Regimentation

“ Regiment! As this is the first time I have met you upon such an occasion, I forgive these men: but I desire you will not mistake the motives of this act of lenity. It is my intention, as it is my duty, to enforce the strictest discipline: and I must punish those that merit it, not only to maintain the character of the corps, but to enable me to grant indulgences to the good men of it, which I never can do unless I punish the bad: but I trust, from what I have seen of your conduct, I shall have little occasion to exercise severity. ”

“ The obedience to orders of general regulations must depend upon the attention of general officers commanding brigades, and commanding officers of regiments, and their determination to enforce regularity and discipline, but obedience to them requiring execution can be secured by other means. ”

“ We tried almost every system known to modern nations, all with more or less success--voluntary enlistments, the draft, and bought substitutes--and I think that all officers of experience will confirm my assertion that the men who voluntarily enlisted at the outbreak of the war were the best, better than the conscript, and far better than the bought substitute. When a regiment is once organized in a State, and mustered into the service of the United States, the officers and men become subject to the same laws of discipline and government as the regular troops. ”

“ In the general destruction of the bonds of discipline and duty holding together the companies, the battalions, the regiments, the brigades, and divisions of an armed host, this body of men put its pride in preserving some semblance of order and formation. The only stragglers were those who fell out to give up to the frost their exhausted souls. ”

“ Good order and discipline are intimately connected with a system of messing. This truth holds good with respect to the soldier, and a regulation is the consequence of its propriety. With regard to the officers it is well known, that in corps where they do not mess, perpetual bickerings among themselves, and occasional obstacles to the service, occur. ”

“ The military system may be said to consist of two principal branches, military operations, and subsistence, both of which must be within the full and ample command of the chief of an army. These two branches become the objects of duty distributed among the staff; which unfolds another important truth, that every officer who has the provision, or charge of procuring supplies of subsistence or clothing, should be responsible in a military manner for the execution of his duty, and liable to military penalties for the abuse or the neglect of that duty. ”

“ I feel assured that a system of discipline, subordination, and police has been established in the army, which reflects much credit upon its General, and does no less honor to the officers and soldiers than to our country. ”

“ To this purpose, my lords, it is indispensably necessary, that the military subordination be inviolably preserved, and that discipline be discreetly exercised without any partial indulgence, or malicious severities; that every man be promoted according to his desert, and that military merit alone give any pretensions to military preferment. ”

“ The discipline and drill have been cared for, and with the organization just sketched out, the general can move the whole mass as a unit in accordance with his will. The army can be kept ready for use only by supplying all the actual and necessary wants of the soldier, and by keeping him in comfort and good health. To do this there must be ammunition, clothing, food, shelter, medicines, surgical attendance, hospital comforts, etc., provided for his use. Also a good system of recruiting must be adopted, by means of which the natural losses due to sickness and death may be made good. ”

“ Every officer commanding a regiment, or corps, may appoint, for his own regiment, or corps, courts-martial, to consist of three commissioned officers, for the trial and punishment of offences, not capital, and decide upon their sentences. ”

“ The army and navy and the troops designed for the internal security are subject to special laws, in the matter of military offences, both for the maintenance of discipline and for the form of the trials and the nature of the penalties. ”

“ Regiment also in eating and drinking is a thing without which the body cannot be maintained, and therefore the officers who have to minister to the King or others, have no less place than those of whom we have spoken above, as to the preservation of his life and his health. ”

“ The adjutant must be able at all times to inform his chief of the condition of every detail of the command whether an army corps or regiment, exactly how many men were fit for duty, how many sick or disabled, and just where they all are. ”

“ Every officer commanding in quarters, garrisons, or on the march, shall keep good order, and to the utmost of his power, redress all abuses or disorders, which may be committed by any officer or soldier under his command ”

“ The commanded, whether in a school, or in a regiment, or company, naturally combine in feeling against {45} their leader; and this is so natural that armies are obliged to make very strict rules, and to pursue rigid discipline. ”

“ By the military law, the administration of justice is so quick, and the punishments so severe, that neither officer nor soldier dares offer to dispute the orders of his supreme commander; he must not consult his own inclinations. ”

“ What's the use of a whole regiment here? We must present ourselves to him one at a time, and do—what ought to be done, you know—so that eyes do not see and ears do not hear. That's the way things are done in a well-ordered society. ”

“ It is required and expected that exact discipline be observed, and due subordination prevail through the whole army, as a failure in these most essential points must necessarily produce extreme hazard, disorder, and confusion, and end in shameful disappointment and disgrace. ”

“ And whenever a Party is to be sent to join their Regiments, he ought to have all his Men particularly examined; and those Men who are found to be perfectly recovered, should be sent to their Regiments. ”

“ Any one system must be better than a host of conflicting ones. Still, regiments of officials controlling peoples accustomed to being dragooned in yielding to the decrees of authority, could not change the habits of the people as if by magic. ”

“ The limit of our military force as fixed by law is constantly and readily maintained. The present discipline and morale of our Army are excellent, and marked progress and efficiency are apparent throughout its entire organization. ”

“ Before our reserve left Lugo, general orders were issued, warning and exhorting us to keep order, and march together; but, alas! how could men observe order amidst such sufferings? or men, whose feet were naked and sore, keep up with men, who, being more fortunate, had better shoes and stronger constitutions? The officers, in many points, suffered as much as the men. I have seen officers of the guards, and others, worth thousands, with pieces of old blankets wrapt round their feet and legs, the men pointing at them with a malicious satisfaction, saying, “There goes three thousand a-year;” ”

