The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-08-07
The Future OF War.

The modern guns will make great
changes in the art Of war, and the plans
employed in former campaigns by the
great commanders will receive many
notifications. Defensive battles will
be at premium, and defensive war
fare will be simplifed. Armies will
mannuvrc for position, and the gene
rails commanding them will gain faim
by movements skilfully conducted to
concentrate their scattered battalions
at the proper time, with th" purpose
of forcing an antagonist to give rather
than to accept battle. If campaign
with a designated objective point is
planned, and the strategy is offensive
on the part of one of the commanders,
if possible his tactics will be defepsiv
Hostile armies will keep at greater
distances and in open country out OF
sight of each other, unless they can
take up line at night and cntrench
and direct flank movements will not be
attempted where troops are visible be,
fore the assault. Field balloons will
locate the position, and photography
mark the formation Of contending
forces, while telephones and electricity
will play prominent parts in the war
drama. Night marching and night
attacks will be more frequent, and
columns of troops organized to charge
stationery positions will be moved
under darkness to close points so that
the charge at dawn will occupy the
shortest time possible.
Raging battles will be fought by in
fantry and artillery, and one OF the
problems will be the protection OF the
horses that draw the guns. Temporary
feld-works cannot shelter them, and
unless hills afford protection they will
perish in the lcaden hail. Cavalry
will not be employed on the main field
of battle, but on the Aanks of armies
against cavalry. Cavalry chieftains
will no longer assail infantry or artll-
lery, and no more charges will be re-
corded like those of Ponsonby at Wa
terl.o or Murat at Jena. This arm
will still be effective in reconnoissances,
picketing. guarding trains, and as
escorts but except in small bodies its
use for advance and rear-guards will
be diminished. The target presented
is too large to be risked before field
guns firing with great rapidity, even
if several miles distant, as well as be-
fore infantry rifles incessantly flashing
mile away.
NIaneuvring cavalry corps with,
say 10000 horses, on future battle
field, would be a high type of cruelty
to animals but the regiments, brigades
and divisions composing it can still
render good service. They can be
moved with celebrity long distances,
and the troopers, except the horse
holders, can be dismounted and used
as infantry, their modern carbines be-
ing nearly as effective as the magazine
rifle of the infantryman but it will be
most difficult to protect the horses
while locating them in such position
as to reach their riders or be reached
by them quickly when necessary.
Perhaps the most interesting prob
lem to be solved by those who organize
armies in the future is the disposition
and arrangement of the immense am
munition trains. The greedy guns
must be fed, and great will be their
capacity. Next to the commanding
general and his principal assistants
will rank in importance the field chief
of ordnance, who has the location OF
supply depots and the management OF
the transportation of large and small
cartridges to the combatants. The
continual replcnishing Of caison and
Timber boxes, the smaller charges for
infantry during actual conflict, and
shc safety and efficiency of vast trains
where electric or steam roads cannot
be constructed, will require a brave,
enterprising, cool, vigilant officer of
conspicuous ability and executive
capacity.
The medical departments, too, must
be rcorganized and enlarged to convey
the disabled to field hospitals, for field
ambulances cannot be placed close to
battle lines, and the numbers of the
wounded will be greatly increased.
The lr,at captains Of future wais
will be those who fully comprehend
the destructive power Of improved
cannon and small arms, and whose
calm and fertile intellect will grasp
the Importance Of SO maneuvring as to
force the antagonist to give offensive
battle, and who will never lie without
"a clear conception of the object to be
achieved and the best way of achieving
it." They will parry and fence like
great swordsn1en, but they will thrust
only when the enemy. rushes upon
them.-Gcn. FIt=hugh Lee IN the Cen