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
to a great Army march in good safety in all common passages and in a large and open Country several and apart by it self And if it shall be thought that the Train will hereby be over-lengthened it may be helped by dividing it into three parts but in such a manner that the Vant-Guard may take the right hand the Battel the left equalling the Front with the Van and the Rear-Guard with the Ordnance and their appurtenances to march betwixt them both And hereby also the whole Train marching the more closed shall become the stronger and readier and every man prepared to know and fall into his proper rank and place without the least confusion As for the conduction and ordering of the general Carriages and Baggage belonging to an Army when it is to march It hath been found as well with the Ancients as Moderns to be disponed in five several parts As either before the Army when there was a suspicion of the Enemies charging in the Rear or behind when the Army was led towards the Enemy or on the one Flank when there was an expectation to be charged on the other or in the center of the Battel when a charge was looked for on all sides And thus much touching the ordering of an Army in its marching thorough a plain and champion Country it remaineth to speak somewhat about the conduction of an Army over Rivers and the like In which case if the Enemy be in appearance or near unto the Rear it will be fit in the first place to pass over some six or eight Pieces of the smaller sorts of Ordnance and so to lodge them on the other side of the River under good covertures that they may fully discover and play upon that part whence the danger is expected But withal a large half Moon is to be raised on the opposite side wherein the rest of the Ordnance are so to lie mounted that they may play upon all the approaches of the Enemy and withal flanker their friends and so favour them in their passage during the which interim those Pieces on the further side are likewise to be kept in continual play that so the Enemy may not without apparent hazard approach the Rear of the Army And if there be any suspicion of the Enemies falling upon the very tail of the Rear some small entrenchment is to be made wherein some small Pieces may be lodged and guarded with a convenient number of Musqueteers who are there to stay and make good the place until the Army be passed over the River and then themselves are last of all to take their passage in the last Boats under the favour of those Guns planted at the first on the further side of the River And in this manner did that famous Prince of Parma make his passage with his Army over the deep River Wale when Henry IV. of France with his Army followed him a long march in his Rear Thus I say may an Army make his passage over a River with Boats with good security though an Army of Enemies follow it in the Rear But if an Enemie lie on the further side of the River of purpose to hinder the passage of an Army over it then that course is very approvable which in the like case was put in practice by that super-eminent Commander the King of Swedeland when Tilly was on the further side of the River to oppose him who to that purpose made choice of a point of land so made by the serpentine bending of the River that he was to pass over the bank whereof on the side where the Kings own Army lay being a Pikes length higher then was that on Tillies side being also plain and without covert but the Enemies side Woodie and close Upon this point the King caused a running Trench to be cast up round about wherein Musqueteers were so lodged that out of it they might with good security give fire into the opposite Wood where Tilly with his Army lay in covert And the same Line or Trench had a great Battery besides at each end of it whereon some Demy-Cannons and Culverins were mounted with many lesser Batteries betwixt them for some smaller Pieces all alongst the point the which also were every where lined and intermingled with Musqueteers The Bridge for the passage of the Kings Army for by a Bridge they were forced to pass was made with Planks and the like materials The means to support this Bridge was by certain strong Tressels whose feet were long enough to fathom the depth of the River And these Tressels had great stones made fast to their legs wherewith to sink them and the length of the Tressels were proportioned to the just depth of the River in every place where they were to be placed so that the Planks upon the uppermost part of the Bridge were to lie almost even with the surface of the water The Bridge thus fitted and laid over the Kings Pioneers were instantly commanded to pass over upon it and cast up a small Half Moon with a Pallisado fitted unto it upon that side of the River the which works were so contrived as that they did answer in every particular those of the Enemies made for his Musqueteers and withal served to cover the Bridge and to latch such great shot as should be made upon the Bridge And these Pioneers were secured in their workings by the Cannons and Musqueteers of their Party lodged on the opposite side of the River Now the reasons inducing to the choice of the Part and the manner of the Works were in that the crookedness and serpentine course of the River did afford a conveniencie by flanking it on every side to defend the Bridge being laid over just upon the point of land so that it could not be touched by any of the Enemies Batteries though they were on each side thereof because by the sudden shouldering away of the bank of the River at either end none of the Enemies Cannon could bear or beat upon the Bridge but that either the bullets fell short being latched by the Half Moon aforesaid and the heighth of the bank of the River or else flew quite over the Kings Leaguer and so did no execution By which means the Kings Army passed over safely and being over routed the Enemy and killed their General that brave old man And thus you have some rules and advertisements about the conduction of an Army over Rivers by Boats and Bridges But if an Army be to pass over a River by a Foord and an Enemy ready to resist on the further side As it is to be known that that Army runs a great hazard which is thus put to it so is it not to be practised but upon most urging causes and then with all cautions possible among which I shall propound these following That in the passage the most of the Horse be ordered to pass in the Front and the Foot to march close up after them for the Horse
