MORE PROBLEMS OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE FIELD ORDER
(3) ORDER FOR POSITION IN READINESS
1.—You are Major General Tuttill in command of the 10th Division of
the 3d Corps, which is at Taneytown. On June 3, 1952, your division
has been designated to keep a certain force of the enemy out of
a battle which is going to take place with your whole army. This
hostile force is directly in your front. You determine therefore to
take up a position in readiness on the south side of Pipe Creek.
You have been encamped with the outpost. You want this outpost and
the cavalry which is attached to your command, to watch out for the
retirement of your whole division to this position in readiness.
After that, this whole outpost is to withdraw to Keymar. They are
to get to Keymar by going over the road through Bruceville. The
commander of the outpost will be notified when he will begin this
withdrawal. The enemy, you have learned, is directly in your front
and has gone into camp along Piney Creek near the village of Piney
Creek toward the north. The third brigade is to start at 4 o’clock
in the morning and is to march directly to Keymar, and the artillery
brigade, all but one battalion, will start out at the same hour and
will go around by Otterdale mill and will go to Montunion Church. The
first brigade should march the very same hour with its destination
to be near the vicinity of a small amount of woods, which are about
1,000 yards in a southerly direction from Trevanion. Your army on
this very day crossed the Monocacy. During the expedition, they
don’t meet with very much opposition, so that they intend on the
next day to attack the main body of the enemy which is somewhere in
the vicinity of Mt. Ary. Your signal company should leave the third
brigade. When the signal company gets to Keymar, it should connect
up that place with the station of the first brigade; it should put
in on this line a station for the artillery brigade. In addition,
the signal company ought to keep up a line of communication with
the outpost until the outpost is withdrawn. You, as the commanding
general of this division want to notify all your troops about a
certain fact which applies to every one—namely, that the staff
officers should go along with the infantry brigade before mentioned,
and should pick out and mark points which are to be entrenched. Your
engineer battalion will start to march at the same hour as the other
troops mentioned above. They are to strike then across to Middleburg
and then they are to go to places which are to be picked out by the
chief of staff, and when they get to those places they are to assist
in the entrenching. You decide that you are going to go to Taneytown
and stay there until the outpost is withdrawn. You want the field
trains to start out at three o’clock in the morning, and these should
go along and follow in the course which has been already designated
for the respective units to which the field trains belong. These
field trains are to cross the Pipe Creek and are to assemble at
Woodsburg. All the other columns of the trains will start out at the
same hour as the troops. The ammunition columns and the two field
hospitals are to halt at Ladysburg; all the others halt at Woodsburg.
You issue this order at 10 o’clock in the evening and you sign it
yourself, and you send copies of this, your 10th field order of the
campaign, to all officers who come to your headquarters to receive
orders.
(4) THE DEFENSE ORDER
2.—You are Major General Standish. You have just received word that
the enemy to which you are opposed has been very heavily reenforced
and has now about two divisions in the town of Taneytown. Your main
army is not going to leave until the 19th, and then it will get as
far as Marshall probably. You are in command of the 21st division of
the 8th corps, and you are south of Emmitsburg on the 17th day of
May, 1945. You decide that you can’t do anything else but take up a
defensive position. You accordingly want to make your division occupy
a position extending from McKee Knob to the northeast. You want the
second brigade, which is going to be reenforced by the first cavalry
and also by the 2d battalion, 1st field artillery to cover this
movement, to take up a defensive position. General Calhoun of the
second brigade has to put in place of the infantry of his brigade on
the southern line of outpost, certain cavalry patrols. These cavalry
patrols will come from two corps which have been sent to General
Calhoun, or at least have been ordered to report to him at Motters
at one o’clock in the morning. General Calhoun should relieve the
outpost of the third brigade at two o’clock in the morning, and of
the first at three o’clock in the morning. The first brigade, after
its outpost is relieved, should immediately take up the march, going
up the road which runs through Emmitsburg and Liberty Hall School
House. It should halt when it gets northeast of 656. General Calhoun
has to be placed in command in order to carry out his part of the
situation as to certain other troops—in fact, the 2d battalion of the
1st field artillery, and the 1st cavalry, should now become a part
of his command. The 2d battalion of the 1st field artillery is at
the northeastern outskirts of the town of Emmitsburg, and the 1st
cavalry has its headquarters at Fairplay; he will begin to command
these troops at two o’clock in the morning. You write, at 11 o’clock
at night, your sixth field order and send copies by Lieut. Fright to
Generals Byrd, Carr, Dale, and to Colonel Fink and Captain Hervey.
