The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6,
December 1864, by Various

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Title: The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, December 1864
Devoted To Literature And National Policy

Author: Various

Release Date: February 2, 2008 [EBook #24491]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE

CONTINENTAL MONTHLY:

DEVOTED TO

LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY.

VOL. VI.--DECEMBER, 1864--NO. VI.

AN ARMY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND MOVEMENTS

_FIFTH PAPER._

Before the enlightenment derived from the sad experiences of our present
civil contest, upon the incidents of protracted warfare, probably most
persons conceived of war as a scene of constant activity--a series of
marches, battles, and sieges, with but few intervals of repose. History
records only the active portions of war, taking but little account of
the long periods consumed in the preliminary processes of organization
and discipline, in the occupation of camps and cantonments, in the
stationary watches of opposing armies, lying in the front of each other,
both too weak for aggressive movements, but each strong enough to
prevent such movements on the part of its opponent. Such matters, if
noticed at all, are recorded in a few sentences, making no impression on
the reader. Novels of the 'Charles O'Malley' class have also given
incorrect ideas. Every page relates some adventure--every scene gleams
with sabres and bayonets. Our three years' experience has taught us that
the greater portion of an army's existence is spent in inactivity; that
campaigning is performed only through one half of the year, and of that
time probably not over one third is occupied in progressive movements.
In the campaign of 1861, the only marches of the Army of the Potomac
were to the battle field of Bull Run and the retreat. In 1862, after a
march of fifteen miles to Fairfax C