Regimental commander

“ As a platoon commander, I was responsible for the fifty men under me, and all the information it was necessary for me to have was included in the orders which Goyle, my company commander, gave for the movements of my platoon. Therefore, for general knowledge of the battle, I had to rely on such deductions as I could make from sound of firing on my right and left and any gossip I could pick up when I went back to regimental headquarters.
Advancing to attack in these days of modern warfare is a very slow business. ”

“ This corps was likely to render very valuable service, by rapidly conveying a few skilled riflemen to distances and over tracts which would be beyond the reach of infantry.
The commander-in-chief, a man indefatigable in the performance of his duties, acquired for himself the reputation of being a general who insisted on all the duties of regimental service being properly attended to by the officers; to the effect that all alike should work for the common cause, in camps and barracks, as well as in the field. ”

“ For the Machine Gun Company Commander—Distribution of machine guns and emplacements, limits of machine gun fire sectors, emergency and special uses of M. G.
When such a complete reconnaissance cannot be made, only commanders of units precede their troops and make a short reconnaissance of one or two hours.
Relief Orders (1) Regimental Orders. Usually the general order for the relief of a sector is settled on in conference by the colonels of the relieving and relieved regiments. This order is sent to the battalion commanders, if possible, before the reconnaissance. ”

“ In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. ”

“ In taking leave of Lieut.-Colonel Burne, the officers, and men of His Majesty’s Thirty-sixth regiment, the Commander-in-Chief cannot refrain from expressing his sincere regret at losing from under his command a corps so eminently distinguished for important services in the field, and for discipline, order, and regularity, in every situation. Of a regiment whose merits are so well known, it is unnecessary to say much: their gallant exertions will receive their best reward in the applause and gratitude of their country. ”

“ When a corps is so striking in appearance, and so complete in every branch of its discipline, little can occur to the Commander-in-chief to particularize. He cannot but notice, however, that the Seventy-first regiment has excited his admiration for its expertness in those parts of its exercise which are most essential, and most difficult to execute. ”

“ His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief having witnessed the glorious services of Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST and fiftieth regiments, I have only to report upon Her Majesty’s fifty-third, a young regiment, but veterans in daring gallantry and regularity.
“To Captain Lugard (THIRTY-FIRST regiment) the Assistant-Adjutant-General of this force, I am deeply indebted, and the service still more so; a more cool, intrepid, and trustworthy officer cannot be brought forward. ”

“ The Commander of the Forces cannot part with the officers and non-commissioned officers of the second battalion of the Fifth regiment, without again requesting them to accept his thanks for their uniform good conduct and brilliant and important services since they have been under his command. ”

“ The military correspondent of The Times sounded a sane note, in the midst of the great [Pg 19] clamour about the shortage of shells, when he bade us remember the value of good infantry, dashing in the attack, steady on the defensive. The Regimental Officer is the soul of our infantry. No matter that he is a boy, or that he is out from home but a few weeks, his sergeants will do the technical part of the job if needs be. But the Regimental Officer will show them all how to die. ”

“ The officers of the Ninety-Eighth who belonged to the garrison staff were also required to perform their regimental duty. The painstaking and laborious chief thus notes in his journal the progress of the regiment in the midsummer of 1845: "Parade as usual morning and evening; men improving, but still in great want of individual correctness in carriage, facings, motions of the firelock, etc.; but they move in line and open column very fairly, and I confidently expect before the end of the year to have them more perfect than any battalion in this part of the world." ”

“ The share which the British army have had in producing those events, and the high character with which the army will quit this country, must be equally satisfactory to every individual belonging to it, as they are to the Commander of the Forces, and he trusts that the troops will continue the same good conduct to the last. ”

“ To be raised at once from a position so subordinate and anomalous, so unrecognised and so fraught with useless peril as that of a gentleman volunteer, from the ranks as it were of that army whose dreadful sufferings he shared and whose many dangers he risked—to be raised to the rank of an officer in a regiment so distinguished as the Royal Fusiliers, and to be at once, temporarily though it were, placed on the general's staff, and beyond the reach of Cosmo's coldness, pique, and hauteur, was indeed to be independent, and to taste of happiness supreme! ”

“ Under these circumstances, may I be permitted to hope that you will do me the favour to lay at His Majesty’s feet my humble petition that the Eighty-seventh regiment may be appointed a light infantry corps, which, as being a mark of His Majesty’s approbation, would be most gratifying to those brave men, who have so freely bled, and would lay down their lives, to manifest their devoted attachment to their gracious and beloved Sovereign. ”

“ Then the General from the War Office called up the rest of the Regiment.
"Now, Non-commissioned Officers and Men," said he, "you have no one to command you, and no one to pay for your marches out, prizes, and the rest of it. But don't let that bother you. You may still call yourselves Soldiers—not that I call you so myself. ”

“ The regiment having entered upon active warfare, the Commanding Officer issued the following order:—'As the Twelfth regiment, from having the honour to be the eldest King's regiment with the army, is more liable to be called on for immediate service than other corps, the Commanding Officer expects the Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Private Men, will be ready, night or day, to turn out at the shortest notice, and to parade under arms without noise or confusion. ”

