The National tribune., 1888-11-22
A LINE OF BATTLE.
WA an Soldlcr See from the Ranksi

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: OF all the war
articles written I have yet one to see on the
above subject. Ny early recollectious of learn
ing fractions in my arithmetic might be COM
pared to the youth Of to-day reading war artI-
cles IS published, without sFst knowing the
rudimeuts Of war. 1t was so IN my case,
There WAS q rule called the least common
multiple my teacher wished me to learn
thoroughly, and understand, before advancing
farther into the mysteries Of the dreaded
eneIy-fractions. Ny teacher being q very
stubborn master, compelled NE to lingcr on this
little rule till it was thoroughly pulycrIzed.
Then fractions was not such difficult task
as ] had imagined it 70 be. Our conception of
space and numbers is confined to a very small
limit. So il was In my case before / had wit
messed large battle, aud / think the boy S
idea OF q battle to-day would CouGuc the limits
OF the battle-line to 4 few blocks Of q country
village, where we could see il all without
much difficulty, As this article Is for the boys
aud not old veterans, l will endeayor 10 make
nay explanation of a battlc-line so PLAIN that
a child may understand Ny definition, then,
of " line OF battle" in Is few words rs / can
cypress il, would be q continuous conDle line oil
men, the length of the line depending on the
number engaged. Of course there are support
ing lines In rear OF main line, and these sup
porting lines are shifted To different parts oil
the field where they can do the most good, rs
demonstrated as tlt UalttS i'tB-IceStr- ! llS
main line is intcgspersed with the artillery,
which always should have a good support OF
infantry or dismouuted cavalry. 4 full regi-
ment of infantry in line of battle will occupy
in the ncighbOrhoOd of q thousand feet oil bat
tle-line-ive regiments. mile. So that a force
OF a hundred thousand men will be in crowded
condition on a battle-liue of 10 miles The
most of our large battles occupied line OF this
length; some longer, others shorter. Every
body should read Victor Hugo's Les Mis-
cradles" a book of this, his masterpiece is
devoted to the battle of Waterloo: aud better
description OF battle was never written. In
this he says: "Of all great battles Waterloo IS
that which has the shortest line in proportion
10 the number engaged: Napoleon two miles,
Wellington a mile aud half 1900 men on
each side. From this density came the car
mage A hundred and fortyfour thousand
men: 10000 dead-41 per cent"
The Boy Spy's " description of battles suits
me. He only attempts to describe what he
saw. When You read a full description of one
of our large battles written by a soldier IN the
ranks, you can just put il down that he is writ
ing about something of which he could not
possibly be cOgniZant from his own personal
observation. ] will here make the statement
that my regiment took part in all the large
battles from Chattanooga TO Atlanta inclusive,
also the battle at Nashville. All of these en-
gagements we depended on our home papers for
a true account OF. As q matter Of course we could
tell when We had gained a victory or sustained 4
defeat, but the true iuwardncss of these engage
ments we CLEANED from our Iowa papers.-H.
T. BIRD, Sth Iowa Cav, Mt. Pleasant Iowa.