You read the message off to your staff and report by telegraph to
army headquarters what you have done. You decide to have your third
brigade, after this outpost is relieved, march by way of Emmitsburg
from Four Points. Then the brigade is to march by the road just east
of McKee Knob to a position half a mile north of 587; there the
brigade will halt. General Calhoun should delay the crossing of the
river by the enemy. He should do this as much as he is able, but he
should not become too closely engaged with the enemy. You decide
that you will be at Emmitsburg until after 5 o’clock in the morning;
then you are going to be at Liberty Hall School House. The signal
company will take up what lines it has laid down after two o’clock in
the morning. Then one-half of the company will report to Brigadier
General Calhoun, and the remainder of the signal company will proceed
to join the 3d brigade. You want your entire command to know that
there is to be on no occasion any unnecessary noise and that this
noise is to be avoided at all hazards. You do not wish a bugle call
to be sounded before the sun rises.
3.—On the 4th of June, 1964, you are Major General Boswell in command
of the first division of the fourth army corps. Your division is west
of Gettysburg. You hear that the enemy in your front is at Cashtown
and has been heavily reenforced. The troops for these reenforcements
have come from his main army. This gives you the idea that you had
better take up a defensive position; you had better take up this
position astride the road which you now are on and you must hold
this position throughout the day. Your third brigade should start
right away to make preparations for the defense. They should take up
a line in their defense preparations extending from somewhere east
of Seven Stars, and should continue this line to the southwest for
about three-quarters of a mile. The first cavalry should send two
platoons to report to the Major who commands the engineer battalion
near Moonsburg. These should be sent if the enemy advance in force,
and they should be sent with the patrol on your right flank. The main
body of this cavalry should patrol the left of your line to cover it.
The 2d brigade will prepare for defense a line extending from near
Seven Stars northwest. It should extend this line until it reaches
the farm road which crosses the ridge. The 1st brigade will be the
reserve. They are going to be under your direct orders; they should
therefore remain midway between Knoxburg and 597. There is a road
fork there where they should stay. The engineer battalion will go at
once and prepare the high ground southwest of Moonsburg for defense,
and in this defense which they will make at this point, they are to
act as a right flank guard. The ambulance companies will be held near
the north end of Herr Ridge. You have a second field hospital which
you have established at Gettysburg and you want it to stay there. You
want your first, third, and fourth field hospitals at the western
outskirts of Gettysburg. You want these first, third, and fourth
field hospitals to assemble by the road somewhere there. Company A
of your signal corps you decide to have lay certain lines. All these
lines should go from the position of the reserve to the second field
artillery, and on this line there should be a station so that the
commander of the second brigade could cut in, and then Company A also
should lay a line from the first field artillery to the reserve.
On this line also, the commander of the third brigade should have a
station where he can go. The signal company also ought to arrange to
have receiving stations for flag signals for the engineer battalion,
and ought to do the same thing for the cavalry on the left flank. Two
wagon companies of small arms ammunition should be held near 585, and
another wagon company of artillery ammunition near 587. You are going
to be at Division Headquarters at 597. Your second field artillery
should set out at once to the road leading southwest about half a
mile from Moonsburg; it should move around the Moonsburg road to do
this. It should then go by this road, which leads southwest, to an
intersection of that road to the next farm road. The Colonel of the
second field artillery should prepare a position in this vicinity
which would be capable of supporting the entire line of defense when
this line was attacked. The first field artillery should go about
half a mile south of this camp; it should proceed around by the road
parallel to the Chambersburg road, and should go as far as a point
one mile south of Seven Stars. When it gets there it should select
and prepare a position to support the defense. You want all the
other trains which you have not mentioned not to move out from where
they are, but want them to be ready to move in any direction at your
command. You know that your main army is going to attack the weaker
hostile force, which is in its front, on the very morning your order
is issued. You also know that if your own army is successful in this
attack, it will send you later some reenforcements if you really need
them. You write this order at twenty minutes of five in the morning.
