Company Drill - Revielle Roll call

[James Brenner]

While at the Nat'l Archives the other day, I came across this entry in the 104th OVI Order Book. Originally published as General Order #3, HQ's, 2nd BDE, 2nd Division, Army of Kentucky on Nov. 6, 1862, it was republished as General Order #1, 1st BDE, 3rd Division, 23rd Army Corps, on March 14, 1864:

At Reveille Roll-calls all men of the Regts of this Brig. will turn out under arms with accoutrements and knapsacks on. The men will fall in at Shoulder Arms faced to the right in two ranks. At the last tap of the drum, the 1st Sergt. will command Front Face! Right Dress! Front! Order Arms! Parade Rest! and then proceed to call the roll. After he is through, he will order Attention! Shoulder Arms! and then turn to the Captain, bring the left hand smartly up to the right shoulder, announce the result of the roll call, when the Captain will proceed to inspect the company and drill them at the manual in such other manuevers as he may deem fit.

II. All commissioned officers as directed in paragragh 3, General Order #12 from Division Headquarters, last series, will be present (Note: haven't found G.O #12, yet) at the Revielle roll call by the company commander asisted by one of the Lieutenants. If it is raining or snowing at the time of Revielle, the inspection may be dispensed with by consent of the Colonel of the Regiment.

IV. All men of the Brigade will be required to have at all times in their haversacks two days rations of bread, coffee, sugar, and salt. Company commanders will be held responsible for the observance of the requirement of this paragraph of this order and are informed to punish severely any man who may be found habitually careless in this respect. Troops are often called upon to move at short notice without time for issuing rations and it is only by great vigilance in enforcing the above that we can be sure of constant efficiency.

V. field officers will have a general supervision of the above inspection. Where all are present for duty the Lieutenant Colonel will overlook the operation in the right wing and the major in the left of the regiment. When either is absent the adjutant will take his place. They will report the condition of each company to the Colonels.

VI. Guards form at regular roll calls and roll is called. During Dress Parade, Guards stand to arms and remain at Parade Rest during the ceremony.

[styler]

Re: Company Drill - Revielle Roll call

Fills in some blanks. Especially like the information on 2-days rations in haversacks and the order for guards on dress parades. Amazing what you'll find in company and regimental books.

Now to compare this info with other practices that are documented. There is a Winslow Homer painting that comes to mind...

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Company Drill - Revielle Roll call

That's an interesting if complicated way of doing morning roll call. A couple things to note about it for this particular regiment at this particular date (early November 1862)...I'm reviewing for "North and South" magazine a book of letters by a soldier in the 104th OVI ("Burning Fence Rails as We Pleased: The Civil War Letters of William Garrigues Bentley, 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry", McFarland & Co., 2004):

* The 104th was, at this time, a new regiment in a brigade mixed with veterans and newbies. Perhaps their brigadier was trying to get some "militaryness" instilled in them. Needless to say, Bentley's letters only give a private's eye view, and don't mention the morning roll call routine.

* At this time the 104th was more-or-less on garrison duty near Lexington KY and the regiment was sort of bored. Perhaps some pomp and circumstance in the morning helped remind them they were in the army instead of just lazing around in a rear area.

* The brigadier had other things like this going on at the time--competitions among regiments for "cleanest soldier", etc. (winners to get furloughs), and other stuff like that.

Based on what I'm reading in this book so far, I'd doubt that the 104th and their brigade did roll call like this all the time, but on the other hand...

[markj]

Re: Company Drill - Revielle Roll call

Interesting way to do things. This reinforces my thesis that commanders could and did invent ways to cover areas that were either not explained fully in drill manuals/Regulations or not stated at all. Examples of this thinking are discussed in my recent "Watchdog" articles about performing reverse/rest-on arms and battalion bayonet exercise, which were literally invented from scratch.

Note that the opening command, "Front-FACE," was archaic and apparently borrowed from the "Regulations," which were already viewed by many officers even during the war as badly out-of-date. One 1866 letter to the "United States Army and Navy Journal" complained that "These instructions would be Greek to a soldier not versed in Scott’s Tactics, now superseded." Another 1866 letter declared:

"The present code was introduced after adopting the Tactics known in the Army as Hardee’s; but the Regulations, in the most important particulars, failed to recognize this change. So, to-day, we have the anomaly, disastrous, in the extreme to unity or harmony, that, under the authorized Tactics, “march” moves a body of men in quick time, whereas in common time under the Regulations. The Regulations (392, 394 and 420) provide for a salute by “carry arms,” whereas the manual of arms of the Tactics contains no such movement of the piece; and officers not conversant with Scott’s Tactics would be entirely at a loss to know how to execute it. En passant, we may state that there appears, however, to be no good reason why this movement was excluded from the manual of arms in our present Tactics, unless it be that it interferes with one of the first essentials which now apparently govern the efficiency of the Army—a half-cocked hat. The “Parade—rest,” “Front—face,” etc. are not in harmony with the present Tactics. Should they not be? Harmony (uniformity) and unity are as essential to a healthy discipline and robust morale as a boiler and condenser are to the steam, which they preserve and generate."

Regards,

Mark Jaeger