_CONVOYS._—A waggon with four horses occupies about sixteen paces;
a mile will therefore hold about 117 waggons: but allowing a short
distance between, each waggon in travelling, a mile may be said to
contain 100 waggons. Waggons in convoy may travel from one to two
miles _per_ hour, according to the roads and other circumstances. A
great object in convoys is to preserve the horses as much as possible
from fatigue. For this purpose, if the convoy amounts to many hundred
waggons, they must be divided into divisions of not more than 500
each. Should it consist of thousands, it will be adviseable to divide
them into _grand_ divisions, and then again into subdivisions of 500
each: by this means, and the time of departure being calculated by the
following rules, each division may remain at rest, till just before its
time of movement; and which will prevent the necessity of the latter
part of a large convoy being harassed for a considerable time before
its turn to move.
RULE 1. _To find the time in which any number of waggons may be driven
off_: Divide the number of waggons by 100, and multiply by the time of
travelling one mile.
RULE 2. _To find the time in which any number of waggons will drive
over any number of miles_: To the time they take in driving off, add
the time any one of the waggons takes to travel the distance.
The different divisions of the convoy should be numbered, and obliged
each day to change the order of their marching.
Whenever the progress of a train of waggons is arrested by the breaking
down of any one of them, or other delay, all the waggons in the rear of
the stoppage, should immediately drive up into the first open space, to
as great a number as the open space will hold; this keeps the convoy
together and better under the care of the escort.
The escort for a convoy should be divided into front, center, and rear
guards; beside the divisions for the flanks, which should never be
beyond musquet shot, or at most 400 yards from each other. The whole
escort, should never be so separated that they could not be collected
in an hour. Under proper precautions against an enemy, a convoy of any
size cannot travel more than five or seven miles per day.