reputation which of all humane things ought most carefully and jealously to be kept up and increased in War In my private thoughts I cannot readily believe that any Kingdom can easily be Conquer'd where the true Principles and Methods of War are alwayes observed unless some great internal Revolutions of Affairs or general Revolts of Subjects should occasion such a misery And therefore whatever I have heard to the contrary I freely own I cannot be brought to believe that this present fatal War kindled almost all over Europe will have such great Progresses as some of more sanguine Complexions than I am have believed or rather fancied for though France has the formidablest League against it that perhaps was ever yet made in Europe against any one Monarch of it yet I cannot find the Advances of his Confederated Enemies are very considerable nor can I believe they will be for the Reasons formerly mentioned in this Book and also because he does by Intrenched Incampings and providing timely and plentifully for his Armies to eat frustrate in effect all the great Enterprises of his Enemies which is practicably to perform the solidest Maxims of War and whoever he be that can stedily observe them will find the necessary benefits which will result to him thereby unless a higher Power does turn the Wisdom of Man into Foolishness and against that stroke there neither is or can be any defence I shall now offer to Consideration three Particulars more which are I think useful to be observed previously to a Battel The first is That Orders be given that no chief Officer who commands a Squadron or Commissioned Officer who leads one with him have that Horse he Charges on advanced above the length of his head before the Front Rank of his Troopers My Reason for it is this Because if those who lead Squadrons to the Charge be before the Front Rank they either without cause adventure to be shot by their own Men behind them or hinder some of them from firing or which is far worse when both Bodies come to the shock such as are out of the Ranks and between both Bodies are needlesly exposed even when they are of most use to those Men they command and consequently the whole Army In answer to this I know some have said It does not a little animate the Squadrons to see the Officers which command them lead them on eight or ten Paces before the first Rank and then just as they are going to mingle to fall into it But I must say I believe good Soldiers need not such Airy Animations and the Bad will not fight well though they have more substantial ones Besides I believe it does rather Disanimate than Encourage Soldiers who have any consideration when they see those Officers whose Conduct they relie upon â—…ive them so ill an impression of it as doing a vain thing by which also they may too probably incapacitate themselves to command their Men when they are likely to have most need of being order'd to the best advantage either as to their Rallying if discomposed in the Charge or an orderly Pursuit if successful To which also may be added these two other Considerarations If the Officers advancing some Paces before their Men be a great Animating them may it not be a greater Disanimating of the Soldiery to see them when ready to Charge put themselves into the first Rank For their going before their Squadrons while there is no danger and the returning when there is will in all likelihood make the latter Action dishearten more than the former can encourage for all Animations are more effectual when the danger is at hand than when it is remote When the Squadrons advance to Charge the Troopers Horses and their own Knees are as close as they
can well endure so that it will be impossible for the Officers to fall into the Rank if it be well wedged up or if it be not thereby to give them admittance it may leave such Gaps in it as may hinder the close uniting of the Rank which is so necessary to make the Charge effectual and commonly the Officers Horses being of the best and of the highest mettle when they come among strange Horses especially backwards may by their fighting and kicking so disorder the Rank that the Enemy is more likely to come in at the breach than they I would also strictly forbid all those who have the chief Command of a Squadron to fight against any of the Enemies Squadron who should come out in a bravery to fight For who knows but the Enemy may send an ordinary Person but valiant on such an Exploit and if your chief Officer of a Squadron should engage with him his killing of the other will signifie little but his being kill d would much prejudice the whole Squadron and possibly thereby the whole Wing if not the whole Army Therefore still in such Pickeerings if they shall be judged necessary at all when Troops are ready to mingle only such young Gallants should be allowed to be the Actors whose deaths if they should happen will not be of such a Consequence as the Fall of an Officer who has the Honour and Trust to command a whole Squadron For in War I am an utter Enemy for the sake of Showes to hazard Substances And since the Nature of War â—…ves but too much to Uncertainty I would expose as little as might be of it to Choice or Capriciousness A second thing which I offer to Consideration is That your Standards or Cornets Colours in a day of Battel be in the second Rank For these Reasons They are safer there than in the first Rank and thereby the briskest of your Enemy has the least invitation to attempt the winning of them The chief and solid Ends of having Standards or Cornets flying is That Troopers if they are disordered in the Charge may see under what they are to Rally and it being a high disgrace to lose their Colours it makes Men fight the heartilier against those who would cast it on them therefore in my opinion those Cornets should still be placed in a Battel both for the greater safety of them and the better to answer the speedy Rallying under them where they are most useful and most secure which last I think will be in the second Rank For there every way that your Troop can be attack'd it has a Rank between it and the Enemy to defend them and all the Troop also to do it being it is in the Centre of it A third thing I offer to Consideration is That when your Enemy does very much overpower your Infantry that the Battalions of Pikes which are in your first Line may have only so many Colours flying at the head of them as will serve to let the Soldiers see where respectively they are to Rally in case of their being disorder'd or routed For nothing does more excite an Enemy to push for Colours than to see many and near him and since a few will serve to answer the need of orderly Rallying why should there be more in the first Line All the rest of the Colours I would have flying at the head of your Pikes in your second Line where they will be much safer and when the smoke of the Cannon and of the Small Shot is driven away by the Wind or so attenuated that your Enemies may see through it the sight of so many Colours flying at the head of your Battalions or Stands of Pikes casts a kind of dread on the Soldiery of your Enemy who having been accustomed to see Colours guarded by full Companies conclude those are the Pikes of so many intire Companies in your second Line as they see Colours flying at the head of those Pikes and makes them thereby even despair of vanquishing such a Force in your second Line especially if they have been vigorously opposed and much shatter'd by your first Line If in Objection to this it be said That in case you win the day though you should for a time lose any of your Colours yet as one of the many consequences of your Victory you will recover the Colours you lost and if you lose the Field they will as certainly be lost in the second Line as if they had been in the first To that I answer It is a disgrace to have had for any time any of your Colours in your Enemies possession and who knows also as soon as any of them are taken but some may convey them so expeditiously out of the Field as though you get the day you cannot get again your lost Colours Besides I have known a defeated Army at the close of the day which has had some success in the beginning of it and had then taken some Colours by shewing which in Places and Countries they retreated into have persuaded the People they were the Victorious and thereby have gotten the Recruits for their shatter'd Troops which nothing but such a Belief grounded on such Evidences could have procured for them During a Battel or in it it is the duty of the General still to send timely Succor to any of his Battalions or Squadrons and rather a little before than one moment after they need it And for that end to have several Gentlemen about him well known to the chief Officers of the Army to carry to them on the spur the necessary Orders from time to time It is also his duty when he sees a breach in his Army which nothing but his own presence can probably repair resolutely in person to lead those Troops which are to do it but as soon as ever it is made up then to return in person to that station from whence he may see how all things go that from thence he may timely send alwayes his requisite Orders He ought also neither too hastily to believe the Enemies Army is Routed and therefore to command the general pursuit for thereby he may hazard his dawning Victory nor too slowly to order the Follow of the Rout when he is satisfied it is Real and General for else he may lose the best advantages of his success A General ought when he sees a Wing of his Enemies Army palpably Routed by a Wing of his to draw as many as he can well spare from the second Line of his successful Wing to the rest of his Army leaving the rest to follow the execution that by such help and such order he may intirely and more safely both defeat such of his Enemies as yet make head and pursue those which are Routed He ought also never to think upon much less order his Army in a plain Field to receive the Charge but still to meet the Enemy in giving it Pompey in the decisive Battel of Pharsalia by the