.
He adds, “and to rank which confers upon officers only an occasional right to command, including brevet officers,” etc. Thus we see that these gentlemen admit that these words, in their proper and usual signification, are employed to distinguish the combatant from the staff or non-combatant portions of the army.
If we look at the policy of the law, we can discover no reasons of expediency which compel us to depart from the plain and ordinary import of the terms; on the contrary, we may suppose strong reasons why it may have been deemed proper, in the case referred to by the article, to exclude officers of the staff from command. In the first place, the command of troops might frequently interfere with their appropriate duties, and thereby occasion serious embarrassment to the service. In the next place, the officers of some of the staff corps are not qualified by their habits of education for the command of troops, and although others are so qualified, it arises from the fact that (by laws passed long subsequently to the article in question) the officers of the corps to which they belong are required to be appointed from the “line of the army.” Lastly, officers of the staff corps seldom have troops of their own corps serving under their command, and if the words “officers of the line” are understood to apply to them, the effect would often be to give them command over the officers and men of all the other corps when not a man of their own was present, an anomaly always to be avoided, where it is possible to do so. Whatever doubts may be entertained on this subject in regard to the officers of other staff corps, none can exist in regard to those of the Medical Department and the Pay Department. The law of 1847 expressly excludes them from command. Now the officers of these corps are not a distinct and independent body, but are a part of the army, and as they cannot command, it follows that when on duty they must be commanded.
Commandant. An officer who has the command of a garrison, fort, castle, regiment, company, etc.; called also commander.
Commander-in-Chief. The title given to the officer who has supreme command of the land or naval forces of a nation. The President is ex officio commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States.
Commands. In the military service there are two kinds, the preparatory command, such as forward, which indicates the movement that is to be executed, and the command of execution, such as MARCH, or HALT, or in the manual of arms, the part of the command which causes the execution. The tone of command is animated, distinct, and of a loudness proportioned to the number of men under instruction.
Each preparatory command is pronounced in an ascending tone of voice, but always in such a manner that the command of execution may be more energetic and elevated.
The command of execution is pronounced in a tone firm and brief. The trumpet ought to be used for giving commands whenever it can be done to advantage.
Commilitones. This word had with the Romans the same significance as the English words comrade soldiers.
Commissariat. A name given to the organized system whereby armies are provided with food and daily necessaries. In the old Roman armies the duty of supplying troops was performed by the quæstors, who filled the place of the commissary officers of our own times. In the U. S. service this department is under charge of an officer of the rank of brigadier-general, called the commissary-general of subsistence.
Commissary. In general means any one to whom the power or authority of another is committed; used in military affairs in relation to officers who have charge of the subsistence of troops, musters, etc.
Commissary of Muster. See Muster.
Commissary Sergeants. In the U. S. service, are sergeants who are selected from the line of the army, by the Secretary of War; they must be steady and reliable men, and their duties are to assist the commissary officer in receiving, storing, preserving, issuing, selling, and accounting for the subsistence supplies at their posts, according to the regulations for the subsistence departments.
Commission. A writing, generally in the form of a warrant or letters-patent, authorizing the performance of duties, or exercise of powers belonging to another. Instruments bearing this title are issued by the Executive to officers in the army or navy, who, on confirmation of their appointment, are known as commissioned officers. The practice of buying and selling all commissions under the rank of colonel, which formerly prevailed in the British army, was abolished in 1871.
Commissioned. One having a commission; furnished with a commission; empowered or authorized to act; as, a commissioned officer.
Common Time. In marching, the length of the direct step in common time is 28 inches, and the cadence is at the rate of 90 steps per minute.
Communication, Line of. A fantastical name applied by Belidor to mines with immense charges, which he proposed to use for the destruction of countermines, and which were used successfully in the attack of Schweidnitz, under Frederick II.
Commutation. Is the conversion of allowances, such as fuel, forage, and quarters, into their money value.
Comorn. A royal free town of Hungary, 48 miles from Buda. Its citadel is considered one of the strongest in Europe. Its works and intrenchments extend about 7 miles along the banks of the rivers (Waag and Danube), and it requires for its defense at least 15,000 men and 400 pieces of artillery. It has the reputation of being impregnable, and justified it in the Hungarian war, for the Austrians besieged it from October, 1848, to September, 1849, and only became masters of it at last in virtue of a capitulation.
Compagnies de Discipline (Fr.). “Companies of discipline.” These companies were created by Napoleon I. in 1802; the basis of their actual organization was laid by a royal order, dated April 1, 1818. This order fixes the number of companies at 10, 6 of fusileers and 4 of pioneers, the former to be composed of soldiers of the army who were guilty of indiscipline, and the latter to be formed of men of the former who were deemed incorrigible. The number of companies is now reduced to 7, who are stationed in Algeria. There are also 4 companies similarly organized which are stationed in the French colonies.
Compagnies d’Ordonnance (Fr.). The name of a corps of cavalry, which was organized in France by Charles VII. in 1439; it numbered 16 companies, and the entire strength was 9600 men. This was the first regular cavalry organized in France.
Company (Fr. compagnie). In military organization, is a body of men commanded by a captain, and forming an aliquot part of a regiment or battalion. In the British service a full company consists of about 100 men, and a regiment of infantry generally comprises 10 or 12 companies, or if there is more than 1 battalion, each has this number of companies. The captain of each company is assisted by 2 subalterns. In the U. S. army each regiment of infantry is divided into 10 companies, and each company has a captain and 2 lieutenants. The artillery and cavalry regiments are divided into 12 companies each, and the former has a captain and 4 lieutenants to each company. See Organization.
Company Column. The successive improvements that have been made in fire-arms during the last hundred years have been followed by a gradual diminution of the depth of tactical formations, until to-day the “open order,” or the formation as skirmishers, is the only one adopted under the fire of the enemy. In the most recent development of the “open order” the company, composed of 250 men, is recognized as the “fighting unit,” while the battalion, composed of 4 companies, is regarded as the “tactical unit,”—that is, the smallest body of men that can be safely employed independently.
The adoption of breech-loaders has not changed the principles of strategy and grand tactics, nor has it diminished the number of lines in which armies are drawn up to give and receive battle. It has simply demonstrated the impossibility of attacking positions in battalion columns, and, as a consequence, has necessitated a division of the troops into smaller fractions, which, under fire, can be moved with the greatest rapidity and least exposure, thereby insuring the least loss of life. Hence the formation of troops in “company column” in the German and other European armies.
In