Military winter quarters

“ There is always a considerable amount of business labor connected with the sudden assembly of new troops in a city like Sandusky. Provision must be made for quarters and for their subsistence. The militia were not like troops accustomed to take the field, and were not provided with tents. The autumn was well advanced, and severe winter weather was likely to come at any time. Competent officers had to be selected to take responsible charge of each of the supply departments, including arms and ammunition. ”

“ It must be admitted, however, that there will always be a risk in going into winter quarters if the enemy keeps his army in a body and seems inclined to make offensive movements; and the conclusion to be drawn from this fact is, that the only method of giving secure repose to an army in winter or in the midst of a campaign is to establish it in quarters protected by a river, or to arrange an armistice. ”

“ In Poland, Russia, portions of Austria and France, in Spain and in Southern Italy, it is more difficult to put an army into winter quarters.
Formerly, it was usual for each party to go into winter quarters at the end of October, and all the fighting after that time was of a partisan character and carried on by the advanced troops forming the outposts. ”

“ We have now arrived at what may be called the great winter lull, when the continuation of active operations was made impossible by the weather conditions, which were of the most atrocious description. It was the season which in a more classic age of warfare was spent in comfortable winter quarters. There was no such surcease of hardship for the contending lines, who were left in their trenches face to face, often not more than fifty yards apart, and each always keenly alert for any devilry upon the part of the other. ”

“ Gentlemen reprobate the going into winter quarters as much as if they thought the soldiers were made of sticks, or stones. I can assure those gentlemen that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to remonstrate in a comfortable room, than to occupy a cold bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothing or blankets. ”

“ In all the arenas of the great struggle, the winter campaign of 1915-16, the second winter of the war, was accompanied by unparalleled hardships and sufferings. It was, in fact, described by Major Moraht, military expert of the Berliner Tageblatt and the best known German military critic, as "the most terrific campaign in the world's history." Hundreds of thousands of men of all classes, in all the armies stretched along the battle fronts east and west, struggled against wind, weather, and winter amid conditions of the most extreme self-denial. ”

“ In disposing of the troops, therefore, until the time for action should return, wood and water, a healthy situation, convenience for supplies of provisions, stations which would enable them to cover the country, and to defend particular positions, were the objects taken into consideration, and were all to be consulted.
The American army goes into winter quarters. ”

“ Arrived in camp about dark last night and found the regiment in a mud hole without quarters fit to live in. How white men could be content to erect such winter quarters is beyond comprehension. Even the Johnnies do better. These quarters are the worst ever seen, besides being dirty. All are indignant and aggrieved at such ill treatment. It has rained or snowed hard all day to add to our discomfort ”

“ What then is to become of the army this winter? And if we are now as often without provisions as with them, what is to become of us in the spring, when our force will be collected, with the aid perhaps of militia, to take advantage of an early campaign before the enemy can be reinforced? ”

“ The snow that was on the ground got a crust that would easily have borne a man on snow-shoes; but these useful inventions were not employed by the Russian troops.
Sometimes, when there were blizzards, the trenches were nearly filled with drifted snow; and more than once, the men were buried above their waists. This was an inconvenience from the military point of view; but the men did not object to it as it kept them warm; and snow-huts were much used during the winter, both because they were difficult to be discerned by a distant enemy, and because they make remarkably warm sleeping-places. ”

“ When the army went into winter quarters the soldiers were a little more comfortable. Morristown and Valley Forge were the two representative winter quarters. The location of these permanent camps was usually chosen because of the ease with which building materials could be obtained or because there was easy access to food supplies.
As orders came to go into winter camp the men were divided into companies of twelve. ”

“ The Americans make much of it—with great justice. They defeated the best regiments of an army which had proved itself, in face of the picked troops of Napoleon, the first in Europe. When winter is well established in these high latitudes, perhaps it is, under ordinary circumstances, more favourable to military operations than it is in lower latitudes, where tremendous rains alternate with heavy snow-storms, which do not form permanent deposits over which to move men or guns. ”

“ A winter campaign is under no circumstances child's play; but here, where the troops had no cantonments to take shelter in, where large bodies were collected in one spot, and where the want of sufficient fuel soon made itself felt, it told with the greatest severity upon the health, not of the British alone, but of the French and Turkish troops.... To the severity of the winter the whole army can bear ample testimony. ”

“ Military men agree that a winter in camp is the most demoralizing influence to which any troops can be subjected. To the new soldiers of the South it was a terrible ordeal—not so much from the actual privations they were called upon to endure as from other and more subtle difficulties, against the imperceptible approaches of which they could not guard. The Government had used every effort to make the men comfortable, and to supply them with all necessaries at its disposal ”

“ The armies do not go into winter quarters as they did in the old days. The soldiers in the present war will suffer from the cold; the icy roads will make it difficult for horses to keep their footing; the snow will block roads and delay marching and transportation, just as has happened in the wars of the past under similar weather conditions. Modern methods of transportation are so well-organized that winter storms and cold do not interfere as much as was formerly the case, yet the movements. ”

“ The Army of the Potomac, having ended its historic work of the memorable year 1863, went into winter quarters around Culpeper Court-House, with Brandy Station for its base of supplies. My brigade occupied log huts on John Minor Botts' (10) farm, partly constructed by the Confederates prior to November 8th.
The caring, in winter, for a large army calls for great vigilance, skill, and energy. The season not permitting much opportunity for drill, discipline is hard to maintain. Sickness becomes prevalent, and there is much unrest, both of officers and soldiers. ”

