d a reward for gallantry and good conduct
second only to promotion, to be enrolled in "the advance." The
non-commissioned officers were chosen with the same care, and First
Lieutenant Charles W. Rogers of Company E, formerly of the First
Kentucky Infantry, was appointed to command it. This officer possessed
in an eminent degree the cool judgment, perfect fearlessness, command of
men, and shrewdness of perception requisite for such an office.

This guard habitually marched at a distance of four hundred yards in
front of the column; three videttes were posted at intervals of one
hundred yards between it and the column. Their duties were to transmit
information and orders between the column and the guard, and to regulate
the gait of the former, so that it would not press too close on the
latter, and, also, to prevent any straggling between the two. Six
videttes were thrown out in front of the guard--four at intervals of
fifty yards, and with another interval of the same distance from the
fourth of these, two rode together in the extreme front. These two were
consequently at a distance of two hundred and fifty yards in front of
the body of the guard. At first these videttes were regularly relieved,
but it was afterward judged best to keep the same men always on the same
duty. The advance videttes were required to examine carefully on all
sides, and report to the officer of the guard the slightest indication
which seemed suspicious. When they came to by-roads or cross-roads one
or both, as the case might require, immediately galloped some two or
three hundred yards down them, and remained until relieved by men sent
for that purpose from the head of the column, when they returned to
their posts.

As soon as they notified the officer of the guard (by calling to the
videttes next behind them), that they were about to leave their posts,
he took measures to supply their places. The two videttes next to them
in the chain galloped to the front, the other two, also moved up,
respectively, fifty yards, and two men were sent from the guard to fill
the places of the last.

When the videttes, regularly in advance returned, the original
disposition was resumed. If an enemy was encountered, men were
dispatched from the guard to the assistance of the videttes, or the
latter fell back on the guard, as circumstances dictated. If the enemy
was too strong to be driven by the advance, the latter endeavored to
hold him in check (and was reinf