200. The company having broken by platoon, right (or left) in front, the instructor, wishing to cause the column to march, will place himself twenty-five or thirty paces in front, face to the guides, establish himself correctly, on their direction, and caution the leading guide to take points on the ground.
201. The instructor being thus placed, the guide of the leading platoon will take two points on the ground in the straight line passing between his own and the heels of the instructor.
202. These dispositions being made, the instructor will step aside, and command:
1. Column, forward. 2. Guide left (or right). 3. MARCH.
203. At the command march, promptly repeated by the chiefs of platoon, they, as well as the guides, will lead off, by a decided step, their respective platoons, in order that the whole may, move smartly, and at the same moment.
204. The men will each feel lightly the elbow of his neighbor toward the guide, and conform himself, in marching, to the principles prescribed in the S. S., No. 336. The man next to the guide, in each platoon, will take care never to pass him, and also to march always about six inches to the right (or left) from him, in order not to push him out of the direction.
205. The leading guide will observe, with the precision, the length and cadence of the step, and maintain the direction of his march by themeans prescribed No. 89.
206. The following guide will march exactly in the trace of the leading one, preserving between the latter and himself a distance precisely equalto the front of his platoon, and marching in his same step with the leading guide.
207. If the following guide lose his distance from the one leading (which can only happen by his own fault), he will correct himself by slightly lengthening or shortening a few steps, in order that there may not be sudden quickenings or slackenings in the march of his platoon.
208. If the same guide, having neglected to marchexactly in the trace of the preceding one, find himself sensibly out of the direction, he will remedy this fault by advancing more or less the shoulder opposite to the true direction, and thus, with few steps, insensibly regain it, without the inconvenience of the oblique step, which would cause a loss of distance. In all cases, each chief of platoon will cause it to conform to the movements of its guide.
REMARKS ON THE MARCH IN COLUMN.
209. If the chiefs and guides of subdivisions neglect to lead off, and to decide the march from the first step, the march will be begun in uncertainty, which will cause waverings, a loss of step, and a loss of distance.
210. If the leading guide take unequal steps, the march of his subdivision, and that which follows, will be uncertain; there will be undulations, quickenings, and slackenings in the march.
211. If the same guide be not habituated to prolong a given direction, without deviation, he will describe a crooked line, and the column must wind to conform itself to such line.
212. If the following guide be not habituated to march in the trace of the preceding one, he will lose his distance at every moment in endeavors to regain the trace, the preservation of which is the most important principle in the march in column.
213. The guide of each subdivision in column will be responsible for the direction, distance, and step; the chief of the subdivision, for the order and conformity of his subdivision with the movements of the guide. Accordingly, the chief will frequently turn, in the march, to observe his subdivision.
214. The instructor, placed on the flank of the guides, will watch over the execution of all the principles prescribed; he will, also, sometimes place himself in the rear, align himself on the guides, and halt, pending some thirty paces together to verify the accuracy of the guides.
215. In column, chiefs of subdivision will always repeat, with the greatest promptitude, the commands march and halt, no chief waiting for another but each repeating the command the moment be catches it from the instructor. They will repeat no other command given by him; but will explain, if necessary, to their subdivisions, in an under tone of voice, what they will have to execute, as indicated by the commands of caution.