Forming the company w/ odd man on the right

[J. E. Eckhart]

Re: Forming the company w/ odd man on the right

Hello one and all,
This is my first post here on the AC forum after years of “lurking and reading” and I am going to dive into the deep end with the “Drill Heads”

Seems to me that John Duffer’s reading of Hardee’s and Casey’s is correct (I guess that is because is coincides with my own attempts at researching this) in that they simply did not provide a way to “Form the Company” according to Para.8.

With that said, that seems to me to leave us with Gilham as the source nearest to the period giving clear directions. If Gilham is echoing Scott’s, that is all the better.

I also agree that all the quotes about touching elbows do not prove anything about where the odd man goes, the manuals are simply written as if everybody had an elbow to touch.


Silas, who’s expertise I have great respect for, asked if anyone had an idea of how to best get the corporals in to their proper positions at platoon breaks.
Well here is my suggestion……while this is in no way the ultimate answer to this sticky problem; it does make it easer than having to insert them after everyone else is in line.

Note: For all I know, many units may be using this method already; I reenact Federal, and thus do not often get to see Confederates companies (where Gilham’s is more accepted) form up very often.

My suggestion for getting the corporals in line (while using Gilham’s method) would be as follows:

================================================== ===================

MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION

FOR THE

VOLUNTEERS AND MILITIA

OF THE

UNITED STATES:

With Numerous Illustrations

BY

MAJOR WILLIAM GILHAM,

INSTRUCTOR OF TACTICS, AND COMMANDANT OF CADETS OF THE

VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE.

PHILADELPHIA

CHARLES DESILVER,

1229 CHESTNUT STREET.

CUSHINGS & BAILEY, BALTIMORE, MD.

1861

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by

CHARLES DESILVER

inthe Clerk's Office of the District Courtof the United States for the Eastern District

Pennsylvania

---

ARTICLE IV.

SCHOOL OF THE COMPANY.

MANNER OF FORMING THE COMPANY.

216. THE whole company being assembled on its parade ground, or in the rendezvous, the first, or orderly sergeant, will command:

1. Fall in - COMPANY.

At this command the corporals (all Corporals except the tallest and the shortest.) and privates will form in one rank, faced to the right, and in the order of height from right to left, the tallest man on the right (now head of the company), the next tallest man immediately covering the first, and so on to the left or rear of the rank, in which position will be placed the shortest man. The other sergeants (and the tallest and shortest corporals) will take post in the rank of file-closers, two paces the right of the company, and assist the first sergeant in forming the company.

When the men have their places, the first sergeant will command:

2. FRONT.

(The tallest Cpl. will now place himself on the right end of the single rank, and the shortest Cpl. will now place himself on the left end of the company.)The second sergeant, who is the left guide of the company, will now place himself on the left of the company, and the orderly sergeant will promptly command:

3. In two ranks, form company.

4. Left - FACE.

At the command left FACE, the whole company will face to the left, except the guide (the 2^nd Sgt.) and man on the left (the shortest Cpl.), who stand fast.

5. MARCH.

At the command march, the whole of the men who have faced to left, will step off together; the second man, counting from the left, will place himself in the rear rank, behind the man next to the guide, and face to the front; the two following men will, in like manner, on closing up, form the next file, the third man in the front, and the fourth in the rear rank behind him, and all the other men will come successively to form files, two deep, to the right of those already formed.

================================================== ====================
What this does is get the 2^nd Sgt. and two end Cpl.s in place, and more importantly it also makes it easer to rearrange the other Corporals into place for the section/platoon delineations. By having the other Cpl.s in the ranks for the left-Face March (as Gilham proscribes) the 1^st Sgt. only has to swap their positions rather than having to insert them. Inserting Cpl.s is much more awkward, and results in having to make whole ranks take steps to the right or left. Of course care must betaken to try to keep the delineating Cpl.s in the font rank from ending up with a radically shorter soldier behind them.

Note: if there is an odd number of Pvt.s & Cpl.s then the right Cpl. will be the one man file on the right of the company, which I believe is a good thing. If there is an even number of Pvt.s & Cpl.s, then the right Cpl. will end up in the rear rank and have to swap with his front rear rank file partner, which also works out since the Pvt will most likely be the tallest man in the company.

6. In each rank - count TWOS.

At this command the men count in each rank from right to left, pronouncing in a loud and distinct voice, in the same tone, without hurry and without turning the head, one, two, according to the place each one occupies. He will also cause the company to be divided into platoons and sections, taking care that the first platoon is always composed of an even number of files.<sup>1

1.</sup>(When the company is in good discipline, the files may be formed in two ranks at once, each man having his proper number in the company depending upon his height, and being able to take his appropriate place without creating confusion.)

The officers will now take their posts as prescribed in No. 8; if the captain has to discharge the duties of instructor, the first lieutenant will take his place on the right of the front rank, the second lieutenant replacing the first behind the fourth section.

The instructor will then cause the files to be numbered, and for this purpose will command

In each rank - count TWOS.

At this command the men count in each rank from right to left, pronouncing in a loud and distinct voice, in the same tone, without hurry and without turning the head, one, two, according to the place each one occupies.

