Elements of Military Art and Science Or, Course Of Instruction In Strategy, Fortification, Tactics Of Battles, &C.; Embracing The Duties Of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, And Engineers; Adapted online

an auxiliary to the dispositions of the engineers, or at least acts in
concert with that arm.

The troops of artillery, in all well-regulated army organizations,
should equal about two-thirds of the cavalry, or one-seventh of the
infantry.[36]

[Footnote 36: To qualify himself for the duties connected with his arm
of service, the artillery officer must make himself thoroughly
acquainted with - .

_The Instruction for United States Field Artillery, horse and foot;

Capt. Anderson's Instruction for Garrison Artillery;

Kinsley's Notes on Pyrotechny;

Knowlton's Notes on Gunpowder_,&c.; and

The writings of Thiroux and Piobert on theoretical and practical
instruction, and the writings of Jomini, Decker, and Okotmeff, on the
use of this arm on the field of battle.

The following list of books of reference may be of use to those who wish
to make themselves perfectly familiar with all the branches of
artillery.

_Histoire général de l'artillerie_. Brunet.

_L'artillerie à cheval dans les combats de cavalerie_. Par un officier
de l'artillerie Prussienne.

_Considérations et experiences sur le tir des obus à bulles_. Bormann.
_Essai sur les obusiers_. Dusaert.

_Essai sur l'organisation de l'artillerie_. Le Bourg.

_Traité sur l'artillerie_, (traduit de l'Allemand.) Rouvroy.

_Bombardier Français_. Bélidor.

_Mémoires d'artillerie_. St. Rémy.

_Essai sur l'usage de l'artillerie dans la guerre de campagne et celle
de siége_. Dupuget.

_Mémoires sur les nouveaux systèmes d'artillerie_. St. Aubin.

_Treatise on Artillery_. Müller.

_Artificial Fire-Works_. Jones.

_Table de tir les canons et obusiers_. Lombard.

_On Gunpowder_. Antoni.

_Recherches sur l'artillerie en général_. Texier de Norbec.

_Déscription de l'art de fabriquer les canons_. Monge.

_Procédés de la fabrication des armes blanches_. Vandermonde.

_Manuel de l'artilleur_. Durtubie.

_Traité du mouvement des projectiles_. Lombard.

_Treatise on Artillery_. Scheel. (Translated from the German.)

_Traité pratique des feux d'artifice_. Morel.

_Manuel du canonnier marin_. Cornibert.

_New Principles of Gunnery_. Robins.

_Mémoires sur la fabrication des armes portatives_. Cotty.

_Recherches sur la poudre_. Cossigny.

_Supplement_. Cossigny.

_Fabrication de la poudre_. Renaud.

_American Artillerist's Companion_. Toussard.

_Tables des portées des canons et canonades de la marine_. Cornilwert.

_Traité d'artifices de guerre_. Bigot.

_Traité élémentaire de la fabrication des bouches à feu_. Dartein.

_Traité de l'art de fabriquer la poudre à canon_. Bottée et Riffault.

_L'art du salpétrier_. Bottée et Riffault.

_Dictionary of Artillery_. Hoyer. (German.)

_New Experiments on Gunnery_. Hutton - (Hutton's Tracts.)

_Des bois propres au service des Arsenaux_. Herbin de Halles.

_Instruction sur le service de l'artillerie_. Hulot.

_Manoeuvres de force_. Bigot.

_Balistique_. Obenheim.

_Treatise on Artillery_. German. Scharnhorst. (Translated into French,
1840.)

_Essai sur l'art de pointer_. Poumet.

_Réflexions sur la fabrication des bouches à feu_. Lamartillière.

_Mémoire sur la planchette du canonnier_. Obenheim.

_Aide-Mémoire_. Gassendi.

_Observations on the use of Artillery at the sieges of Badajos, St.
Sebastian, &c_.

_Treatise on Artillery_. Lallemand.

_Elémens de pyrotechnie_. Ruggieri.

_Nouvelle force maritime_. Paixhans.

_Dictionnaire d'artillerie_. Cotty.

_Recherches balistiques_. Coste.

_Poudres fulminantes_. Vergnaud.

_Manuel de la métallurgie du fer_. Culman.

_Pyrotechnic militaire,_ (traduit de l'Allemand, par R. de Peretsdorff.)

_Journal des Sciences Militaires_.

_Pyrotechny_. Cutbush.

_Traité élémentaire d'artillerie_. Decker.

_Fusées de guerre_. Montgery.

_Documens sur la matière à canons_. Hervé.

