Tents are unfavorable to health. The soldier is best when he bivouacs,
because he sleeps with his feet to the fire, which speedily dries the
ground on which he lies. A few planks, or a little straw, shelter him
from the wind.
On the other hand, tents are necessary for the superior officers, who
have to write and to consult their maps. Tents should, therefore,
be issued to these, with directions to them never to sleep in a
house. Tents are always objects of observation to the enemy’s staff.
They afford information in regard to your numbers and the ground you
occupy; while an army bivouacking in two or three lines, is only
distinguishable from afar by the smoke which mingles with the clouds.
It is impossible to count the number of the fires.