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H. Wager Halleck , A. M. , Lieut. of Engineers, U. S. Army ., Elements of Military Art and Science; or, Course of Instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactis of Battles &c., Embracing the Duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and Engineers. Adapted to the Use of Volunteers and Militia., Chapter 9: army organization—Staff and Administrative Corps.—Their history, duties, numbers, and organization (search)
hey operate — as, army of the North, of the South, of Mexico, of Canada, of the Rhine, &c.; or from the general who commands it — as, the army of Soult, army of Wellington, army of Blucher, &c. All modern armies are organized on the same basis. They are made up of a Staff and Administrative departments, and four distinct arms charge of the organized military forces of the state. In this country the President, through his Secretary of War, exercises this general command. In England, Wellington acts in the capacity of commander-in-chief of all the British military forces. In France, the Minister of War, under the king, has this general direction. In report or the folding of the letter exactly corresponds to the particular regulation applicable to the case. Such was the character given to the first staff of Wellington, and a similar class of men composed the staff of the army of Italy when it was abolished by Napoleon and a new one formed in its place. There are also some of
H. Wager Halleck , A. M. , Lieut. of Engineers, U. S. Army ., Elements of Military Art and Science; or, Course of Instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactis of Battles &c., Embracing the Duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and Engineers. Adapted to the Use of Volunteers and Militia., Chapter 12: army organization—Engineers.—Their history, duties, and organization,—with a brief discussion, showing their importance as a part of a modern army organization. (search)
ther cases equally striking. Just before the battle of Waterloo, Wellington employed some eighteen. thousand peasants and two thousand horsesect army organizations. In a letter dated February 11th, 1812, Wellington wrote to the Secretary of State as, follows :--I would beg leave oops arrived from England, but their number was insufficient, and Wellington, having learned by sad experience the importance of engineer trooOporto, and destroyed the bridges so as to cut off the pursuit of Wellington. But while Soult, deceived by treachery in his own corps, neglected to guard the river with proper vigilance, Wellington collected boats at different points, crossed over his army, surprised the French, andos could be put in a state of defence. Beresford was directed by Wellington to pass this river at Jerumina, where the Portuguese had promisedhe Ceira and Alva, and their influence on the pursuit of Massena; Wellington's passage of the Tagus, and his retreat from Burgos in 1812 ; the
H. Wager Halleck , A. M. , Lieut. of Engineers, U. S. Army ., Elements of Military Art and Science; or, Course of Instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactis of Battles &c., Embracing the Duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and Engineers. Adapted to the Use of Volunteers and Militia., Chapter 14: field-engineering.—Field Fortifications.—Military Communications.—Military Bridges.—Sapping, Mining, and the attack and defence of a fortified place (search)
h the heights that covered Bingen, as the engineers had recommended, exposed himself to those terrible disasters which forced him to a precipitate retreat; to the works of Wervike, which, by a vigorous resistance on the 10th of September, 1793, saved the Dutch army from total destruction; to the intrenched camp of Ulm, in 1800, which for six weeks held in check the victorious army of Moreau; to the intrenched lines of Torres Vedras, in 1810, which saved from destruction the English army of Wellington; to the field-defences of Hougomont, which contributed so much to the victory of Waterloo, &c. Military communications.--The movements of armies are always much embarrassed by forests, marshes, and water-courses, and nothing contributes more to the dispatch of military operations than the means of opening practical and easy communication through these various obstacles. It is not necessary here to enter into any detailed discussion of the manner of constructing military communication
H. Wager Halleck , A. M. , Lieut. of Engineers, U. S. Army ., Elements of Military Art and Science; or, Course of Instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactis of Battles &c., Embracing the Duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and Engineers. Adapted to the Use of Volunteers and Militia., Chapter 15: military Education—Military schools of France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, England, &c.—Washington's reasons for establishing the West point Academy.—Rules of appointment and Promotion in foreign Services.—Absurdity and injustice of our own system. (search)
peror and his able staff of young officers, in the two succeeding campaigns, rolled back the waves of French conquest, and finally overthrew the French empire. Wellington, who led the English in these campaigns, was of the same age as Napoleon, and had been educated at the same time with him in the military schools of France. Thnhorst and Gneisenau,--his operations partook of the energy of his able chiefs of staff. In the campaign of 1815, Napoleon was opposed by the combinations of Wellington and Gneisenau, both younger men than most of his own generals, who, it is well known, exhibited, in this campaign, less than in former ones, the ardent energy a In some respects it is preferable to our ruinous system of exclusive seniority and executive favoritism, but far more objectionable than that based on merit. Wellington has recently said that the system of exclusive seniority would soon utterly destroy the efficiency of the army, by preventing young men from reaching the higher