You send copies of this, your sixth field order, since the beginning
of the campaign, to all officers who have been sent under your order
to receive them.
(5) RETREAT ORDER
4.—On May the 2d, 1919, at 4 a. m., you wish copies of this your 12th
field order since the beginning of the year sent to the commanders
of the first brigade, the artillery brigade, and the 10th cavalry by
Lieut. Alber; to the commanders of the second brigade, the engineer
battalion, the signal company, and the chief surgeon by Captain
Cutts; to the commander of the third brigade, and to Major Quincy by
Sgt. Donohue. Your name is Major General Slump. You are in command
of the second division of the third army corps. Your division is at
Platte City, Missouri. There are two divisions of the enemy who are
coming down against Platte City from the north. You know this to
be reliable information, and you know, also, that one division of
the enemy went into camp last night before you found out that the
outposts of that division were six miles north of Tracy on the road
that runs through Tracy and Severn. The other division, you know,
camped six miles further to the north. You give, in your order, the
direction that the first brigade is to take up a position on the
west end of the farm road which runs west from Nile. You want this
brigade to be prepared to make all sorts of resistance—in fact, you
want it to delay the enemy’s advance, and to hold this position
until you order it to retire further. You decide really that your
whole division should go into a position west of the Platte river.
Your idea is that it should hold back the enemy there, and should
hold it back sufficiently until the trains can be withdrawn. When
the trains are all withdrawn, then you ought to be able to make
an orderly retreat in the general direction of the Nile. At the
crack of dawn the next day, you figure that the cavalry ought to
begin going out and looking for the enemy with all possible speed
and vigilance. And then, too, you think that the cavalry ought to
look out especially for your left flank. Your second brigade should
start out at ten minutes to five the next morning. It should go to
“E” and should close up off the road near “E,” and should march by
the B-D road. This brigade is to be the second line and it should
take up such a position and be in such a state as to hold back any
movement of the enemy which should come in this direction. If it
is going to be necessary, this second brigade ought to cover the
troops of the first line who are withdrawing. The engineer battalion
should be ready to march out at half past four; it ought to follow
immediately behind the artillery brigade until the engineer battalion
gets somewhere beyond Tracy. The signal company will be ready to
march at twenty-five minutes of five and to follow the battalion of
engineers until the signal company gets to the southeast corner of
Tracy. The advance should move out in this way: the supply trains,
the ammunition columns, the bridge train, and the field hospital will
march at a quarter of four and they should march toward Leavenworth.
They should go by the road that runs two miles east of Platte City
through 56 and 54. The field train of the first brigade will clear
“15” at 4 o’clock. The field train of the second brigade, the
engineer battalion, the signal company, ambulance companies, and
division headquarters, in the order named, will move out toward
56 at half past five in the morning. These trains just enumerated
will follow the division trains. The baggage of the third brigade,
and the artillery brigade will proceed to Leavenworth and will go
by the road which runs through 56 and 54. The baggage will go any
prescribed distance as far as 50; during this move it will follow the
third brigade. You want Major Quincy to be put in charge of all the
division trains—in fact, you want him to be put in charge of all the
trains that join his column, and you want him to regulate the march.
You want messages sent to you between five o’clock in the morning and
the time of the withdrawal of the first line to the small orchard
which is between 13 and 15. After that time you want messages sent
to you at “12.” One section of your artillery ammunition, and one
section of your small arms ammunition are to be at a point between
50 and 52 at six o’clock in the morning. All the other sections of
the ammunition column will be on the road between Alexander and
“50” after one o’clock in the morning. The ambulance companies will
march at 5:30 a. m., and park by the road near “B.” The road fork at
“14” will be the collecting station for the slightly wounded. The
artillery brigade will get into position as follows: one regiment
about one mile north of “15,” the other somewhere near a mile north
on the road 1,100 yards northwest of 13. The artillery command should
open fire as soon as the enemy is seen anywhere, or, in any strength,
at any time.
