Ralph Willett Adye

“ It is always dangerous to occupy a position, which has its rear so covered by swamps, crossed by rivers or ravines, &c. as to render the retreat of the army difficult. The number of passes by which an army can retire must be examined and secured, and should never be less than 5 or 6. The rivers, brooks, &c. in front of a position, should never be depended upon for a supply of water, as the enemy may cut them off. The ground for a camp should not be too much intersected by hedges, ditches, or ravines, which occasion great intervals in the line, and obstruct the communications through the camp. ”

“ In a defensive position, the guns of the largest caliber must be posted in those points, from whence the enemy can be discovered at the greatest distance, and from which may be seen the whole extent of his front.
In an offensive position, the weakest points of the line must be strengthened by the largest calibers; and the most distant from the enemy: those heights on which the army in advancing may rest its flanks, must be secured by them, and from which the enemy may be fired upon obliquely. ”

“ The obstacles on the flanks, should also be of such extent that they cannot be easily turned, without the enemy makes a very great circuit; and consequently exposes his own flank, and weakens his line of communication. In case the enemy detaches a body to attack a defensive position in the rear; the front must be sufficiently strong to enable the general to oppose the enemy’s detachment, by a strong body from his own army. In short, the enemy must not be able by any manœuvre to force the army to quit its position. ”

“ In an offensive position it is absolutely necessary that the army [Pg 243] should not be too much confined by obstacles, but be at liberty to act in every direction; but in a defensive position, the fewer accessible points there are the better: and if the natural difficulties in front and flank are not sufficient to render an enemy’s attack dangerous, they must be increased by redoubts, intrenchments, abbatis, inundations, &c. ”

“ The ground in front of a battery should be cut in steps, the more effectually to destroy the ricochet of the enemy. In case a ship can approach the battery so as to fire musquetry from her tops, a few light pieces placed higher up on the bank, will soon dislodge the men from that position, by a few discharges of case shot. It is also easy to keep vessels at a distance by carcasses, or other fire balls, which they are always in dread of.
Durtubie estimates, that a battery of 4 or 5 guns, well posted, will be a match for a first rate man of war. ”

“ Pontoons, when united as a bridge, will no doubt bear more in proportion, than when acted upon separately: but the weight which a pontoon will bear may be easily ascertained, by loading it with water till it sinks to any required depth, and then by calculating the number of cubic feet of water it contains, ascertain the number of pounds required to sink it to that particular depth. ”

“ The want of wood or water, or other supplies absolutely necessary for an army, renders every other advantage of a position useless; nor, can a position be long tenable, that is far removed from its depots ”

“ MECHANICS.—The whole momentum or quantity of force of a moving body, is the result of the quantity of matter, multiplied by the velocity with which it is moved; and when the product arising from the multiplication of the particular quantities of matter in any two bodies, by their respective velocities are equal, their momentum will be so too. ”

“ Intrenchments within the works add much to their defence. In large bastions with obtuse flanked angles, the best intrenchment is formed of the front of a fortification, or of two demi bastions and a curtain, connecting the angles formed by the flank and curtain. If this intrenchment be advanced to the shoulders of the bastion, so as to include its flanks, as is often the case, it will be subject to be taken in the rear, by the fire from the counter batteries opposed to the flanks. ”

“ Positions in the rear of the line are bad for artillery, because they alarm the troops, and offer a double object to the fire of the enemy.
Positions which are not likely to be shifted; but from whence an effect may be produced during the whole of an action, are to be preferred; and in such positions a low breast work of 2 or 3 feet high may be thrown up, to cover the carriages.
Artillery should never fire against artillery, unless the enemy’s troops are covered, and his artillery exposed; or unless your troops suffer more from the fire of his guns, than his troops do from yours. ”

“ The escort for a convoy should be divided into front, center, and rear guards; beside the divisions for the flanks, which should never be beyond musquet shot, or at most 400 yards from each other. The whole escort, should never be so separated that they could not be collected in an hour. Under proper precautions against an enemy, a convoy of any size cannot travel more than five or seven miles per day. ”

“ The smaller the angle is under which a shot is made to ricochet, the longer it will preserve its force and have effect, as it will sink so much the less in the ground on which it bounds and its tenacity will of course present so much less resistance to the shot’s progress. In the ricochet of a fortification of any kind, the angle of elevation should seldom be more than 10°, to throw the shot over a parapet a little higher than the level of the battery. ”

“ A mortar battery will not require any long fascines for the lining of the embrazures. The simplest method of ascertaining the number of fascines for a mortar battery, or for any other plain breast work, is to divide the length of work to be fascined in feet, by the length of each fascine in feet, for the number required for one layer, which being multiplied by the number of layers required, will of course give the number of fascines for facing the whole surface. ”

“ Batteries on a Coast—generally consist of only an epaulment, without much attention being paid to the ditch: they are, however, sometimes made with embrazures, like a common gun battery; but the guns are more generally mounted on traversing platforms, and fire over the epaulment. When this is the case, the guns can seldom be placed nearer than 31⁄2 fathoms from each other. The generality of military writers prefer low situations for coast batteries ”

