The evening times., 1898-07-08
SOME coMMoH WAR TERMS.
Things That the Present Generation
knows Little OF.

Knows Little OF.
| When Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered
and the war of the rebellion came to an
end there were few adults in the
United States Eho could not give a def
milton of ordinary military terms. Uni
formed men formed O part of nearly
to tell the rank of an officer by his shoul-
| der-straps. But. with the disbandmen;
| of the volunteer army. and the resump-
| tion of peaceful occupations, interest II
| military matters became less. and the
generation which witnesses the present
| conduct of active warfare has little
| knowledge as to the meaning of military
| terms. This fact was demonstrated re-
| Gently by correspondent. who asked:
''Wha. is an army corps? What is a
division? What Is brigade? What is
n regiment? What is battalion? What
is a platoon? What are lieutenants and
what do they have 10 do? What is a
feet? What Is a squadron? What is a
fiOtilia? What is a battleship? What Is
| a cruiser? What Is an auxiliary cruiser
What Is a monitor? What is a torpedo
boat?- What is a torpedo catcher"
An army corps Is made up of a number
| of divisions OF infantry, with proper
army corps Is commanded by a major
general. and is in all respects a complete
army. being the largest of the sub-divis-
ions Of the military forces. During times
Of peace there could be no army corps
in the United States. because the 5000
| men were scattered all over the country,
and concentration was impracticable and
almost impossible. An army corps Is di-
vided into divisions, which term is ap-
cd 20 fha hall N
army corps.
Brigades are to divisions what divis-
ions are to army corps, in so far that
while the larger body includes every
arm of the service a division may be
composed of only one of these arms.
Thus there may be a cavalry. artillery.
or infantry division. or there may be a
division which includes all these. The
number of men for a division depends
upon circumstances. Three brigades may
be formed into division. but there is
nothing to prevent 1t from being twice
as large. division is commanded by
major general.
A brigade commanded by a brigadier
general. Is composed of three. four. or
five regiments. and may be made up from
one arm of the service. or 1t may include
| regiments of infantry and cavalry and
batteries of artillery. together with en-
gineexs and signal corps.
A regiment is commanded by a colonel
and is permanent tactical unit. with
its own distinct individuality. Infantry
regiments. according to the new regula-
tions. have three battalons each. and
each battalion has four companies. The
second officer in a regiment is the heut.
colonel. who in the absence Of the COM
manding officer, takes command The
battalion commanders are of the rank
of ma jor.
The platoon is to the company what the
battalion Is TO the regiment, and as the
major is in command of the battalion
under the colonel. SO are the first and
second lieutenants in command of their
respective platoons under the captain.
First lieutenants have been described
as holding the places of vice captains.
The title Is purely French. When forma-
tion is made the first platoon is COM
manded by the first lieutenant Each
company has also first sergeant. .
Quartermaster sergeant, four sergeants.
and six corporals. TWO musicians. one
artificer. one engrayer. and siNty-five
privates. In the cavalry arm Of the serv-
ice companies are known as troops. and
in the artillery as batteries.
Other non-CommiSsioned officers in
regiment are one sergeant major. one
quartermaster sergeant, one chief musi-
clan, two principal musicians and three
hospital stewards.
The terms fleet squadron and
.'fiotiila'' are elastic in their nature. They
each designate number of vessels un
der a single commander. but fleet Is a
term superior to squadron and ..squa-
dron" stands for mere than 'fotilla."
The term feet may be properly applied
to an aggreEat tion of canal boats. and it
lis not, unusual TO hear of a flotilla of oys-
ter boats or racing yachts. But at this
time one couples the terms with the ma
Wy. and, according to established usage.
the word fleet" means a large number
of vessels under command of an admiral
or other high naval officer. While 1t is
believed by some authorities that a fleet
must contain at least six ships. others
believe that smaller number of ves-
sells may. under certain circumstances
be termed fleet. There are countries
whose whole navy consists of only four
or five ships. but these could be spoken
of as a fleet with all propriety. Techni-
cally, fleet has been described as COM
posed of thirteen vessels-two squadrons
of six ships each and flagship. But
this technicality seems to be entirely dis
regarded in practice.
A SQUADRON is a division of a fleet
detachment of war; vessels employed
upon a particular service or station. and
Is always under the command of a flag
OIuCtT- A nag Is cNt WnD has lEt
privilege to display flag denoting his
rank-an admiral vice-admiral. rear ad-
miral or commodore.
A fotilla is a term applied either to n
fleet of small vessels or to a small fleet
of larger craft.
The difference between a battleship and
an armored cruiser is technical. and ex-
perts have stumbled over the matter. A
battleship is supposed to have heavier
guns and armor and to be better fitted to
withstand hard knocks from an oppos-
ing force. But this does not always hold
good.~ as may be seen in the case of the
Maine as compared with the Brooklyn.
The Maine was batt,eship. but she was
not so large nor so heavily armored as
the armored cruiser Brooklyn. On one
point. there seems to be no dispute. and
that Is the fac. that the cruisers are
faster tina the battleships. and it is
conceded also that in most instances the
battleships are better protected.
Auxiliary cruisers are vessels which
were built for the merchant service. but
with a view of being armed in case of
need. When the vessels were built the
Government had an understanding with
the constructors and owners by which
provisions for arming were made A SIM
liar agreement exists between the Eng
lsh government and the owners of the
large. ocean liners which sail under her
flag. The, cruisers St. Paul. St. Louis
New York and Paris would not be rec
ognized by the people who Travelled
across the ocean in them when they were
luxuriously appointed passenger boats.
Superfiuous furniture has been removed.
and the vessels in their war paint look as
though they had been built for war pur-
poses
monitor is n peculiar battleship. hav-
ing low freeboard. light draft and flush