Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03

| i suit the new krag-
!" Z: {:
| "A 1aM Jorgensen rifle. In
| kpSlMsXNU this new hrearm the
IA FU protruding bolt which
| KN7IIHLII locks n unlocks
III Il" tM the chamber Is so
w MI " placed beside the
" trigger guard ( h a
| the time-honored execution of carry is
an impossibility. Because Of the entirely
new mechanism Of the cartridge chamber,
the introduction of the new belt and the
new shell the loading and firing must be
rearranged while the Introduction Of the
knife bayonet with its various functions
| as a hand weapon as well as an attach
ment for the musket, will probably neces-
| state complete revision Of the bayonet
| exercises. The stacking may also suffer
| change, and various other suggestions are
bound to come in from the field before the
| new weapon will have withstood many
| weeks of trial. 1t is the ambition Of many
of the officers who will have hand in the
| revision to make the next code even more
modest than the present, doing away with
the movements which still have a SAVIOR Of
flourish rather than utility. AS an officer
pointed out to your correspondent, the
strongest armies Of Europe approach near
est to simplicity in their manual Of arms;
but three motions, one similar to our cleft
shoulder" another like our order" and
the third merely salute. The other ma
tions especially France. still adhere to
what are called fancy movements, which
| the public as well as some OF the officers
| themselves, are ever 10th to see abandoned.
1t is to it's French ancestry that our tao
tics owed many graceful evolutions, which
were dropped when Upton's book was late
| ly revised. The genealogy of our Infantry
drill book shows that we have borrowed
plentifully from almost every European ma
| ton which ever had published work or
its own. Since the organization of our
army, previous to the revolution, the Amer
| lean soldier has been taught from no less
than nine different works on tactics, the
first Of which was brought to this country
| by officer who fought under Frederick
the Great, most of the others being cap
tured bodily from the French treatises,
especially that used in the Napoleonic wars.
We have thus always been up to date, al
though we could not boast of much origi-
Lality in the line Of military instruction
until after the experience of the civil war.
First Competitive Drill.
Frederick William the First of Pussia,
the father of Frederick the Great, is said
to have been the first officer to establish a
regular manual of arms, although he got
many of his ideas from the Spanish. He
drilled his men in cadence and established
4 system of loading and firing with num-
bers. 1t was this ruler, often ironically
called the great drill sergeant OF Eu-
rope" who enlisted company of giants
the celebrated Potsdam Guards-the tallest
of whom measured eight feet and half
They were equipped with muskets ana
drilled according to a very crude system OF
tactics, prepared entirely for street parades
and shows Frederick established his repu-
tation as a crank partly on this account,
and 1t was said Of him and his wonderiui
giants that band of mountaineers with
their cudgelS could drive the whoie crown
lat of Prussia.
| But when Frederick the Great made his
| signal victories in 1857, after he had drilled
his men In cadence according 10 a system
derived from his father, Europe first began
| to appreciate the value of tactics, and for
fifty years afterward her book stores
swarmed with treatises on handing nre-
| arms in cadence. This was during the boy
hood and early career of Napoleon, and 1t Is
probable that his youthful mind was excited
by some Of these books when he used to
stake off armies on his mothers pin
cushion. Frederick the Great established
the regiment, formed by twelve companies
and two battalions. Each company was
made up in three ranks, having captain,
three other officers, one sergeant, and ten
| on-commissoned officers. His manual,
which was the first laid out for actual serv-
| ice, consisted of thirty-nine evolutions In
| these days the officers made no provision
| in their commands against unnecessary
| waste of wind; for instance, find the
following English translation for some of
| their commands: "Join your right hand to
your frelock,' Shut your pans" Draw
your rammers," Put them in your pans, -
ITO the left about, as you WERE" and SO on.
WashingtOn's Tactics.
Until a century after Frederick the
Greats celebrated victories the whole of
Europe was up in arms, little thought be-
ing given to tactics except in Prussia and
France. In 1850 England got translation
of the Prussian tactics. and introduced 1t
into her army and that of Scotland. Wind
hams tactics, used in England 1770-70, be-
ing a combination of the Prussian and
, French systems, with few points bor-
rowed from the Spanish, was the first intro
duced in America, where some of the Brit
ish troops were then quartered. 1t was this
treatise which was studied by Washington
and other Of our revolutionary fathers who
saw some service in the British colonial
army.
The tactics used by Napoleon were, for
the most part, original with the French, al
though there We're a few points borrowed
from the Prussians. Napoeon's army was
formed In three ranks When 1t was enroll
ed, he stood all OF his men in line, the tall
est on the right and the shortest on the
left. The line was then divided into thirds,
those on the right forming the front rank,
those I'm the center the rear, and those on
the left the middle rank. He also originat-
ed the file closers," or what he called the
fourth rank. Napoleon's manual included
fifteen numbers nearly all of which can be
found In Upton's United States tactics, only
abolished three years ago The position OF
as that prescribed for our army today.
Various Drill Systems.
Baron Steuben, who had been one of the
bravest officers under Frederick the Great
! came to this country In 1777, and gave his
services to Washington. This nobleman had
just written a book of tactics In Prussia
and these were adopted by the Continental
Congress In 1779 as the first instruction
, I book for tho American soldier Steuber
was appointed to instruct the army accord.
Ing to his own system. This was after the
, original book of Frederick the Great, but
, greatly improved many parts Of It, The
thirty-nine evolutions in the manual Of the
Prussian general were reduced to fifteen
: Companies were formed IN two ranks anG
: two platoons AS late as 1S46 one Of the
: most noted military authorities Of Europe
! spoke of Stsuben as the father Of the mod
: ern drill tactics of the world" Steuben',
tactics were. indeed, too much for the Brit
ishers. This code remained in vogu,
throughout the remainder Of the revolution
: and In our standing army up to the out
break Of the war of 1912. when Secretary
| Of War Eustis authorized q change. Alex
! ander Snythe. an Irishman, whom JefYer
son had made colonel of a regiment In 1908
although he had no previous military
5 knowledge, offered q code about this time