over-winging of the Enemy or else to make the fairer shew and outside of an Army whereby to dis-hearten the Enemy and withal to deceive him The doubling of the Files or Depth to be done either in respect of the straitness and narrowness of the place or for the better strengthening of the battel or to draw an Enemy to fight when you have the advantage of him And thus have you the Genuine uses of both these kinde of doublings as well in length as depth wherein nevertheless due heed is to be taken that in doubling of the Front there be not given so much length that it fail in its due depth nor so much depth that the Front be over-narrowed and so subject to be environed the want of length and depth in an ordered Army for a battel being equally disadvantagious and reprovable For when it is embattelled over-shallow it can endure no shock when over-deep it is easily encompassed and in danger to be utterly ruined that way To comply therefore with all these advantages and provide against the defects I shall describe a modern form of embattelling an Army for a fight that hath received a very general approbation and deserves as general an imitation And it is in this manner supposing the Army to consist of twenty thousand men all other numbers being to be proportioned accordingly in the Front of the Van are to be Wings of the best Troops of Horse to be somewhat advanced before the main Front of the foot of the Van These Horse to be divided into several maniples or small bodies and the Divisions to be well lined with Musqueteers The Van of the Battel or Middle-Guard to be ordered into four Brigades of Pikes and Musqueteers the middle Front of every Brigade being to be somewhat advanced before which part the Artillery is to be placed and to secure it three divisions of Musqueteers with some Troops of Horse near unto them are to be ordered immediately behinde these four Brigades and all these bodies are to be well lined with Musqueteers in every one of their Divisions and for a strength to these also some Cannons may be placed in the Rear of them all In the Rear of the right Wing is to be placed rwelve Troops of Horse and as many in the Rear of the left Wing As for the Rear of the main Battel or Middle-Guard it is to be ordered into three Brigades of Foot the which are to serve for a Reserve of that Body And every middle Front of each Brigade to be somewhat advanced as those in the Van. And in the Rear of all these two half Regiments of Horse of five Troops apiece Now the grounds of this order of embattelling of an Army for a battel are these That every part of it consisting thus of several maniples and small Bodies if any one of them should happen to be broken yet is there not so much danger any thing near as when an Army is ranged into great Battalions because they may with far more ease by reason of the agility of their motion as being little Bodies and the small piece of ground which they take up to move in be restored and supplied then a main great Body can possibly be Secondly In that though the thinness of the Files which are said to be at the best when they are not above six in depth may not perhaps be able to endure any main shock or force yet by this order shall more hands be brought up to fight at once then can be in great Bodies and shall also be more able to do execution on the sudden Thirdly In that in this order every part so fenceth flankers and backs one another and is so apt to second relieve and support one another so ready either to send out supplies or to receive them as that the whole Body looks like some Master-Piece of Fortification and indeed becomes so having as it were its Bastils Towers Bulworks and several Retreats So that though many several and individual persons may chance to be laid on the ground yet shall the whole order be preserved from being dis-joynted and much more the great Body of the Army from being routed Thus I have laid down a forme of ranging an Army for a Battel which some have stiled Admirable And yet I must tell you that it hath not been free from objections and those made by some old Souldiers or at the least Souldiers of elder time For first they say that in respect that private Companies cannot hold long in their full strength and due numbers being in the Field by reason of sickness slaughter and the like accidents that thus to order an Army into small bodies and as it were into private and particular Companies by themselves their Vollies of shot can neither be great nor the harm great that the Enemy shall receive by them But to this it may be answered that we speak not here of the ordering of particular Companies by themselves but of small Bodies made up of private Companies as cause shall require so that though it be true that the strength of the Army may be weakned by these accidents of death or otherwise yet the divisions may stand fast and full Though it is as true that there will be fewer Divisions which makes nothing against the order in general Secondly these Objectors say That the mixing of the Shot and Pikes together in distinct Companies weakneth and disableth the whole Body for say they by casting off the Shot in this manner the intervals and streets are made so empty and wide that the Enemies Horse are enabled to break in and disorder them And if the Shot be not thus cast off but kept close and so made to discharge in Countermarch they are hereby apt to be thronged together by the Pikes and the distance of place being taken from them the use of their weapons also must needs fail them and so all come to ruine But to this Objection also it may be answered That all this may be helped by the uniting of these bodies into one as shall be found necessary nor need these Shot be so removed from their Body of Pikes by any casting off but that they may be reunited with ease on a sudden nor shall they be thronged by their Pikes or deprived of their distances of place because they shall not need holding this order to discharge at all in Countermarch Thirdly and lastly it is objected against this foresaid order of embattelling an Army into small Bodies that in what manner soever the Shot be employed there must needs be a weakness in the Rear so that the Enemies Horse may break in at pleasure But to this it is again replied that the uniting of the small Divisions being carefully observed assureth against all these assaults and perils And that all these objections fall rather upon the embattelling of a single Regiment then the forming of a Battel or Army made up of ten or twenty thousand men And thus
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
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