_Observations sur le nouveau système d'artillerie_. Allix.

_Système d'artillerie de campagne_. Allix.

_Pocket Gunner_. Adye.

_On the Rocket System_. Congreve.

_Essai sur l'art des fontes_. Serres.

_Receuil de Mémoires sur la poudre à canon_. Proust.

_Mémorial de l'artilleur marin_. Michel.

_Observations sur le nouveau système de l'artillerie_. Poumet.

_Mémorial d'artillerie_.

_British Gunner_. Spearman.

_Régles de pointage à bord des vaisseaux_. Montgery.

_Manuel du maître de forges_. Landrin.

_Naval Gunnery_. Douglass.

_Métallurgie du fer_ (traduit de l'Allemand, par Culman.) Karsten.

_Aide-Mémoire à l'usage des officers d'artillerie_. (Strasbourg.)

_Traité de l'organisation et de la tactique de l'artillerie,_ (traduit
de l'Allemand par Peretsdorff.) Grewenitz.

_Supplement au dictionnaire d'artillerie_. Cotty.

_Memoir on Gunpowder_. Braddock.

_Manuel de l'armurier_. Paulin-Desormeaux.

_Journal des armes spéciales_.

_Cours sur le service des officiers dans les fonderies_. Serres.

_Expériences sur la fabrication et la durée des bouches à feu en fer et
bronze,_ (traduit de l'Allemand par Peretsdorff.) Meyer.

_Applications du fer aux constructions de l'artillerie_. Thierry.

_Aide-Mémoire d'art militaire_. Lebas.

_Mémorial à l'usage de l'armée Belge_.

_Instructions and Regulations for the service and management of heavy
ordnance in the British service_.

_Experiences sur les principes du tir,_ faites à Metz, en 1834.

_Traité d'artillerie théorique et pratique_. Piobert.

_Aide-Mémoire à l'usage des officiers d'artillerie,_ (avec approbation
du comité d'artillerie.)

_Manuel d'artillerie à l'usage des officiers de la République
Helvétique._ Bonaparte, (Napoleon Louis.)

_Expériences comparatives entre des bouches à feu en fonte de fer,
d'origine Franzaise, Anglaise et Suédoise,_ faites à Gavres, en 1836.

_Expériences faites à Brest en_ 1831, _sur les canons._ Paixhans.

_Essai sur l'organisation de l'artillerie._ Le Bourg.

_Expériences sur des projectiles creux,_ faites en 1829, '30, '31.

_Instruction pratique sur l'emploi des projectiles,_ (traduit de
l'Allemand par Peretsdorff.) Decker.

_Effects of heavy ordnance as applied to ships of war._ Simmons.

_Expériences sur les poudres de guerre,_ faites à Esquerdes, en 1832,
'33, '34, and '35. Maguin.

_Cours d'artillerie à l'usage des sous-officiers._ De Crépy.

_Instruction théorique et pratique d'artillerie,_ à l'usage des élèves
de St. Cyr. Thiroux.

_Cours sur le service des officiers d'artillerie dans les forges._

_Manuel historique de la technologie des armes à feu,_ (traduit de
l'Allemand par M. Rieffel.) Meyer.

_Formules rélatives aux effets du tir sur affût._ Poisson.

_Manuel de l'artificer._ Vergnaud.

_Etat actuel de l'artillerie de campagne de toutes les puissances de
l'Europe,_ (traduit par Mazé; Ire partie, Artillerie Anglaise.) Jacobi.
(Six other parts have been published in German, containing descriptions
of the French, Belgian, Hessian, Wirtemburg, Nassau, and Swedish
systems.)

_Introduction à l'étude de l'artillerie._ Madelaine.

_Cours sur le service des officiers d'artillerie dans les fonderies.
Description de la fabrication des bouches ù feu à la fonderie royale de
Liège._ Huguenin.

_Poudre ù canon._ Timmerhans.

_Procédés de fabrication dans les forges,_ (extrait du cours sur le
service des officiers dans les forges.)

_Renseignements sur le matériel de l'artillerie navale de la Grande
Bretagne._ Zeni et des Hays.

_Théorie des affûts et des voitures de l'artillerie._ Migout et Bergery

_Artillerist's Manual._ Griffith.

_Handbuch für die K.K. Oesterreichische Artillerie Offiziere,_ (manual
for the Austrian artillery officers.)

_Sammlung von Steindruckzeichnungen der Preussischen Artillerie,_ _mit
Erläuterungen_, (collection of plates of the Prussian artillery, with
explanatory text.)