(6) PURSUIT ORDER
5.—You are Major General Jervey in command of the 12th division 6th
corps. You have just defeated the enemy, and you have defeated him
so badly that he is retreating in great disorder in the direction
of Gettysburg. You are near Cashtown when you issue your 12th field
order of the campaign. It is twenty minutes to four in the afternoon,
June 12, 1925, when you issue to your brigade commanders, and to Lt.
Col. Miles, Colonel Forse, Major Good, and Captain Harrow copies of
your order. You decide to pursue the enemy without any delay. You
want your second brigade, which is now without the 6th infantry which
ordinarily belongs to that brigade, to reform itself, and you want
the second brigade at half past four to follow the third brigade
in the general direction of Gettysburg. The third brigade, which
is under the command of Brigadier General Dunn, you think ought to
advance at once. You are going to reenforce it, however, with the
second infantry, the second field artillery, and the first cavalry.
The third brigade ought, by all reasonable surmise, to drive the
enemy inside of Gettysburg or even beyond Gettysburg. After the third
brigade with this reenforcement has done so, it ought to seize the
whole of the McPherson Ridge and hold it. Two companies from the
second brigade ought to be detailed to report to the division surgeon
there. They should assist him in policing all the field. You are
going to be at Seven Stars as soon as you can get there and you are
going to start at five o’clock. All but one squadron of the first
cavalry will move out by the north of Gettysburg. You plan that it
shall be the first cavalry’s object to interrupt communication and
delay traffic on the railroad there, and then it ought to reconnoiter
in the general direction of the east. The first brigade you think
ought to follow the first field artillery. The first brigade you
figure should select two companies from its organization and detail
them to report to the division surgeon. Those two companies should
assist in policing all the battle-field. The first field artillery
will follow the second brigade: this regiment should detail an
officer and thirty men, and this officer and thirty men ought to
do the same thing as the two companies from the first brigade were
detailed to do. The division will have entire charge of the policing
of the field. A field hospital ought to be established at Cashtown.
Cars will be available for the division surgeon by five o’clock at
Ortanna. The evacuation of the wounded, therefore, should be through
Ortanna. The whole of the first battalion of engineers will report to
the division surgeon and go under his orders.
(7) HALT ORDER
6.—You are Brigadier General Short; you are in command of a
detachment from the first division. You have just decided that your
whole command should go into camp for the whole night. Your command
is at Bonnyville. You want to let your troops know that your cavalry
has come in contact with hostile cavalry, and that this attack was
made near Whitehall. About an hour after the issue of your message
your cavalry drove back the hostile cavalry toward Littlestown. You
want the second infantry to camp in a field southwest of the town in
which your division is now located. You want your first battalion
of your fourth artillery to camp in a field northwest of the same
town. You understand from a patrol which has just reported to you,
that at noon a column of the enemy was on the march going west, and
that at that time the advance guard of this column of the enemy was
at Center School House. You decide to place the first infantry in a
camp northwest of Sweet Home School House. There this first infantry
is to establish an outpost. The outpost is to extend from Hill 627
on the north, along through St. Luke’s Church up into a place called
Coshun. You want to notify the first infantry of your command, that
in case it is attacked, the line which has just been designated will
be the one to be held. Your third infantry you want to have camp in a
field north of the town in which you are. You want your field trains
to join their organizations; that is, the organization to which they
ordinarily belong, and you want this done right away. You yourself
at your own headquarters are going to camp where the main street
comes out of the western end of this town at which you are located.
