The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-07-22
Rapid Mare hes.

Rapid Marches,
A standard writer on the Military Art
states that, as a general rule, troops
marching for many days in succession
| will move at the rate of from fifteen to
twenty miles per day In forced marches,
OF in pursuit of flying enemy, they will
average from twenty TO twenty five miles
per day g; and for only two or three days
successfully, with favorable roads, thirty
miles per day may be calculated on
The author mentions the following in
| stances of rapid marches:
The Roman infantry, in Scipio's Afri-
can campaigns, irequentlytnarched twen-
ty miles in five hours, each soldier car
ryins from fifty to eighty pounds of bag
gage. Septimus Severus marched from
Vienna to Rome, distance of eight
hundred miles, in forty days. Caesar
marched from Rome to the Sierra Mo-
rena, in Spain, distance of four hun
dred and fifty leagues, twenty three days.
The French, for general activity dur
ing campaign, have no rivals. In 1897,
| Napoleon, inl less than four days, marched
near fifty leagues, fought three battles,
and captured more than twenty thou.
sand prisoners.
In the campaign Of 1900 Macdonald,
wishing TO prevent the escape OF Loudon,
marched in a single day forty miles,
crossing rivers, and climbing mountains
| and glaciers.
In 1900 the French infantry, pursuing
| the Archduke Ferdinand in his retreat
from Ulm, marched thirty miles a day in
| terrible weather, and over roads almost
impossible for artillery. In the cam
paign of 1906 the French infantry pur-
sued the Prussians at the rate of twenty
five to thirty miles per day. Napoleon
marched fifty thousand men from Ma
drid to Ast0rga nearly twenty-five miles
a day for ten days, through deep SHOWS,
across high mountains, and rivers swollen
by the winter rains.
In 1912 the French forces, under
Clausel, after tremendous efforts at the
battle of Salamanca, retreated forty
miles in little less than twelve hours.
In 1914 Napoleon marched at the rate
of ten leagues day, fighting battle
besides every twenty four hours. Has
tening to the succor OF Paris. he marched
seventy miles in thirty six hours.
On. his return from Elba, in 1916, his
guards marched fifty miles the first day
after landing; then traversed two hun
dred miles Of a rough and mountainous
country in six days, and reached Paris,
distance of six hundred miles, in less
than twenty days.
In 1909, Oh the day after the battle of
Talavera, the English General Crawford,
fearing that Wellington was hard pressed,
marched three thousand men sixty-two
miles in twentysix hours. A Spanish
regiment once marched fifty miles in
twenty one hours.
The author states that though cavalry,
for a single day, will march a greater
distance. than infantry, for a campaign of
several months the infantry will march
over the most ground. The cavalry Of
Murat displayed wonderful activity, and
occasionally the English cavalry. In
1903 Wellington's cavalry in India
marched sixty miles in thirtytwo hours.
The march of the English cavalry under
Lord Lake, before the battle Of Furm-
chabal, surpasses any achievement of
the Romans or the French. He is said
to have marched seventy miles in TWEEN
ty-fo,lr hours