the plummet

[john duffer]

I noticed this in Scott's ABSTRACT OF TACTICS and was curious if anyone had fashioned one of these or knew anything of their use.

352. Plummets, which vibrate the required times of march in a minute, are of great utility; they must be in possession of, and constantly referred to, by each instructer of a squad and the drum-major; the several lengths of plummets swinging the times of the different marches in a minute, are as follows:

353. Common time, ninety steps in a minute.

Plummet, seventeen inches and thirty-eight hundredths of an inch in length.

354. Quick time, one hundred and twenty steps in a minute.

Plummet, nine inches and seventy-eight hundredths of an inch in length.

355. A musket ball, suspended by a string not liable to stretch, and on which are marked the different required lengths, will answer the above purpose, may be easily procured, and should be frequently compared with an accurate standard in the adjutant’s possession. The length of the plummet is to be measured from the point of suspension to the centre of the ball.

[RyanBWeddle]

Re: the plummet

I noticed this in Scott's ABSTRACT OF TACTICS and was curious if anyone had fashioned one of these or knew anything of their use.

352. Plummets, which vibrate the required times of march in a minute, are of great utility; they must be in possession of, and constantly referred to, by each instructer of a squad and the drum-major; the several lengths of plummets swinging the times of the different marches in a minute, are as follows:

353. Common time, ninety steps in a minute.

Plummet, seventeen inches and thirty-eight hundredths of an inch in length.

354. Quick time, one hundred and twenty steps in a minute.

Plummet, nine inches and seventy-eight hundredths of an inch in length.

355. A musket ball, suspended by a string not liable to stretch, and on which are marked the different required lengths, will answer the above purpose, may be easily procured, and should be frequently compared with an accurate standard in the adjutant’s possession. The length of the plummet is to be measured from the point of suspension to the centre of the ball.

Seems to be a "poor man's metronome". I've never heard of them in wartime campaign usage. Would seem to be (at least in my mind) something more on the academic side of the military arts. Used in schooling and training & fixed positions rather than an active campaign.

Here is one tidbit from the OR:Series 4 - Volume 1 p. 387-8 (Courtesy Cornell MOA): an ordnance report for items on hand at VMI in 1860.

Quite a document in itself!

It mentions "two plummets" on this list of ephemora on hand...

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: the plummet

It sounds like one of those trifling things that can drive a recruit crazy and cause him to direct his spite towards those few that use them...

[john duffer]

Re: the plummet

Another reference in Scott's:

63. The use of music or the drum, in instruction, or to regulate the time of march of troops in movement, is positively forbidden; and in marches of parade, where the music is allowed to play, it must scrupulously observe the ordered times of march, whether ordinary or quick, and use no times but such as are particularly adapted to such rates of march. The drums and fifes are to be trained to such habit, and the leader is not to be allowed to trust to his own ear, or apprehension, but always to have a plummet, and to make frequent use of it, in order to preserve the correct time. When the battalion is not in movement, as on the parade, or on other occasions when the music is ordered, or allowed to play, there is no necessity for its being confined to the preceding rule.

64. In instruction, and in the exercise of a battalion, five or six strong strokes on the drum, given in the exact times of the swing of the plummet, and just before the word march is pronounced, cannot fail of confirming the measure of time on every mind, and transferring it to the step.


I'm going to try to make one for an early war militia muster/training camp if I can figure how to carry it. I've got an electronic metronome I can test it with. I wonder if the ones mentioned in OR are these type or some sort of pendulum sight for artillery.

[RyanBWeddle]

Re: the plummet

I wonder if the ones mentioned in OR are these type or some sort of pendulum sight for artillery.

It might as it is listed with a bevy of other artillery ordnance related items.

Also they are listed in the 1850 US Ordnance Manual with implements for howitzers p.334(see attached):

Hard to say though, as I have never run across them in a wartime account, prior to this.

Interesting to note that Scott's reference refer to these plummets in practices of keeping time whilst marching, etc.

And interesting to note that these two mentions in this thread are pre-war and seem to be associate with artillery implements...

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: the plummet

Hallo Kameraden!

A plummet on a string, (a pendulum is on a fixed or rigid shaft)... likely harkens back to a time when watches were not all that common... (or drill instructors without a good sense of distance, measured and marked distance, time, and timing.)

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt