The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-04-28

The late Gen. Upton was very much
enamored with the four company bat
talions Of European countries, and at
the time of his death was engaged In
the work of adapting the "unit of
fours. /" as established by him, to COM
panies of $50 men, and formations of
company columns similar to those
adopted in Europe, as the result of long
range breech-loading firearms. 1t was
his ambition not only to give to this
country a system of tactics purely
American lthose preceding his were
mainly t~ranslations), but to form a sys-
tenn which by its superiority should
commend itself for adoption through
out the world. The four-company bat
talions were, however, a. much the
result Of economical reasons as of tao
tical ones. Making a company as large
as possible reduces the necessity of
numbers and rank of officers, and de-
a expenses of returns and ae-
counts by reason of their greater SIM
plicity. There has been no complaint
made to him that his tactics were in
sufficient or that they needed modiica-
tion, and the labors he assumed were
entirely prompted by his own feelings
that u infantry organization was de-
fectiye in principle. In the hope that
this would be changed SO as to resem-
BILE that of European armies, he labored
to adapt his system to this changed or
ganization, in order that when the
change came he should be ready for it.
The order of battle in all continental
armies is formed at a distance of about
1000 yards from the enemy, and con-
sists of three lines, each separated by
intervals of 200 to 300 yards First.
skirmishers; second, reinforcements;
third, support. The company column
raj ar invention of the Germans.
Their companies consist of $50 men, all
told, which, including the Danish war
of 1854, were formed into three ranks
of 70 files each. These companies were
divided into two divisions or platoons
of SO files each, and four subdivisions
(sections) of Is files each.
The three-rank formation has been
abandoned since 1870, but the company
column principle is now universally
in vogue. In France a company is now
formed with 112 files in double rank,
divided into two platoons and four sec.
tions. The company column is formed
by sections ON the second section, the
first section moving to the left and
front, and the third and fourth sections
to the right and rear, all of these at
half distance. The front of this column
is 10 yards long, and its depth is %
yards. When the column is formed by
platoons, the first and fourth sections
take position at half distance in rear
of the second and third. The front is
SO yards and the depth ten yards. Italy.
Russia and Austria use this same sys-
tenn. Upton's great objection to our
eight or ten company formation was
that one man, the regimental CON-
mander, could not ''energizen SO extern
sive a line in the present open order of
battle. The large German and French
companies, when deployed in order OF
combat cover a line of 400 to 600 yards,
hence the captain must depend upon
his lieutenants to ''energize" his men.
which is virtually no better than a
colonel depending on his captains.
The relative merits of these questions
will probably only be settled for this
country by the experience to be gained
in another war, unless, indeed, the war
department should obtain permission to
organize an infantry school at which all
the necessary experiments in practically
testing different methods of handling
such troops could he made Such tests
possibly may prove that Upton's sys-
tenn, with very slight notifications or
additions, is still superior to those of
European armies, and the time may
still come when soldiers of Europe will
pattern after the tactics of America, in
place of America patterning after theirs
as had been the case up to the adoption
of Cen T~TDton,a work