The weekly Butte record., 1862-05-24
Organization AMI Parts Of an Army.

upon that subject. that we shall make an out
line Of its elements, as recognized in the French
school, and in our own, so far as We have bad
armies The number in companies. regiments,
etc. vary at different times. and vary by law.
In times of peace the rank and file are reduced
to skeleton, and the officers retained, I'VE
speak of regulars,l so that in time OF war they
can soon be filed up. The outline elements of
an army are:
A Company is the unit of an army, and is
supposed TO average. on the war basis, 100
men. officers included. The general rule for
the organization of such company gives l
captain. lieuienants sergeants, corporals,
and S5 men. Formerly each company had an
ensign. who carried the flag but now the
place is supplied by color sergeant.
There is one more sergeant than corporals-
the first sergeant being called the orderly ser
geant, who is next 10 the captain, the most
important man in the company-carrying the
books Of the company, and calling the roll
mornings and evenings. The company is form
ed, when in column, in two platoons aud four
sections, each section by sergeant.
A Regiment is clearly composed of 10 COM
panies Of battalons battalion being half
a regiment, composed of 4 companies, one Of
them a light or route company, intended, in
regular service, to operate outside Of the heavy
columns, as aankng parties, guards, etc.
The officers of regiment are, independent
of company officers. colonel, lieutenant colo
mel. two majors adjutant quartermaster and
commissary. Each separate body of troops
must have a commissary and quartermaster,
but in large body they are apportioned to
regiments or brigades. A regiment, when
constituted, will be formed thus l colonel, l
lieutenant colonel, adutant, commissary,
quartermaster. . majors. 10 captains 20 lieu
tenants, 80 sergeants. 40 corporals, and $50
private Matchmaking 975. But, in reality,
there are more, as each company has regularly
a drummer and ffer, which makes regiment
al band of 20, besides the drum major. The
regiment, thus, when full, is made up regularly
to 1000 men.
A Brigade should be composed of two regi-
ments squadron of cavalry, and corps Of
field artillery. If these were full, a complete
brigade operating alone-in our service or in
the French-would make 2,40O men.
A Division is composed of two brigadcs
with additional corps of cavalry and artillery.
making an army including the whole staff and
music of about 5000.
This is the highest element Of organization
ir our service but in Francois they organ
ize immense armies, there is one other.
The Corps is composed of two or more divi-
sions, frequently four or five. The corps is, in
the French service, properly commanded by a
feld-marShal, an officer unknown to our coun-
try and the corps is a complete army in itself
In Napoleon's march on Russia, be had
eight or ten of these corps in active service,
making a field army of from two hundred
and fifty thousand to three hundred thousand
men. From the elements we have given, it
will be seen that, however large the army may
be, it is so organized as to be perfect in all its
parts, aud move with exact order and disci-
pline. In the field, all orders aud operations
are carried on through the staff Of the army ;
and when we come to active service, the staff
is The most important part of the army for,
this being a vast machine, of which each part
is perfectly obedient to, and directed by, the
head, it is evident that all must depend upon
the skill, ability and discernment of the staff
through which it acts. 1t is in vain that
Scott, Mcclellan or other great general COM
mands, if the staff officers are incompetent
The Staff consists of the aids, the adjutant
general, the engineer, the quartermaster gene
raj and the commissary general. Through
the adjutant general all orders are conveyed to
each particular part Of the field by the quor
termastcr general all transportation and vehi-
cles and horses are furnished by the commits
sary general all supplies; by the engineer the
topography of the country is thoroughly exam
ined, the practibility of passes determined, for
tiications built or attacked. Then the staff Of
an army becomes It's eyes, and all its faculties,
the general simply deciding the movements of
the army on the facts and elements thus fur
nished In the French armies there were
chiefs of the staff, or heads of the active mil
i,ary bureaus. In Napoleon's time the chief
Of the staff was Marshal Berther, deemed one
of the ablest officers of the French army. Ma
poleon knew the value of good staff, aud had
abler men in it than were at the head Of divi.
sons. Where any extensive army is formed,
this should always be the case
In the statements we have made, it will be
seen there is a strong similarity between a
modern army, well organized, and that Of the
Romans. Our company corresponds to the
Roman Century. and our division TO the Ro-
man Legion. The Roman legion, when full,
contained six thousand men, which compre-
hended portion of auxilaries. and were so
divided oe .o ;noirda oil kinds of Service