At one o’clock in the afternoon of June 2, 1930, you deliver this
order verbally to your advance guard commander, to all your columns
of infantry, to your artillery commander, and all your staff; you
send one of your aides with a copy of the order to Major Kline of the
fifth cavalry, Captain Quigley who is in charge of the train, and to
Captain Supple of the signal corps. This is the 7th field order you
have written in this campaign. Signal Company A is to be camped west
of the second infantry, and the first ambulance company is to be near
the signal company. All the ammunition companies are to be camped
near the farm house called Lawrence. The first squadron of the 5th
cavalry ought, you figure, to camp somewhere near and west of the
artillery.
7.—The enemy has been retreating; he is continuing his retreat. Your
troops know that he has been retreating, but they do not know that
he is continuing his retreat. In fact, he is retreating in great
disorder. He is retreating in such great disorder that he is offering
no show of resistance to any of your troops who are pursuing him.
You are Major General Plight in command of the first division of the
first army corps. You are on the Baltimore Turnpike near White Run.
You decide to have your advance guard camp north of Two Taverns and
to establish an outpost line. They are to have a line of observation
and keep on the alert on that line of observation which will extend
from Bonnyville through Germantown to the cross-roads at 568. The
first brigade will come between the two branches of White Run, which
are north of the road just mentioned. The artillery brigade, with
one battalion gone, will camp along the road which runs through the
western branch of White Run. The ambulance companies, you figure,
should camp south on the road just mentioned and west of White Run.
Your division headquarters you decide to have placed west of the farm
house. This farm house is located west of where the road you are on
crosses over Rock Creek. You wish to tell your command that orders
will be issued from these headquarters at nine o’clock. Your whole
command, you decide, should halt for the whole night. Your second
brigade should camp just north of the road where you are located, and
just west of a road known by the name of Low Dutch. This 2d brigade
should have a detached post which it will detail for outpost duty.
Such a post should be in observation of the cross-roads at 530. This
cross-roads is just west of the Mt. Vernon School House. The engineer
battalion should camp south of the road you are on and east of White
Run. The signal company should camp at a spot where the road you are
on goes across Rock Creek. You want the signal company to lay a wire
from there to the outpost, and you want the signal company to have a
station on this wire or line at a place indicated by 489. You want
your outpost to know that if they are attacked they will be supported
by you. You give copies of this order to the officers who are sent
from the various commands to get the orders. You issue the order at
a quarter after two in the afternoon of June 2, 1935. They are the
77th field orders you have issued in this campaign. Your field trains
ought to join their commands right off. You want the remaining trains
to go into park on the main battle-field of Gettysburg. You decide
that issues of supplies will be best made from the supply column and
that these issues should be made at half past five in the morning.
The place you decide from which such issues should be made is 523.
Your supply wagons, which have been emptied, ought to proceed to
Ortanna for the night. There they should fill up with supplies and
come back and join early the next day.
(8) THE OUTPOST ORDER
8.—You are Colonel Fluke of the 99th infantry, and you are located
near Bonnyville. You decide to establish an outpost, and you decide
that your regiment should go into camp in the vicinity of Sweet Home
School House. The outpost should extend from Hill 627 at the northern
extremity, and then go on through St. Luke’s Church, and should
extend to the right fork at 587 at its southern extremity. This
road fork at 587 is south of the Coshun place. You want the line of
support to be held if you are attacked. Your line of support will be
at one, two, three, four, and five, in order. Your support No. 1 will
take a position near the road fork at 587, about a mile southwest of
Bonnyville. This support will cover the sector from the stream on
the west to the first stream on its east both inclusive. Frequent
patrols will be made to the Baltimore Turnpike. You issue this, your
first field order, at half past one on the afternoon of June 2,
1950. You deliver this order in person by reading it after you have
assembled all your field officers, your staff officers, and your
company commanders. You decide that you will be at the Sweet Home
School House during the continuation of the outpost. Your cavalry on
this very day came in contact with some cavalry of the enemy. About
noon at Whitehall this occurrence took place. There your cavalry
drove back the enemy’s cavalry toward Littlestown. From reliable
patrols you get a report that at noon, the very same time that this
occurrence took place, a large column of the enemy was seen to be
coming west. The head of the advance guard of this platoon of the
enemy was then at Center School House. Your Support No. 1, in command
of Captain Link, will consist of Company G and four mounted scouts.