He will also cause the company to be divided into platoons and sections, taking care that the first platoon is always composed of an even number of files.

================================================== =====

Since I am diving in and putting my opinions out there for all to see, I guess I'll add another.....

It is my opinion that Gilham meant exactly what he said, an even number of files, not an even number of men when he included that final statement. I believe that the whole point of that was to ensure that when the 1^st and 2nd platoon break point was determined, it did not split up a set of four comrades-in-arms.

I have been in situations as a corporal, (placed at the platoon break point which had been determined only by counting files and dividing by two) where our company was at rest with stacked arms for an extended period of time, when rather suddenly only one of the two platoons was called to attention and ordered to take arms. Well, half my stacks comrades were in the other platoon and momentarily out of touch, which makes for a very awkward situation. It seems to me that Gilham (Hardee & Casey too) were trying to ensure that did not occur.

Well that is it for my first go, even though this is a bit of an old thread; if Silas or John Duffer happen to see any of this I would appreciate any and all feed back on my "opinions".

If they are not up to snuff for the AC, I guess I'll get to "See the Elephant" on the AC forum. :D

[Silas]

Re: Forming the company w/ odd man on the right

I found the below in Morris' Tactics (1865). My post pertains to the roles of the field officers while opening ranks in parade. There may be something to the suggestion in the Army Navy Journal that these officers go around their respective wings instead of aligning the ranks.

Food for thought.

Morris doesn't assist in the original question about forming the company with an odd man on the right. Look here if you'd like about forming the company.

OPENING AND CLOSING RANKS, AND THE EXECUTION OF THE DIFFERENT FIRES.

To Open Ranks.

The colonel commands.

1. To the rear open order. 2. MARCH. 3. FRONT.

At the first command, the lieutenant-colonel and major place themselves abreast with the front rank and four paces from the right and left files respectively.

The covering sergeants and sergeant on the left of the battalion step backwars, and place themselves four paces from the front rank. The [121] adjutant on the right, and sergeant-major on the left, will align them.

The lieutenants, in the order in which they stand in line, will cover the captain, one pace apart.

The sergeants, on the extreme right and left, invert their pieces.

At the command, March, the rear rank and the file-closers will step to the rear without counting the steps, and pass a little in rear of the line of right guides; they will dress upon this line, casting their eyes to the right; each
right guide will align his own rear rank.

The file-closers will be two paces in rear of the rear rank ; they will be aligned, if necessary, by the adjutant and sergeant-major.

The line officers will pass through the captain's interval, and each take post four paces in front of the front rank, and opposite his place in line. The adjutant will correct the alignment if necessary.

The lieutenant-colonel and major will take post eight paces in front of the centre of the right and left wings, respectively.

The adjutant will be two paces on the right of the front rank. The sergeant-major, two paces on the left of the front rank. The colonel's post is opposite the centre of the battalion, sixteen paces in front of the front rank.
The alignments completed, the colonel commands : FRONT.

[122] The right guides replace the captains in the front rank. The sergeant on the left returns to the front rank. The men look to the front.

I've been spending some time of late searching through google books and have found all kinds of interesting, out of print, books. Go to my links page to view some of what I've found. I've been stocking up regimental histories, drill manuals, and campaign records. Anyone ever heard of Col. William B. Pace's Nauvoo Legion or his rifle manual? Well, now you can read his manual for Utah militia.

[john duffer]

Re: Forming the company w/ odd man on the right

I’m finally getting around to answering Mr. Eckhart’s posting. This is a case of what the manuals say (or don’t say) versus common sense. Scott’s TACTICS is clear that rank and file includes corporals and all are in line together. However, if you look at the original intent – three ranks with eight corporals in the front and rear on each side of platoons – you can see that there aren’t really a whole lot of clever shortcuts. I also noticed that when the formation changes from three ranks to two or two ranks to three that platoon splits are redefined and the corporals shifted, so they must have had ‘slight transposings’ figured out. Silas gave a link in another post to a manual for “boy soldiers” that gives instructions on how to form company, to the right rather than the left and has eight corporals in the front rank on either side of sections. It has corporals mixed in with privates until after FRONT. Then there’s a command of CORPORALS TO THE FRONT when any corporal in the rear swaps with his file leader, Subsequently each corporal is pulled out one at a time, the front rank slides left to replace him and he steps into the vacant spot. It also mentions that the tallest corporal can start at the front of the line and save at least a little time.

And now for common sense. I’ve formed w/ Scott’s method several times and I routinely place the tall and short corporals at the front and rear of the sizing rank. I’m not sure if Marse Craddock invented it or just passed it on but he’s the one who showed me to have the other two corporals stand aside, mark platoon split, rear rank of 1st platoon one file to the right, rear of 2nd one file to the left, two center front rank men step to the now vacant spaces in the rear and the corporals take their post. This seems to work but is not per any period reference I’ve seen. This is with only four corporals but was done in a couple of instances with a very near “full sized” company

Scott makes the statement that height is always preserved right to left and rear to front and I’m still studying for the ideal method that meets this rule.