“ The organization of the several corps composing the Army is such as to admit its expansion to a great extent in case of emergency, the officers carrying with them all the light which they possess to the new corps to which they might be appointed. ”

“ By rendering discipline more necessary for the efficiency of the soldier, it threw power into the hands of the state, which alone could maintain and organise bodies of trained men, as against individuals. ”

“ With regard to discipline, too,—of all things the most important, for the success of a battle has depended, does, and always will depend, upon the state of discipline of the troops engaged,—all old regiments have their staff of regular instructors to drill and teach recruits. ”

“ All the forces of the Department have to be called out, or rather called in. Provisions—actual food, of exceptional kind and quantity—have to be provided, and every man, boy, nerve, muscle, eye, hand, brain, and spirit, has to be taxed to the very uttermost to prevent defeat. ”

“ If the son of an army-leader or a soldier, who is kept prisoner by the king's misfortune, is able to carry on the administration, they shall give to him the field and plantation, and he shall carry on the administration for his father. ”

“ For as the whole range of regimental duty lies so immediately under the eyes of the non-commissioned officers and privates, any deviation from the prescribed regimental rules or regulations, is instantly observed, noted, and may, when least expected, rise up against them, and oppose a barrier to farther promotion.
The duty devolving on the regimental subaltern of the day, is by many looked upon as one of form, not of utility. This is a complete delusion; for the comfort, the health of every man in the service, depends in a great measure upon the manner in which this duty is performed. ”

“ A good officer, backed by adequate supplies of food and with funds for the regular payment of his troops, will change a regiment even of ill-developed louts and hooligans into a fairly smart and well-disciplined corps. ”

“ When there came a prospect of battle the regiment wanted to have some one else to lead them. I found it very hard work for a few days to bring all the men into anything like subordination; but the great majority favored discipline, and by the application of a little regular army punishment all were reduced to as good discipline as one could ask. ”

“ Thus arrayed, the dual forces, like a mighty regiment,
Charged upon the weak opposers, careless of divine assent,
Potentates and hierarchies, unsustained by heavenly grace,
At their pleasure domineering o'er the feebler of the race. ”

“ In the regular service, with officers bred up to the severe sense of authority considered necessary to proper discipline, the offender would probably have been hewn down in the moment of disobedience. ”

“ For instance, if an adequate medical service is to be built up for war there should be one officer to every 100 of enlisted men. Estimating that an army of at least 400,000 men would be required were we engaged with a first-class power—and what other would dare to engage with us?—this means 4,000 army surgeons. ”

“ Take for instance the life of a regiment or the organization of a police department or fire department. The first duty of a regiment is to fight, and fighting means the death and disabling of a large proportion of the men in the regiment. The case against the identity of interests between the individual and the organism, as put by Mr. Kidd, would be far stronger in a regiment than in any ordinary civilized society of the day. ”

“ Although I have seen many a noble soldier laid low for ever, and regiments reduced to less than half their numbers by sickness since the 20th of last November, I have no fear of the eventual result, by the help of God. ”

“ Whether an organization is thoroughly trained and disciplined is best shown in extended order fighting, for, as the direct control of the leader on his command decreases, the demands made on the initiative of the individual soldier increase out of all proportion. It is at any rate more practical to develop this initiative than to try to prevent the disorganizing effect of combat by restricting the personal freedom of the individual soldier. ”

“ Again, it was well understood, by these men, that exemplary conduct on the part of every officer and soldier employed by the Government could not in the nature of things be expected, and the hope was entertained, upon the most reasonable grounds, that every commission of wrong and every omission of duty would produce a new cause for excitement and a new incentive to Rebellion. ”

“ It is one thing to administer when you are carefully supervised, and when the power of removal is held directly over you by a superior officer watching your every move, and another to administer equally well when the reins are not firmly held. ”

“ On the other hand, it is an elaborate web of regulations—legal, ecclesiastical, economic—which is to-day quite out of relation to our impulses. On the one hand, it is a force which springs from within; on the other hand, it is a force which presses on us from without. ”

“ So of governing; it is as easy to govern a regiment as a school or a factory, and needs like qualities, system, promptness, patience, tact; moreover, in a regiment one has the aid of the admirable machinery of the army, so that I see very ordinary men who succeed very tolerably. ”

“ The carrying out of orders given to his particular self, though of seemingly little importance in comparison to the working of the large Army machine, is to him perhaps a matter of life or death. Death or grievous wounds may prevent him carrying out an order ”

“ The maintenance of your Highness's authority at home rests principally upon the maintenance of an absolutely reliable force of a couple of thousand men able to enforce obedience wherever they are assembled. The result of such obedience will then render possible a regular administration and a certain execution of the law. ”

“ But being anxious at this important crisis to organize an armed force with a view of meeting future exigencies, and to demonstrate by practical experience the degree of facility with which the militia may be trained for service, I have to request you to adopt immediate measures for forming and completing, from among such men as voluntarily offer to serve, two companies, not to exceed one captain, two subalterns, two sergeants, one drummer, and thirty-five rank and file each, in the regiment under your command. ”