Support No. 3, you decide to go into a position near St. Luke’s
Church. It ought to be responsible for the sector of ground which
you designate to extend from the stream about 500 yards south of St.
Luke’s Church, on to a farm house 1,000 yards northeast from a point
500 yards south of St. Luke’s Church. You wish to include both these
extremities in the sector of Support No. 3. Support No. 3 ought to
patrol the road which runs past Whitehall School House. The reserve
ought to camp near the Sweet Home School House. Support No. 5 should
take a position on the north slope Hill 627; the duty of Support No.
5 ought to consist of connecting with Support No. 3, and of covering
by their observations the road forks of 601 and 598. Support No. 5
will consist of 2d Lieut. Prince and the first section of Company I.
Support No. 4 should go and take a position at a point on the Hanover
road. This point is the place where the Hanover road joins with the
Bihl farm road. Support No. 4 will cover the ground around Support
No. 3, and the road fork at 597. This road fork is north of Square
Corners. Support No. 4 will include in its observations the points
mentioned as the extremities of this section. Support No. 2 should
take a position somewhere near the road fork of 617; this road fork
is just about a mile and a quarter south of the camp where you are.
Support No. 2 should cover the territory which is included in the
ground around the stream, which is west on the road for 617, to a
point 500 yards east of this road fork. The reserve should consist of
the first infantry, of which five companies will already have been
taken out, and also fourteen scouts. You want the wagons of the field
trains to go ahead right away and join the organizations to which
they ordinarily belong. Support No. 3 is to be under the command of
Captain Nutt, and is to consist of Company H and six mounted scouts.
Those wagons of the field trains, which belong to the companies in
support, will join the wagons of the regimental headquarters; they
will do this by eight o’clock in the evening. Support No. 3, under
the command of Captain Nelson, will consist of Company I, excepting
the first section, and two mounted orderlies. Support No. 2, under
the command of Major King, will consist of the second battalion,
all except Companies G and H and will also consist of four mounted
scouts. You want to tell your troops that your brigade to which
your regiment belongs is about to go into camp in the vicinity of
Bonnyville.
MARCH ORDERS WITH ADVANCE AND REAR GUARD
9.—On the 4th of September, 1956, you are Major Britton. You are
in command of the fourth division of the 19th army corps and you
are about to issue an order which will keep your division on the
march on the next morning; you have been marching. At 10 o’clock
at night you issue your order near Abbottstown, stating that you
yourself are going to be at the head of your main body. You feel
that you should march in the general direction of York on the next
day. Your main body in this order of march will consist of the first
infantry, of the second battalion of the 8th field artillery, of
the third brigade, of signal company “D,” and of the four ambulance
companies. Your main body should move out so as to come along behind
the advance guard, so that the tail of the advance guard will be
1,000 yards ahead of the head of the main body itself. Wagon trains
should move out so that they in turn will come along behind the main
body, so that the head of the lead horses will be 1,000 yards behind
the tail of the main body. You are in such a position between two
large forces of the enemy that you must have a rear guard. This rear
guard will be in command of Major General Huff. It will consist of
the first cavalry division, of the second brigade, of the 7th field
artillery, of the 4th battalion of engineers, and of the 1st, 2d,
and 3d ambulance companies. You hear that the enemy has probably been
reenforced and that this reenforcement probably consists of a brigade
of cavalry. You also hear, just when you issue this, your 7th field
order of the campaign, that there are some hostile infantrymen near
York, say, about a brigade. The rear guard, you figure, ought indeed
to keep the enemy in check. A rear guard of this nature ought to
resist any advancement on the part of the enemy until your advance
guard can open a road through York. The first cavalry division, you
have knowledge, is bivouacking near where you are. It has, indeed,
reported for duty in connection with the work of the division.
* * * * *
The idea of the last two chapters has been to put a jumbled military
decision into good working form. The object has not been to solve
tactical problems, but rather to put the ideas correctly expressed
into their logical places.