_Histoire des fusées de guerre._

_Ordnance Manual_, for the use of the officers of the United States
Army.

_Experiments on Gunpowder_. Capt. Mordecai.

_Pyrotechny_, for the use of the Cadets at the United States Military
Academy. Kinsley.

_Notes on Gunpowder, Percussion Powder, Cannon, and Projectiles_. Lt.
Knowlton.]




CHAPTER XII.

ARMY ORGANIZATION - ENGINEERS.



_Engineers_. - The term _engineer_ is derived from the unclassical Latin
word _ingenium_, which was applied both to a _machine_ and the _mind_ or
_skill_ of the person who devised or constructed it.

It was Philip Augustus, say the French writers, who first introduced
engineers (_engigneurs_, or _engignours_, as they were called) into
France, and restored the art of sieges. The engineers of that age were
seldom charged with the construction of works of military defence, but,
like Archimedes at Syracuse, and Longinus at Palmyra, they directed
their attention principally to devising implements of war and the most
effective manner of using them. Engines of war were at that time divided
between the _engigneurs_ and the _artilliers_; the former being charged
with the heavier machines, and the latter with the smaller weapons used
for throwing projectiles. After the invention of gunpowder, the old
battering-rams, cranes, helipoles, &c., disappeared, and with them the
_engigneurs_, or masters of engines. The new inventions were united with
the few old projectile machines that remained in the artillery, and the
engineers were for a time left almost without employment. The revival of
the art of fortification was very slow, and the modern system scarcely
began to be developed till near the sixteenth century.

We must omit for the present giving even an outline of the history of
military engineering, and pass to the troops of this arm, as
constituting an essential element of an army organization. The subject
of fortification, and the history of its various changes, will be
examined in the next chapter.

The engineers, in modern army organization, constitute the fourth arm of
service, as, compared with artillery, their relative numbers are about
as two to three. They are divided in the same manner as the artillery,
viz.: - 1st, the staff; 2d, guards, or fort-keepers; 3d, artificers; and
4th, the troops.

I. The officers constituting the staff of this corps are charged in time
of peace with planning, constructing, and repairing all fortifications
and other defensive works; the construction and preparation of all
military materials, and stores connected with this arm; and (in our
service) with the disbursements of money connected with these
operations: in time of war they are charged with the attack and defence
of military works, the laying out and construction of field defences,
redoubts, intrenchments, roads, &c.; in the attack they form a part of
the vanguard, to remove obstructions; and in retreat they form a part
of the rear-guard, to erect obstacles, destroy roads, bridges, &c., so
as to retard an enemy's pursuit.

From the important character of these duties as connected with the means
essential to a national defence, and the vast amount of money expended
in these operations, it is evident that a high order of acquirements
should be deemed necessary to qualify one to perform the duties of a
military engineer. This officer requires a knowledge of chemistry, to
guide his choice of materials for mortars, cements, and mastics; of
mineralogy and geology, for selecting stone; of botany, for timber and
the means of preventing its decay; of mathematics, in laying out his
work and calculating the thickness and stability of his walls,
embankments, &c.; of mechanical philosophy, in constructing his
machinery; of military engineering, in his plans of fortifications; and
of all the higher branches of military science, in selecting positions
for these works, such that they shall have the proper relations to the
means of national defence, and to the grand operations of armies in the
field. The avenues to appointment to this corps are guarded, in most
European armies, with special care, to prevent the influence of money,
politics, or family connections; and in our own army it is now specified
by law of Congress, that the vacancies shall be filled only from the
most distinguished graduates of the military academy. Formerly our
service suffered most severely from the employment of incompetent
persons, introduced through political influence from civil life, and
foreign charlatans, the refuse of European armies. Many of our earlier
military works (as will be mentioned hereafter) were modelled upon
systems for a long time discarded by the profession in Europe, and even
some of those which have been constructed within the last thirty years
are made of such wretched materials and workmanship, that they are
already crumbling into ruins. While the existing laws and regulations
seem well calculated to prevent the recurrence of similar abuses and
errors, it nevertheless can be shown that the organization of this arm
of our service requires modifications and extensions to give it the
requisite degree of efficiency, and to economize the public
expenditures.

