The Portland daily press., 1895-07-01
THE FUTURE OF WAR.
Modern Guns Necessitate a Change in
Tactics.
Defensive Battles Will be at a Premium
and Defensive Warfare Simplified, Ac-
cording to GEN. Fitzhurg Lee.

| ana defensive warfare elm mpllueus &C
cording to Gen. Fitzhurg Lee.
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 warfare will
be simplihed Armies will manoeuvre
for position, and the generals command
ing them will gain fame by movements
skillfully conducted to concentrate their
scattered battalions at the proper time,
with the 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 often
sive on the part of one OF the command
ers, if possible his tactics will be defen-
sive. Hostile armies will keep at greater
distances and in open country out of sight
of each other, unless they can take up a
line at night and intrench; and direct
flank movements will not be attempted
where troops are visible before 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
stationary 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 infan
try and artillery, and one of the problems
will be the protection of the horses that
draw the guns Temporary feldworks
| cannot shelter them, and unless hills
| afford protection they will perish in the
leaden hail Cavalry will not be employed
f1anks of armies, against cavalry.
Cavalry chieftains will no longer assail
| infantry or artillery, and no more changes
will be recorded like those of PonsonbyFat
| Waterloo or Murat at Jena. This arm
will still be effective in reconnoissances,
picketing guarding trains, and as escorts;
but except In small bodies it's use for ad
| vance and rear guards will be diminished
The target presented is too large to be
| risked before field guns firing with great
rapidity, even II several miles distant, as
| well as before infantry rifles incessantly
| flashing mile away.
| Manoeuvering cavalry corps with, say,
lO,U tQOTS6S Oh d luUuT6
| would be high type of cruelty to ami
mails; 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 dismOunt-
ed and used as infantry, their modern
carbines being nearly as effective as the
magazine-rife Of the infantryman; bunt
it will be most difficult to protect the
horses while locating them in such a posi-
| ton as to reach their riders or be reached
by them quickly, when necessary.
! Perhaps the most interesting problem
to be solved by those who organize armies
in the future Is the disposition and ar
rangement of the immense ammunition
trains The greedy guns must be led.
and great will be their rapacity. Next to
the commanding general and his princi-
pal assistants will rank in Importance
the field chief of ordnance, who has the
location of supply depots and the manage
ment of the transportation of large and
small cartridges to the combatants. The
continual replenishing of caisson and
timber boxes, the smaller charges for in
fantry during actual conflict, and the
safety and efficiency of vast trains where
electric or steam roads cannot be con-
structed, will require brave, enter
prising, cool, vigilant officer of conspicu-
GUS ability and executive capacity.
The medical departments too, must tbe
reorganized and enlarged to convey the
disabled to field hospitals, for sfleld am
oulances cannot be placed close to battle
lines, and the numbers ..of the wounded
will be greatly increased.
| The great captains of future wars will
be those who fully comprehend the de-
structive power of improved cannon and
small arms, and whose calm and fertile
intellect will grasp the Importance of so
manoeuvering as to force the antagonist
to give offensive battle, and who will
never be without clear conception of
the object to be achieved and the best
way of achieving it. They will parry
and fence like great swordsmen, but they
will thrust only when the enemy rushes
upon them. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee in the
July Century.
| Union Working Club.