“ Winter Quarters.—A soldier in the Southern army had no abiding place to stay or at least only temporary. In winter quarters in the dugout, rude cabin, tent, or bivouacing primitive life was fairly illustrated and it is surprising to people accustomed to the conveniences of life to realize how few of these conveniences soldiers are supplied with. Very often one little frying pan or kettle performs its round of service for an entire village of cabins or tents, and it is not unusual in camp to hear the owner of an implement or vessel cry out “come home frying pan” or “come home coffee pot.” ”

“ Thus military operations in summer are liable to be prejudiced by a shortage of water; in winter by an excess. The ideal season for operations is therefore in the spring, when there is an abundance of water and a plentiful feed ”

“ The conduct of affairs where a great army lies in winter quarters, making a peculiar sort of community by itself, has its picturesque and interesting details and incidents, as well as its general dulness. The reader may get a suggestive glimpse of the camp on the north side of the Rapidan that winter, if he will look at it through the eyes of Captain Blake:
"The army steadily advanced in successive years from river to river, and erected its winter quarters upon the banks of the Potomac, the Rappahannock, and the Rapidan. ”

“ The men are also kept warm by having hot coffee served to them at intervals of two hours throughout the night. The chief object, of course, of winter manœuvres is to accustom soldiers to sleep in tents during severe weather, and to learn to know the conditions which winter campaigning imposes. ”

“ We must, however, go further. It will be remembered that the expedition proceeded to the Crimea at a late season, and after much sickness at Varna, in obedience to the orders of the Home Government—who apparently did not foresee the probability of a winter campaign with open trenches before a half-beleaguered city, and the inevitable hardships and [Pg 68] losses which must ensue. For some time during the winter of 1854 the English army was diminishing from invaliding and casualties at the rate of 100 men a day. ”

“ To push an advance in such country at the most favorable season of the year involves the solution of the most complicated military problems. The country itself offers comparatively few opportunities for keeping even a moderate-sized army sufficiently supplied with food and water for men and beasts. But considering that the Russian advance was undertaken during the winter, when extremely low temperatures prevail, and when vast quantities of snow add to all the other natural difficulties in the way of an advancing army, the Russian successes were little short of marvelous. ”

“ The duties of the winter were the usual military ones of drill, fatigue, guard, and picket, supplemented by the carrying out of an order to have the troops in line of battle every morning at from shortly before daybreak until sunrise, that they might rush to the parapets and repel any attempted surprise by the enemy, who were doubtless standing in a shivering line behind their works as we were behind ours, both lines with an identical fear. ”

“ All sorts of constructive work—fortification building, the erection of stations for telegraphs, telephones and wireless, etc.—is naturally much more difficult in frozen ground. General von der Goltz of the German Army is said to have recommended many years ago that in view of possible winter campaigns provision should be made in quantity of warm winter clothing, materials for the building of barracks, making double tents, etc. Another important preventive of suffering and the consequent diminished efficiency is to provide plenty of good hot food for the men. ”

“ There is a steadily growing volume of opinion among men who are in a position to form a cool judgment that, partly for financial and partly for physical reasons, a second winter campaign cannot possibly be undertaken by any of the combatants engaged in the present struggle. If that view be well founded, it follows that peace on some terms or other will be concluded by October or November at the latest. ”

“ The quartermaster's department furnishes excellent buffalo overcoats and fur caps, and men can march and [Pg 21] can live on cold food in the middle of a bitter winter: but when the blizzard comes, the troops must seek the nearest shelter, and use every means to keep themselves alive. In many instances their wagons are broken up for fuel, as there are vast areas on the plains where no timber grows. ”

“ I am sure I never thought of such a thing.” “Yes; but it is yours to touch your hat to me first. I hope you will never allow me again to fail in my duty to you.” Civility at Newport News, after that, was not so often forgotten.
When the cold weather approached, early in December, a general order was issued, directing the erection of barracks for winter quarters. Each regiment, and each company of a regiment, were required to build their own houses. ”

“ An army of one hundred thousand men may find it not very difficult to have a compact and well-connected system of winter quarters in countries where large towns are numerous. The difficulty increases with the size of the army. It must be observed, however, that if the extent of country occupied increases in proportion to the numbers in the army, the means of opposing an irruption of the enemy increase in the same proportion. The important point is to be able to assemble fifty thousand or sixty thousand men in twenty-four hours. ”

“ If our troops continue to be increased, which we may reasonably suspect, since, if arguments like these be admitted, pretences for augmentations can never be wanting, the consequences are easily foreseen; they will grow too numerous to be quartered in the towns, and, with an affectation of easing them of such unwelcome guests, it will be proposed, that after having spent the summer in a camp, they shall retire in winter to barracks. Then will the burden of a standing army be imposed for ever on the nation ”

“ In April, when the snow had melted, we began to drill again for the first time since leaving Carlisle Barracks. We had lived more like pioneers than soldiers. Early in May orders were received to abandon Fort Lookout, where we had worked so hard to build quarters, and to proceed to Fort Randall, where the regimental headquarters and four companies had gone when Fort Pierre was abandoned a year ago. We went into camp and began to tear down the company quarters for they were built of hewn timber, which it was desirable to save. We also took down the officers' houses. ”