The wars of Louis XIV. first led to a regular military organization, and
a regular system of defence. In these wars the engineers received great
development, and have ever since occupied a prominent position as parts
of an army organization. We therefore find in all the great sieges and
battles of this era a large and continually increasing number of
engineers and engineer troops, this force being gradually augmented as
the true principles of war became better understood, and as the wants of
the service required. Even in the earliest of these battles we find the
engineers taking a prominent and distinguished part. In the war of 1688,
twenty-four engineers were killed and wounded at the siege of
Philipsbourg, eighteen at Namur, eight at Huy, ten at Charleroi, eight
at Ath, thirty at Barcelona, &c. Such losses were good proofs of the
usefulness of these officers, and before this war was closed, their
number was increased to six hundred; and in 1706 the army contained
eight brigades of engineers and four companies of miners.

The engineer corps being partially disbanded in the early part of the
French Revolution, great difficulty was experienced in reorganizing it
and in finding competent men to supply the places of those who had been
driven into exile or sacrificed during the reign of terror. Energy and
activity, combined with republican zeal, could supply the place of skill
in the other arms, but the science of the engineer could not be acquired
in a day.

In 1799, the staff of the engineer corps consisted of four hundred and
forty-nine officers, without including the general officers, commanding
departments, or those connected with the engineer troops. The same
organization was continued in 1804. The engineer staff of the French
army now numbers four hundred and thirty-two officers. We have in our
service forty-three engineer officers, for staff duty, who are now
engaged in the construction and repairs of some sixty or seventy
fortifications, and other works of a civil and military character.

II. _Engineer Guards_, or _Fort-Keepers_, are a class of men charged
with the general care of forts, and all public property deposited in the
several engineer dépôts and garrisons, and in the public works during
their construction.

There are five hundred and fifty of these "_gardes du Genie_" in the
French army, who rank next the sub-lieutenants of engineers, and are
assimilated with the sub-lieutenants of infantry in the hospitals,
marches, &c. _In our service we have no engineer guards or
fort-keepers._

This defect in our organization has been the cause of serious
inconvenience, and the consequent waste of public property. The expense
of hiring civil agents for this purpose has more than trebled the cost
of supporting a suitable number of non-commissioned guards to maintain
the good order and efficiency of our forts, in the absence of engineer
officers, and to preserve and keep in repair the military implements and
stores connected with this department of the army. It has already been
shown that we have fifty-eight of these guards for the artillery
service, and it really seems somewhat singular that the engineers, with
a much greater amount of public property in their charge, are allowed no
assistants of this kind.

III. _Engineer artificers_ are a class of men employed in the practical
operations of constructing forts and other military defences, and in
making and repairing all the implements used by the engineer troops in
the operations of sapping and mining, in crossing rivers, in
constructing field-defences, and in the attack and defence of
fieldworks.

As very few new fortifications are now required in France, the services
of engineer artificers are less necessary and important than in our
service, where large sums of money are annually expended upon military
defences, There are, however, in the French army a corps of engineer
artificers, consisting of eight officers and a cadre of fifty-four
non-commissioned officers, with a variable number of privates, organized
into two companies. _But in our army we have no regular engineer
artificers!_ In our artillery service we have three hundred and thirty
enlisted artillery artificers. If these are useful and necessary to the
artillery service, which no one doubts, for still stronger reasons would
it be advantageous to the public service to employ at least an equal
number of enlisted engineer artificers on our fortifications; for the
annual expenditure of public money is here much greater than in the
corresponding branch of the artillery service.

IV. _Engineer troops_ are divided into three classes - 1st, _sappers and
pioneers_; 2d, _miners_; and 3d, _pontoniers_.

In the French army of 1799, there were four battalions of sappers,
consisting of 120 officers and 7,092 men. In 1804, Napoleon organized
five battalions of these troops, consisting of 165 officers and 8,865
men. Even this number was found insufficient in his campaigns in Germany
and Spain, and he was obliged to organize an additional number of
sappers from the Italian and French auxiliaries. The pioneers were then
partly attached to other branches of the service. There is, at present,
in the French army a considerable number of sappers or pioneers detached
for the service of the infantry regiments, three companies of
_sapeurs-conducteurs_, and forty-two companies of _sapeurs_. In the
French army of 1799, there were six companies of miners, consisting of
24 officers and 576 men. In 1804, Napoleon increased these troops to
nine companies, containing 36 officers and 864 men. The present French
peace establishment contains six companies of miners, organized much the
same as under Napoleon. In the French army of 1799 there were two
regiments of pontoniers, of 38 officers and 960 men. But this number was
found too small in the remaining campaigns, and the deficiency was
temporarily supplied by organizing sailors for these duties. In the
present French army organization, there are eleven companies of
pontoniers, forming a regiment of sixty-three officers.