“ No doubt a carriage of one construction will travel easier than of another, with the same weight; and where the mechanical advantage thus gained is greatest, the heaviest weight may be put, with the same number of horses; but in the carriages usually made for the service of artillery, 4 cwt. per horse, beside the weight of the carriage, is the utmost they ought to be allowed to draw.
The French ammunition waggons, which are drawn by 4 horses, are always charged with 1200 pounds only. ”

“ In an attack of the enemy’s position, the cross fire of the guns must become direct, before it can impede the advance of the troops; and must annoy the enemy’s positions nearest to the point attacked, when it is no longer safe to continue the fire upon that point itself.
The shot from artillery should always take an enemy in the direction of its greatest dimension; it should therefore take a line obliquely or in flank, but a column in front. [Pg 27]
The artillery should never be placed in such a situation, that it can be taken by an enemy’s battery obliquely, or in flank, or in the rear ”

“ If the situation will admit of the battery being sunk, even as low as the soles of the embrazures, a great deal of labour may be saved. In batteries without embrazures, this method may almost always be adopted; and it becomes in some situations absolutely necessary in order to obtain earth for the epaulment; for when a battery is to be formed on the crest of the glacis, or on the edge of the counterscarpe of the ditch, there can be no excavation but in the rear of the battery. ”

“ EXERCISE of Artillery.—With 9 men to a field gun.
When 15 men are attached for the service of a gun in the field, they are numbered from 1 to 15; but when the gun is not to be advanced by men, the first six numbers are left out, and the remaining nine men are numbered from 7 to 15. The exercise of field guns of a heavy nature varies but little from the light ones. Though different duties done by the men attached to the one, should, as nearly as possible, be kept up at the other ”

“ If at any time the battalion guns of several regiments should be united and formed into brigades, their movements will then be the same as those for the artillery of the park.
Artillery of the Park.
The artillery of the park is generally divided into brigades of 4 or 6 pieces, and a reserve, according to the force and extent of the front of an army. The reserve must be composed of about 1⁄6 of the park, and must be placed behind the first line. If the front of the army be extensive, the reserve must be divided. ”

“ A BATTERY in the field should never be discovered by the enemy till the very moment it is to open. The guns may be masked by being a little retired; or by being covered by troops, particularly cavalry.
To enable the commanding officer of artillery to choose the proper positions for his field batteries, he should of course be made acquainted, with the effect intended to be produced; with the troops that are to be supported; and with the points that are to be attacked; that he may place his [Pg 26] artillery so as to support, but not incommode the infantry ”

“ The weight and dimensions of shot or shells might be found by means of their specific gravities; (see the word Gravity;) but they may be found still easier, by means of the experimented weight of a ball of a given size, from the known proportion of similar figures, namely as the cubes of their diameters.
1st. To find the Weight of an Iron Ball from its Diameter—An iron ball of 4 inches diameter weighs 9 lbs. and the weights being as the cubes of their diameters, it will be as 64, (the cube of 4,) is to 9, so is the cube of the diameter of any other ball to its weight. ”

“ It must be understood, that simply to limber up, or to unlimber, means that the gun is to be placed upon its limber, or lifted off, without changing its direction; but guns may be limbered up to the front, to the right, or to the left, according as it is intended to advance in any one of those directions; and unlimbered to the rear to prepare for action to the front, to the left for action to the right, and to the right for action to the left. ”

“ Before an officer sets out to reconnoiter a country, he should trace out from the best map he can procure, its principal features, which will serve him as a guide in his progress through the principal parts which are to be the subject of his observations, and enable him to connect the whole into one grand plan. ”

“ Whatever size the bridge may be, infantry should never be allowed to [Pg 64] pass at the same time with carriages or cavalry. The carriages should always move at a certain distance behind each other, that the bridge may not be shook, by being overloaded. The horses should not be allowed to trot over the bridge; and the cavalry should dismount and lead their horses over. Large flocks of cattle must not be allowed to cross at once.
For the dimensions, weight, and equipage of a pontoon, see the word Pontoon. ”

“ If a place be not countermined before hand, a great deal may be done, even after the investment of the place, to prolong the siege by countermines. In this case, the first thing to be done immediately that the place is invested, to sink a shaft in each of [Pg 198] the places of arms of the covert way; one in each branch of the covert way, opposite that part of the bastion where the breach will most probably be made; and one in the flanked angle of each bastion. Those on the covert way will be on the banquette, and sunk to about 18 inches below the bottom of the ditch. ”

“ Another row of workmen should also be placed upon the parapet, to spread the earth and beat it down, as it is thrown up.
In fixing the fascines, three men will be sufficient for every 24 feet of the work, who should be provided with two mallets, a saw, and a handbill, or hatchet.
In order to form some idea of the time in which a field work may be completed, compute the number of cubic feet of earth to be excavated, thus; multiply half the sum of the breadth of the ditch at top and at bottom, by the depth, for the number of square feet in the profile ”

“ A parapet, to resist cannon, should never be less than 18 feet thick in earth, and 8 or 9 in masonry. A wall need only be two feet thick in masonry, to resist musquetry. The parapet should always be 41⁄2 feet above the banquette, and 71⁄2 or 8 feet above the rampart, or terre plein.
The Rampart should always be sufficiently wide to allow for the platform, and for two carriages passing each other; about 9 fathoms at top. A parapet of earth, though it takes more room, is always preferable to one of masonry, when it can be raised ”