The Advanced Guard

  This page presents excerpts from Regulations for the Exercise of Riflemen and Light Infantry and Instructions for Their Conduct in the Field, Printed for the War Office, London 1799. Although this drill manual was published a number of years after the Revolution, experience gained in the American War seems quite evident. Many aspects of light infantry duty are discussed in the original text, but only those passages having to do with the advanced guard are included here.

General Rule

Distribution of the advanced guard and flank patroles

  The distance at which an advanced guard and flank patroles should keep from the column must be determined by local circumstances, and by the strength of the column. They should, however, be always at such a distance, that if they should be unexpectedly attacked, the column may have time to put itself in a posture of defence; and also, that if defiles¹, villages, or woods, present themselves on the line of march, they may be examined thoroughly before the arrival of the head of the column, that there may then be no delay. The skirmishers must be very cautious during the march, not to be cut off from the advanced guard; and the same precautions are necessary for the advanced guard, with respect to the column.

When an Advanced Guard meets an enemy

  If an advanced guard is set upon unawares, by a body of the enemy in ambuscade², the officer commanding it must immediately attack; but it will depend upon what may be the general object of the move, whether he is to engage with his whole force, trusting to the column for support, or whether he is merely to keep the enemy in check, so as to gain the time sufficient for the column to make such dispositions as may be thought necessary.

  It is a maxim however, and one which cannot be too strongly impressed upon the mind of every officer commanding an advanced guard, or flank patrole, that in the event of his being pursued, by a considerable body of the enemy, he is by no means to fall back immediately upon the column: officers should therefore take precautions against any unforeseen accidents that may occur during the march, and attentively observe the ground by which a retreat may be effected. The commanding officer of an advanced guard is not to confine himself to the main body, but occasionally to visit the advanced, and flank patroles, that he may make his own observations, and trust as little as possible to the reports of others.

When the column halts

The Order of March

1. One corporal, with two men on horseback in front.
2. One corporal, with three chasseurs and three light infantry men to follow.
3. One serjeant, with six chasseurs and six light infantry men to follow, the last-mentioned corporal, out of which number, he is to detach one man on each flank.
4. One Serjeant, with twelve light dragoons, who is likewise to detach flanking parties, if the country will permit of it, but if not, this duty must be performed by infantry.
5. One subaltern, with two serjeants, two corporals and thirty infantry, to follow, who is also to send out flanking parties.
6. The captain who is on duty for the day when the march commences, is to move next, with one hundred men, commissioned and non-commissioned officers in proportion, composed of cavalry, chasseurs, and light infantry, and in like manner to detach flanking parties.
7. The main body follows last, one troop of cavalry heading the column, if in an open country; then all the infantry, and the remainder of the cavalry closing the line of march. A sufficient guard of cavalry and infantry ought to be always left to bring up the baggage.

In the order of march above stated, it must be carefully observed, that every succeeding party is never to lose sight of the party immediately in its front, but to keep at a regular distance from it.

1. Defile: a narrow pass which obliges an army to defile off; it is one of the greatest obstacles that can occur in the march of an army, especially if it happens to be between woods or marshes; for it not only gives an enemy an extraordinary advantage, of either attacking the front or rear, when they cannot come to relieve on another, because of the straightness of the passage; but it likewise very much impedes the march of an army: a retreating army always puts a defile between them and the enemy, to secure them a retreat.
   -- from Thomas Simes' Military Dictionary, London, 1768.
2. Ambuscade: or ambush, is a lurking party in a wood, or other convenient place, to surprise an enemy. To discover an ambush, or fall into one, are plain.
   -- from Thomas Simes' Military Dictionary, London, 1768.