_We have in our service no sappers, miners, or pontoniers_, and, in case
of war, would be found without the means of executing any military
works, or performing any military operation which would require engineer
troops.

In the preliminary stages of army organization under Louis XIV.,
infantry troops were detailed as sappers, and instructed in these duties
by the engineers. This irregularity of service soon caused difficulties
and losses, and the evils springing from it were so great, that Vauban
urged the propriety of a separate organization. In 1670 he officially
recommended to the king to establish a regiment of twelve hundred
sappers and _ouvriers_, and in a subsequent report on the value of these
troops, used the following language: "They would be useful in peace as
well as in war, and would be the means of saving much in all
fortifications where they should be employed. In fact, I have not the
least doubt that they would save annually to the king much more than
their pay. I assert all I have said on this subject with as much
confidence as if I had seen the result; and I can, with the same
certainty, add, that this small troop will be the means of saving large
numbers of good engineers and brave officers and soldiers, from the
stern necessity to which we are reduced of exposing, almost always, the
laborers and those who support them; which necessity would not arise
had we at command a sufficient number of this kind of workmen well
instructed. To such a degree have I felt the necessity of sappers, at
every siege at which I have been present, that I have always had reason
to repent of not having more urgently solicited the creation of this
company."

Such are the views of the greatest of military engineers, a man who
fought one hundred and forty battles, conducted fifty-eight sieges, and
built or repaired three hundred fortifications. His anticipations of the
usefulness of engineer troops were fully realized, and they have ever
since received the most careful attention, and now form, as has just
been shown, one of the most important and efficient arms in the French
service. The fortifications constructed by the engineers, as organized
by Vauban, have ever since constituted one of the principal elements of
the French military power.

In the wars of Napoleon there are innumerable instances in illustration
of the delays and disasters attending the operations of armies not
supplied with engineer troops; and, on the other hand, the advantages
resulting from their services when properly organized and instructed. We
have already pointed out the influence which the fortifications in the
hands of the French exerted on the results of these wars, and the fatal
consequences to the Allies of neglecting these works of national
defence. Every student of military history will immediately call to mind
the influence of Savona, Coni, Mondovi, Ceva, Govi, Alessandria,
Tortona, Pizzighitone, Peschiera, Mantua, Palma-Nuova, Osopo,
Klagenfurth, &c., in the campaigns of 1796-7; of Genoa, Port Bard, the
fortifications of the Var, Ulm, Ingoldstadt, &c., in 1800; of Milan,
Turin, Mantua, Roco d'Aufo, Genoa, Alessandria, &c., in 1805; the
importance of Kehl, Cassel, Wesel, &c., to the French in 1806, and the
fatal consequences to the Prussians in that campaign, of their total
and culpable neglect of their own fortifications.

All military historians speak of the influence of fortifications in the
Peninsular campaigns: those which had been given up to Napoleon previous
to the opening of hostilities, contributed very much to the success of
his arms, while those which were retained by Spain and her allies,
contributed in an equal degree to hamper and embarrass his operations.
Some of these, like Saragossa and Tarragona, with their broken walls and
defective armaments, kept the enemy in check some sixty days each, and
did much to weaken the French power in the Peninsula.

Temporary or field-fortifications also had an important influence here.
The lines of Torres-Vedras, the field-works of Ronda, the intrenched
camps of the Pyrenees, Bayonne, Toulouse, &c., are examples under this
head. In fact, field-works played a most important part in all of
Napoleon's wars. We might mention the redoubt of Montenotte, the
intrenchments at Milesimo, the batteries of Lobau, the field-defences of
Hougomont, La Haye-Sainte, and Papelotte at Waterloo, and numerous other
cases equally striking. Just before the battle of Waterloo, Wellington
employed some eighteen thousand peasants and two thousand horses, under
the direction of British officers of engineers. In speaking of these
defences, Colonel Pasley says: "It may be easily conceived that to have
directed such a great body of workmen to proper advantage, by means of a
few officers of engineers, would have been impossible, but for the
system adopted of subdividing the various works among the
non-commissioned officers and privates of the engineer troops, each of
whom was made responsible for laying out the details of his own portion,
and for the direction of a party of from twenty to one hundred men, or
even more, according to circumstances."

But to return to the Peninsular war. These campaigns exhibit in strong
colors the advantages derived, on the one side, from a well-organized
engineer corps, and the losses, delays, and defects suffered on the
other, until the defects of the organization were remedied. Napoleon
entered Spain with a well-appointed army, and soon, through strategy and