Military camp

“ There is something very fascinating about a military camp—it is always so precise and trim—the little tents for the men pitched in long straight lines, each one looking as though it had been given especial attention, and with all things is the same military precision and neatness. It was afternoon stables and we rode around to the picket lines to watch the horses getting their grooming.
When I got home Faye was quick to tell me that I would certainly be killed if I continued to ride every untrained horse that came along! ”

“ Any man who cares to go into a military camp—by permission of the officer commanding, of course—and has the tact and patience to win the confidence of the soldiers in the camp, can hear stories equally good, and plenty of them. For, as previously remarked, camp life breeds yarns. ”

“ Just as it was dark there came into camp, with a good band at their head, a remarkably stout-looking set of fellows, armed with rifle and bayonet, very tall, in heavy marching order, and stepping out like men who knew their business. ”

“ If the camp is to be occupied for a considerable length of time, as for cantonments or winter-quarters, the greater must be the care in selecting its position and in the arrangement for the health and comfort of the soldiers. In the latter case, (of winter-quarters,) the engineer's art should always be called in play to form intrenchments, lines of abattis, inundations, &c., to render the position as difficult of access to the enemy as possible.
A bivouac is the most simple kind of camp. ”

“ Directly afterwards bang, crack, bang! was heard from the distant camp, when, in an instant, every height was seen covered with men. The travellers and their attendants hastened on, when before them appeared three large red flags, heading a military procession which marched out of the camp, with drums and fifes playing. ”

“ The disposition of the troops in camp should depend on the nature and situation of the ground: as there are occasions which require all the infantry to encamp on the right, and the cavalry on the left; and there are others which require [76] the cavalry to form in the centre, and the infantry on the wings.
7. A camp should never be formed on the banks of a river, without the space of at least 2 or 3000 feet, for drawing out the army in order of battle: the enemy cannot then easily alarm the camp, by artillery and small arms from the other side. ”

“ One thing very essential in the establishing a camp, and which should be particularly attended to, if the enemy is near; is, that there should not only be a commodious spot of ground at the head of the camp, where the army, in case of surprise, may in a moment be under arms, and in condition to repulse the enemy: but also a convenient field of battle at a small distance, and of a sufficient extent for them to form advantageously, and to move with facility. ”

“ Encampment. The pitching of a camp. The act of pitching huts or tents, as by an army, for temporary lodging, or rest; the place where an army or company is encamped. There are intrenched camps, where an army is intended to be kept some time, protected against the enemy; flying camps, for brief occupation; camps of position, bearing relation to the strategy of the commander; and camps of instruction, to habituate the troops to the duties and fatigues of war.
Enceinte. In fortification, denotes generally the whole area of a fortified place. ”

“ By this means every battalion covers its own tents, and they can all lodge themselves, or turn out in case of necessity, at a minute’s warning.
If the front of the camp is greater than the line, the troops must leave large intervals, or expose their flanks; if less, the troops will not have room to form with the proper intervals. ”

“ About an hour after, it must be proclaimed, in and about the camp and adjacent country, that no officer, soldier, sutler, or inhabitant of the villages, &c. shall on any account go more than one quarter of a league from the army. Small scouring parties, with the provost marshal’s field patroles, must be distributed beyond these limits, in order to pick up stragglers, and to search their persons lest they should be the bearers of letters, &c. A great number of small ambuscades must be laid along the leading avenues between the enemy’s camp and your own. ”

“ I don't know that it is possible to construct anything more atrociously hideous or uninteresting than a Base Camp. It consists, in military parlance, of nothing more than:—
Fields, grassless 1 Tents, bell 500
In fact, a huge space, once a field, now a bog, on which are perched rows and rows of squalid tents. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Each regiment has generally 6, and sometimes 1 per company: [77] they always march with the quarter-master, to assist in making the necessary preparations against the arrival of the regiment in a new encampment. They likewise carry the camp-colors.
Camp-Fight, an old term for Combat.
Flying-Camp, or army, generally means a strong body of horse and foot, commanded for the most part by a lieutenant-general, which is always in motion both to cover its own garrisons, and to keep the enemy’s army in a continual alarm. It is sometimes used to signify the ground on which such a body of men encamps. ”

“ Some are stationed in the churches or the neighboring villages, in barns, houses, and in passages and avenues of woods: others are stationed on the borders of rivulets, and in every place necessary to secure the camp. Guards that are stationed in churches, in woods or among trees, barns, and houses, should if possible, be seen from the army, or at least from some grand guard in its neighborhood, that signals may be readily perceived and repeated. ”

“ When the troops in the advanced camp of the army begin to assemble, the commanding officer of the artillery repairs to head-quarters, and communicates with the commander in chief.—Utensils, stores, and ammunition, are forwarded to the camp, and every soldier is provided with ten or twelve rounds of ball cartridge, before he commences his march against the enemy.—These articles having been distributed, the waggons and horses return to the train of artillery, and proper dispositions are made to connect the whole line of march. ”

“ Modern fields of battle are much more extended than those of the ancients, whence it becomes necessary to study operations on a large scale. A much greater degree of experience and military genius is requisite for the direction of a modern army than was necessary for an ancient one."
Figure 9 represents a camp (on favorable ground) of a grand-division of an army, composed of two brigades or twelve battalions of infantry, twelve squadrons of cavalry, five batteries of artillery, and three companies of engineers. ”

“ The sentries on the outposts are always to be doubled. No officers, soldiers, or followers of the camp, are on any account to be suffered to pass the outposts, without they are on duty, or present a regular pass from head-quarters.
The men on advanced picquets are to carry their provisions with them, ready cooked, when circumstances will permit. The cavalry to carry sufficient forage for the time they are to be out. ”

