Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-02-09
THE GAME OF WAR.
How 1t IL Played on the Chess-board of
Roads and Cross Country.

now IL ID Eiayeu on the Chess-bOard OF
Roads and Cross Country.
soxs POINTS rRor COL. nrorrov,s r,,xs m rur
-BunDsa CORDUROY ROADS AND poSroox
BRIDGES.
''The network Of roads and other lines of
communication of theater of war constitute
what Is called the strategic chees-board," said
Col Bigelow, acknowledgement of the District
| national guard. in his recent lecture of in
struction to officers of the national guard.
This differs essentially from the ordinary
chess-board in that it is not the squares that
are played on, but the lines of demarkation
between them. A somewhat different view of
the ordinary theater of war is given by Hamley
in his excellent work on the operations of war.
He says: 1T is extremely difficult to persuade
even intelligent auditors that two armies are
not like two fencers in an arena, who may shift
their ground to all points of the compass, but
rather resemble two swordsmen on a narrow
plank which oyerhangs an abyss, where each
has to think, not only Of giving and parrving
thrusts but OF keeping his footing under
marrow plank would seem to be a consider
ably more difficult one than that on the 'strate-
gic chess-board' Each has its counterpart,
however. as a characteristic reality. I.
therefore, deem it worth while, in order
70 assist In the correct appreciation
of these two illustrations, to compare them
with each other, and each with the correspond
ing reality. On the strategic chess-board an
army forced off its regular line Of communica-
ton is not necessarily ruined. 1t may save
itself either by fighting its way back to it, or by
moving to the next one; for though an army
cannot regularly operate on the squares it may
stand and hight on them or march short dis
tances across them; moreover it can often
command cross line by which to reach the
next parallel one. In the case of Hamley' 3
illustration, let us suppose that instead Of one
plank there are half dozen spanning the
abyss about a step apart, so that, if the swords
man loses his balance on one he has chance
OF recovering 1t on another; we thus assimi-
late to o certain extent the situation over the
abyss to that on the strategic chess-board. To
remove the remaining point of difference, we
must suppose planks to be laid transversely to
those
CROSSING THE ABYSS.
The swordsman on the single plank repre-
sents an army on a single road, the man on the
chess-board represents an army ON a system of
roads, An army, however, can hardly place
itself in such position that being forced off a
road Is immediate destruction, and even if so
placed and consequently destroyed, its fate
would illustrate point or principle. not of
strategy, but of grand tactics. The danger to
an army of losing its communication Deepen DIS
upon their importance to it as the channel
through which it procures its sustenance and
other necessities. The swordsman is indie
pendent of them in that respect. The plank
under the swordsman is to him nothing but an
imperfect platform and his anxiety respecting
IT is essentially different in its grounds from
that OF an army for a road in its rear. NV OBJ
ject in dwelling upon this point is to guard
against the erroneous idea that in real war an
operation against an enemys line of communi-
cation is ended with forcing the enemy off it
or with the occupation Of it in his rear Such
subsequent steps must be taken as will prevent
not only his recovering or reopening it. but also
his gaining possession of another. 1t was the
disregard Of this requirement that occasioned
General Hooker's
DISCONTINUE AT CHARLOTTESVILLE
By brilliant maneuver- march he had slipped
away unperceived from the front of the enemy,
passed around his flank and planted himself in
his rear, and had announced to his army that
the enemy must either ingloriously fly or give
him battle on his own ground and be destroyed
But, as We all know. by bold and skillful
maneuvering and fighting, the enemy reopened
his line Of retreat and made Hooker's army
look to its own. For the formation of gem
eral plan in country known to be either gen.
orally practicable or generally impracticable
maps showing in the former case only obstacles
and In the latter only communications are all
sufficient. But for the working out of the de-
tails Of plan to the extent necessary to the
actual conducting Of campaign the maps can
not be too detailed. For the execution of
strategic movement depends ofttimes not only
on the availability of existing roads and other
ready-made lines Of communication. but also
on the prscticability OF marching across coun-
try or OF constructing additional roads. In
our war with Mexico the position of Cerro
Gordo was turned by
MILITARY ROAD.
cut by Gen. Scott, over rough ground and chap
paral, which enabled him to seize the enemy's
line Of retreat in time to intercept and capture
nearly half of his army, and in the war Of the
rebellion hundreds of miles Of marsh and
swamp were travelled over by both armies on
corduroy roads constructed by the troops. In
that war the construction corps Of the Union
army built or rebuilt no less than GAL miles of
railroad and 26 miles Of bridges"
CORDUROY ROADS.
Speaking Of swamps and marshes under the
head Of obstacles, Col. Bigelow said: ''They
are crossed on bridges or on plank, or corduroy
roads. The latter were largely used in the
well-wooded swamp country of the south dur
ing our civil war. They are ordinarily made
as follows: Logs Of about IL inches in diameter
are first laid lengthwise in rows, from to 6
feet apart. On these are laid crosswise and
close together, young trees from 6 to inches
in diameter and of a length Of the width of the
road. On the outer edges of the road trees
about inches in diameter are spiked or pinned
to keep the trees OF the road-bed in position.
II the ground is very swampy several layers Of
logs may be put down as shown in Fig.-,before
the roadway itself is laid. The trees forming
the roadway are aided where the wheels run, in
order that the carriage may roll smoothly, or
the interslces between the cross-pieces are
Hlled up with smaller cross pieces, or finally
the carriageway 10 covered over with earth.