following day to enter the city, unopposed, as he himself acknowledges, and whereas no provocation was given by the authorities, civil or military, he can in no manner claim that extreme war measures were a necessity. It has been argued that Wellington sanctioned extreme measures against the Basques, at the time he was opposed to Marshal Soult, at Bayonne, in 1814. Wellington perceived that, by pillage and cruel treatment, his Spanish allies, under Mina and Morilla, were arousing the BasquesWellington perceived that, by pillage and cruel treatment, his Spanish allies, under Mina and Morilla, were arousing the Basques to arms, and at once ordered the Spanish troops to abstain from such odious conduct. He was, unfortunately, too late in his discovery; the appetite for plunder had become so inordinate that his proclamation was disregarded by his allies, and he was subsequently forced to threaten extreme measures, in order to check the partisan warfare which initiated the cruelties and horrors he deplored. This is the unquestionable interpretation of the subjoined passage: A sullen obedience followed, but the
Owen Wister, Ulysses S. Grant, III. (search)
ther the reverse; and this, too, helps a portrait of the boy from which the features of the man seem a natural, slow development. It would be strangely inconsistent to find in Grant's adolescence any signs of precocity, such as mark, for example, the early years of Webster, another rustic boy with very similar antecedents. For intellect was Webster's gift, while character was Grant's and character finds no outward expression save in life's chances. Napoleon owes his fame to himself, but Wellington owes his fame to Napoleon; and, save for the Civil War, Grant's force would have slumbered in him from the cradle to the grave. Here is the single prophetic incident. It has been told in many ways; and his own is the best, as usual:-- There was a Mr. Ralston . . . who owned a colt which I very much wanted. My father had offered twenty dollars for it, but Ralston wanted twenty-five. I was so anxious to have the colt that . . . my father yielded, but said twenty dollars was all the
Owen Wister, Ulysses S. Grant, VI. (search)
the soul's highest excellence, and many who eat their three meals a day are dead as door-nails. Grant rose to his full height again only when he came to die. As president, he was no more himself than he had been when tanning leather. Men far less worthy have sat more worthily in the White House. It was foretold — silently. Sherman, his dear friend, was set against it, and would not say a word for it. Did he not know the world's great soldiers, and what babies they became as statesmen,--Wellington latest of all? More still, he knew his friend. But we Americans, the most consistently inconsistent people on earth, have passed a century in abusing our army, and in electing every military hero we could get for president: Washington, Jackson, Harrison, Taylor, Grant. When Lincoln was taken from us, no man was so loved as Grant; and, therefore, without asking or caring to know how he could have learned statesmanship, in our gratitude we twice gave him the greatest gift we have. Befo
er which would not go away-- Grant had not these. But he certainly had a good deal of the character and qualities which we so justly respect in the Duke of Wellington. Wholly free from show, parade, and pomposity; sensible and sagacious; scanning closely the situation, seeing things as they actually were, then making up his he right nail to drive, resolutely and tenaciously persevering, driving the nail hard home — Grant was all this, and surely in all this he resembles the Duke of Wellington. The eyes of Europe, during the War of Secession, were chiefly fixed on the conflict in the East. Grant, however, as we have seen, began his career, not on ccessor should be. I took no steps to answer these complaints, but continued to do my duty, as I understood it, to the best of my ability. Surely the Duke of Wellington would have read these Memoirs with pleasure. He might himself have issued, too, this order respecting behaviour to prisoners: Instruct the commands to be quiet
is the great general. Without doubt, this is a correct judgment in the long run; but in particular cases the rule could not always be applied without injustice. Hannibal was defeated by Scipio at Zama, and Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo; but it does not follow that Scipio was a greater general than Hannibal, or the Duke of Wellington than Napoleon. Mexico was taken by a series of rapid and daring movements, and Richmond has not yet been taken; and thus the inferenWellington than Napoleon. Mexico was taken by a series of rapid and daring movements, and Richmond has not yet been taken; and thus the inference is drawn that, had the latter city been assailed in the same way as the former was, it too would have fallen, as Mexico did. But those who reason thus forget the sharp lesson we learned at Bull Run,--a disastrous battle forced upon the army by a popular sentiment which ignorantly clamored for the dash and rapidity which accomplished such brilliant results in the Valley of Mexico. Nelson won the battle of Aboukir by a very daring and dangerous plan of attack, which had the good fortune to be
zed without a touch of arrogance, and yet with a manly decision of tone which reveals a sound military judgment and thorough military training. It merits can be fully perceived only by a professional reader; bat the general reader cannot fail to recognize in it the marks which show the writer to be a man of vigorous understanding and excellent powers of observation, as well as an accomplished officer. The style is simple, perspicuous, and direct, the style of Washington, Collingwood, and Wellington;--in other words, that good style which a man of sense will always write who has something to say and writes on without thinking about his style at all. As the work. from the nature of its contents, can never have been generally read, two extracts from this portion of the volume are hero appended,--enough, it is believed, to justify the commendation which has been bestowed upon it. The first is a brief criticism of the defences of Sebastopol:-- From the preceding hasty and imperfect ac
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