Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-05-01
Organization and Parts ofthe Army

so many persons, unacquainted with the or.
ganization OF an army, are making inquiries up.
on that subject, that we copy from the Cincin-
natl Gazette the following outline of it's ele-
ments, as recognized in the French school and
in our own, 30 far as we have had armies:
A company is the unit of an army, and is sup.
posed to average, on the war basis, one hundred
men, officers included. The general rule for
the organization OF such company gives one
captain, two lieutenants, five sergeants and four
corporals, and eighty five men. eFormerly, each
company had an ensign, who carried the flag;
but bis place is now supplied by the color ser.
geant. There is one more sergeant than corpo.
rails, the first sergeant being called the orderly
sergeant, and is, next to the captain, the most
important man in the company--carrying the
books OF the company, and calling the roll
morning and evening. The company is formed,
when in column, into two platoons and four
sections, each platoon commanded by lieuten.
ant, and each sectionby sergeant.
regiment is regularly composed Of ten com.
panies, or two battalione; battalion being half
aregiment, composed Of Ave com panles--one OF
them called light or rout company, intended
in regular service to operate outside Of the
heavy columns as fankng parties, guards, etc.
The officers of regiment, independent Of
company officers, are colonel, lieut.. colonel,
missary. Each separate body Of troops must
have commissary and quartermaster, but in
large army they are apportioned to regiments
or brigades. A regiment, when constituted, will
be formed thus: colonel, lieut. colonel,
adjutant, l quartermaster, / commissary, q
majors, 10 captains, 90 ieutenants, so sergeants,
4O corporals, and $50 private men-making
975, but In reality there are some others; each
company has regularly Q drummer and fifer,
which make regimental band of 20, beside
the drum major. Then the regiment. when full,
is made up regularly of 1000 men,.
A brigade should be composed Of two regi
ments, q squadron Of cavalry and corps
of field artillery. Ifthese were all full, COM
plete brigade, operating alone, would, in our
service, or in the French, make 2,400 men.
A division is composed of two brigades, with
additional corps Of cavalry and artillery,
making in our army, including the whole staff
and music, about 5000 men This is the high
est element of organization in our service; but
in France, as they organize immense armies,
there Is one other. .ial3.
The corps is composed Of two or more divi-
sions, frequently Of four or five. The corps is,
in the French service, properly commanded BY
field marshal--an officer unknown 10 our
country-and the corps is properly complete
army in Itself. '- lgis
10 Napoleon's march on Russia, he had eight
or ten of these corps In active service--making
field army of from 250,000 TO 300, 900 men.
From the elements We have given, IL will he
seen that, however large the army may be, II Is
so organized as to be perfect In all its parts,
and move with exact order and discipline. In
the feld,all orders and operations are carried on
through the staff of the army, and when we come
to active service, the staff Is the stimportant
part of the army; for, this being vast ma
chine, Of which each part Is perfectly obedient
to and directed by the head, 1t Is evident that
all must depend on the skill, ability and discern.
ment Of the staff, through which It acts. 1t is
In vain that Scott or any great general COM
mands, II the staff officers are Incompetent.
The staff consists of the aids, the adjutant
general, the engineer, the quartermaster, and
commissary generals. Through the adjutant
general all orders are conveyed to each par.
ticular part. By the quartermaster general all
transportations, and vehicles, and horses, are
furnished by the company all supplies by
the engineer the topography Of the country is
thoroughly examined the practicability of
tackled. Then the staff Of an army becomes its
eyes, and all its faculties, the general simply
deciding the movements of the army on the
facts and elements thus furnished. Inthe grand
French armies there was chief-of-the-staff,
or head Of the active military bureau. In Ma.
poleon's time, this chief-of-the-staff was Mar
shall Berthier, deemed one Of the ablest officers
of the French army. Napoleon knew the val.
ue of good staff and had abler men in 1t than
| were at the head Of the divisions t I