“ True-to-life stories of the camp and field in the great war.
1. THE KHAKI BOYS AT CAMP STERLING
or Training for the Big Fight in France
Two zealous young patriots volunteer and begin their military training. Together they get into a baffling camp mystery.
2. THE KHAKI BOYS ON THE WAY
or Doing Their Bit on Sea and Land
Our soldier boys having completed their training at Camp Sterling are transferred to a Southern cantonment from which they are finally sent aboard a troopship for France. ”

“ Good water within a convenient distance, is also an essential element in the choice of ground for a camp; without this the soldiers' health is soon undermined. The proximity of running streams is also important for the purposes of washing and bathing, and for carrying off the filth of the camp. ”

“ Camp-followers. The sutlers, traders, and dealers generally; also civilian employés, servants, and women who follow troops, and are amenable to the regulations and restrictions of the service.
Camp-guard. A camp-guard consists of [85] one or two rows of sentinels placed around a camp, and relieved at regular intervals. The number of rows of sentinels, and the distance between each man, will depend upon the character of the ground and the degree of danger apprehended. ”

“ The government built 16 draft army camps and 16 national guard camps. There were also numerous other military zones where smaller bodies of troops were trained. The draft army camps were located so as to house the men from different sections of the country, as a glance at the list of camps will show:—
Camp Devens, Massachusetts; Camp Upton, New York; Camp Dix, New Jersey; Camp Meade, Maryland; Camp Lee, Virginia; Camp Jackson, South Carolina; Camp Gordon, Georgia; Camp Sherman, Ohio; Camp Taylor, Kentucky; Camp Custer, Michigan; Camp Grant, Illinois; Camp Pike, Arkansas; Camp Dodge, Iowa ”

“ To PITCH a camp, (asseoir un camp, Fr.) to take a position, and to encamp troops upon it according to the principles of castrametation. See Am. Mil. Lib.
To PITCH a tent, to place a certain regulated quantity of canvas upon poles, so as to afford a temporary cover, against the inclemencies of the weather for one or more, officers or private soldiers. In order that the men may become expert in pitching and striking tents, they ought to be practised whilst in camp to do either. ”

“ Had we nothing which we could call our own except the bare ground on which to fight?' Your ancestors looked upon a camp as a safe haven for the army against every mischance, from which they went out to battle, where, after being tossed in the storm of battle, they could find a safe retreat. ”

“ A camp is a resting-place for the victor, a shelter for the vanquished. How many armies to whom the fortune of battle has proved unkindly have been driven inside their ramparts and then at their own time, sometimes almost immediately, have made a sortie and repulsed their victorious foe? Here is the soldier's second fatherland, here is his abode, with the rampart for its walls; here each finds in his tent, his home and his household gods. Ought we to have fought as homeless wanderers with no place to receive us after our victory? ”

“ The day closes early in these great camps. At half-past eight the recreation huts close their doors. Concerts and entertainments are over. The men stream back to their tents along muddy roads, laughing, chatting, singing. Lights appear in the tents, and a glow, red or white, shines through the canvas. One after another these are extinguished. The “Last Post” sounds from a dozen bugles. The multitudinous noises of camp life die away. The rifle-fire which has crackled all day on the ranges has long ceased. The spluttering of machine guns in the training camps vexes the ear no more. ”

“ Early in the morning of Wednesday, the 12th of April, without the stirring drum or the bugle call of old, the camp awoke to the new life. Whether or not they had a country, these soldiers did not know. Home to many, when they reached it, was graves and ashes. At any rate, there must be, somewhere on earth, a better place than a muddy, smoky camp in a piece of scrubby pines;347 better company than gloomy, hungry comrades and inquisitive enemies, and something in the future more exciting, if not more hopeful, than nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep, nothing to do, and nowhere to go. ”

“ Assuming the lodge—there was but one—as the centre of the camp, it was placed upon the edge of a small grove, and fronting the stream. From the tent to the water’s edge, the plain sloped gently downward, like the glacis of a fortification. The smooth sward, that covered the space between the trees and the water, was the ground of the camp. On this could be seen the dusky warriors, some afoot, standing in listless attitudes, or moving about; others reclining upon the grass, and still others bending over the fires, as if engaged in the preparation of their evening meal. ”

“ There is always the distant cavalry bugle to rouse one; it blows first. Seeing the embers of our great fire still glowing in the dusk, I went there to warm myself, and stood there listening to the sounds from the still sleepy camp. Drowsy voices, a footfall here and there, the crackle of fire and the tinkle of pots at the cook tents. ”

“ Our camp, with two others consisting of Europeans and Fingoe Levies, was on a green level plain, between the fort and the River Chumie, beyond which rose a fine range of lofty mountains.
Anything more miserable in the shape of barrack accommodation than the officers' quarters in the fort can hardly be conceived; uneven floors of dried cow-dung, bending walls of "wattle and daub," smoke-blackened rafters and thatch, crazy doors, and ill-fitting windows, which exclude the light and admit in turn, wind, rain, and clouds of sand, are the characteristics of the best. ”

“ Our camp well rested and refreshed see,
Provided well gainst this last storm and shower,
And then in pitched field, fight, if you will;
If not, delay and keep this fortress still.
CXXIX
“But lest you be endangered, hurt, or slain,
Of all your cares take care yourself to save,
By you this camp doth live, doth win, doth reign,
Who else can rule or guide these squadrons brave?
And for the traitors shall be noted plain,
Command your guard to change the arms they have,
So shall their guile be known, in their own net
So shall they fall, caught in the snare they set.” ”