“ The officers are on one Regimental List for promotion, and so serve continuously in the Regiment. They thereby acquire a camaraderie, professional feeling, and personal intimacy with each other and with their men, of the greatest value in war. In foreign armies, with short service of two years, it is hardly too much to say that the Regimental Officers really constitute the permanent army, through which there flows continuously a stream of recruits, receiving a professional impress from their officers. ”

“ From a position of that comparative security from which a civilian would ascribe his escape to a "miracle," he may be despatched with an order to some commander of a prone regiment in the front line —a person for the moment inconspicuous and not always easy to find without a deal of search among men somewhat preoccupied, and in a din in which question and answer alike must be imparted in the sign language. ”

“ If the non-commissioned officers of a regiment are permitted to express their approbation of the conduct of the Adjutant, why may they not exercise the same right with respect to their commanding officer? ”

“ The regiment is up yonder—the finest regiment God ever made. They are wallowing in the wet, sticky mud of the trenches they have dug themselves into, what is left of them. They are watching and waiting, always watching and waiting for the enemy to attack. ”

“ What would an American soldier think of a special privilege created in a regiment because there came a time when all the officers were killed or wounded, and the non-commissioned officers took the regiment through the fight? There is an English regiment in which the non-commissioned officers all wear their sashes over the same shoulder as do the commissioned officers, because in a long-ago battle they led the regiment when their superiors were put out of action. ”

“ Once every month the commandant should make a general inspection of his regiment, examine into the state of the men, their arms, ammunition, accoutrements, necessaries, camp utensils, and everything belonging to the regiment, obliging the commanding officers of companies to account strictly for all deficiencies. ”

“ The cavalry regiment that does not on this instant, on orders given, dash full plunge into the enemy, I will, directly after the battle, unhorse and make it a garrison regiment. The infantry battalion which, meet with what it may, shows the least sign of hesitancy, loses its colors and its sabers, and I cut the trimmings from its uniform! Now, good night, gentlemen: shortly we have either beaten the enemy, or we never see one another again. ”

“ By Order in Council, dated 26th October, 1604, it was directed, that twelve hundred land-soldiers should be raised, in order to be in readiness for distribution in His Majesty’s fleets; the whole to form one regiment, of six companies, under a Colonel, with a Lieutenant-Colonel, and Serjeant-Major; each company consisted of two hundred soldiers, with a captain, lieutenant, ensign, drummer, four serjeants, and four corporals. The regiment was armed with firelocks. ”

“ Every old regiment had many brave and well-qualified non-commissioned officers who could not be promoted because only two officers were allowed each company, and, besides, we were placed in line to do the duty of a regiment, when we were no larger than a company of heavy artillery. ”

“ Each regiment has taken to its colours a dozen or two dozen comrade regiments bearing its ancient name, and carrying on, unseen, its proud prestige. To-day the soldier belongs to no particular calling. From the clerk to the dock-labourer—all have become soldiers pro bono publico and pro patria. Every day, in some part of the far-flung battle line, deeds are being performed that we would have proudly recorded in those earlier chapters; day by day, death has been met by amateur soldiers with the unbroken steadiness of veteran troops. ”

“ When a regiment is on a march, the commandant will order a sergeant and fix men into the rear, to bring up all stragglers; and the sergeant on his arrival in camp or quarters, must make his report to him.
In a word, the commanding officer of a regiment must preserve the strictest discipline and order in his corps, obliging every officer to a strict performance of his duty, without relaxing in the smallest point; punishing impartially the faults that are committed, without distinction of rank or service. ”

“ At last, after some further wandering, we struck boldly out on a road along which we were told we should find our second line transport. I was a little uneasy as we left the village behind us and marched out into the darkness, for I knew we were going in the direction of the enemy, and it would be a never-to-be-forgotten episode in an officer's career to lead a draft of reinforcements fresh from England straight into the hands of the enemy instead of to their regiment. ”

“ The conduct of the second battalion of the Fifth regiment, commanded by Major Ridge, in particular, affords a memorable example of what the steadiness and discipline of the troops, and their confidence in their officers, can effect, in the most difficult and trying situations. ”

“ To the latter suggestion he replied:—that, without reference to the command, he would prefer his own regiment alone. As a homogeneous body, as much could be done with it as with the two combined. He expressed the utmost confidence that he had all the force that he could need, and I shared his confidence. ”

“ I do not say this, I think, unadvisedly, nor from a mistaken sense of the quality of the rank and file of the regiment, but rather from the character of the commanding officers of the regiment while under Barlow and Miles. Each of them officers whose equal it was hard to find. They were men of dauntless courage and rare military judgment, who Led their men into battle, and under them if a soldier wanted to slink, as a rule, he deemed it safer to face the enemy than to let either one of them suspect he was slinking. ”

“ The major is particularly charged with the discipline, arms, accoutrements, clothing, and generally, with the whole interior management and economy of the regiment. He must have a watchful eye over the officers, and oblige them to do their duty on every occasion; he must often cause them to be exercised in his presence, and instruct them how to command their platoons and preserve their distances. ”

“ And when the old regiment begins its homeward journey, leaving the well-won field to the fast-arriving commands and bidding hearty soldier farewell to the cavalry comrades whose friendship they gained in the front of a savage foe, the company that was the first to land its fire in the fight goes back with diminished numbers and under command of its second lieutenant. Alas, poor Jerrold! ”