Change of front perpendicularly forward.
830. The battalion being in line of battle, it is supposed to be the wish of the colonel to cause a change of front forward on the right company, and that the angle formed by the old and new positions be a right angle, or a few degrees more or less than one; he will cause two markers to be placed on the new direction, before the position to be occupied by that company, and order its captain to establish it against the markers.
831. The captain of the right company will immediately direct it upon the markers by a wheel to the right on the fixed pivot; and after having halted it, he will align it by the right.
832. These dispositions being made, the colonel will command:
1. Change front forward on first company. 2. By company, right half wheel. 3. MARCH (or double quick—MARCH).
833. At the first command, each captain will place himself before the centre of his company.
0-834. At the same command, the captain of the first company of skirmishers will face his company to the left, the left guide will step in front of the front-rank man of the left file, and the captain will place himself by the side of his guide; the captain of the second company will caution it to march straight-forward.
835. At the third, each company will wheel to the right on the fixed pivot, as prescribed in the S. C., No. 189; the left guide of each will place himself on its left as soon as he shall be able to pass; and when the colonel shall judge that the companies have sufficiently wheeled, he will command:
4. Forward. 5. MARCH. 6. Guide right.
836. At the fifth command, the companies ceasing to wheel will march straight-forward; at the sixth, the men will touch elbows toward the right.
837. The right guide of the second company will march straight-forward until this company shall arrive at the point where it should turn to the right; each succeeding right guide will follow the file immediately before him at the cessation of the wheel, and will march in the trace of this file until this company shall turn to the right to move upon the line; this guide will then march straight-forward.
838. The second company having arrived opposite to the left file of the first, its captain will cause it to turn to the right; the right guide will direct himself so as to arrive squarely upon the line of battle, and when he shall be at three paces from that line, the captain will command:
1. Second company. 2. HALT.
839. At the second command, the company will halt; the files not yet in line with the guide will come into it promptly, the left guide will place himself on the line of battle, and as soon as he is assured in the direction by the lieutenant-colonel, the captain will align the company by the right.
840. Each following company will conform to what has just been prescribed for the second.
0-841. At the third command by the colonel, the first company of skirmishers will step off, and be conducted by its captain in such manner that when the leading file arrives abreast with the right file of the first battalion company, it will be at a distance of thirty paces from the file-closers of that company; after prolonging itself its full length in a direction parallel to the first battalion company, it will be halted, faced to the front, and dressed to the right by its chief. The second company will be marched straight-forward a distance of thirty-three paces, the captain will then cause it to execute what has been prescribed, Nos. 835, 836, and 837, observing what follows: the company will be halted, and dressed to the right the moment it turns to the right.
842. The formation ended, the colonel will command: Guides—POSTS.
843. If the battalion be in march, and the colonel shall wish to change front forward on the first company, and that the angle formed by the old and new positions be a right angle, he will cause two markers to be placed on the new direction, before the position to be occupied by that company, and will command:
1. Change front forward on first company. 2. By company, right half wheel. 3. MARCH (or double quick—MARCH).
844. At the first command, the captains will move rapidly before the centre of their respective companies; tile captain of the first company will command: 1. Right turn; 2. Quick time; the captains of the other companies will caution them to wheel to the right.
0-845. At the same command, the captain of the first company of skirmishers will command: Company by the left flank; the captain of the second company will caution it that it will have to move straight-forward.
846. At the command march, the first battalion company will turn to the right, according to the principles prescribed in the S. S., No. 415; its captain will halt it at three paces from the markers, and the files in rear will promptly come into line. The captain will align the company by the right.
847. Each of the other companies will wheel to the right on a fixed pivot; the left guides will place themselves on the left of their respective companies, and when the colonel shall judge they have wheeled sufficiently, he will command:
4. Forward. 5. MARCH. 6. Guide right.
848. These commands will be executed as indicated No. 833 and following.
849. At the third command by the colonel, briskly repeated by the chiefs of the companies of skirmishers, the first company will execute what has been prescribed Nos. 834 and 841, and the second company what has been prescribed No. 841.
850. The colonel will cause the battalion to change front forward on the eighth company, according to the same principles and by inverse means.
0-851. The companies of skirmishers will execute this movement according to the same principles prescribed for them when changing front on the first battalion company, and by inverse means.
Change of front perpendicularly to the rear.
852. The colonel, wishing to change front to the rear on the right company, will impart his purpose to the captain of this company. The latter will immediately face his company about, wheel it to the left on the fixed pivot, and halt it when it shall be in the direction indicated to him by the colonel; the captain will then face his company to the front, and align it by the right against the two markers, whom the colonel will cause to be established before the right and left files.
0-853. At the same time the captain of the first company of skirmishers will face it to the right, march it forward the distance of thirty-three paces, file it to the left, and establish it in rear of the first battalion company.
854. These dispositions being made, the colonel will command:
1. Change front to the rear, on first company. 2. Battalion, about—FACE. 3. By company, left half wheel. 4. MARCH (or double quick—MARCH).
855. At the second command, fill the companies, except the right, will face about.
0-856. At the second command, the second company of skirmishers will face about.
857. At the third, the captains whose companies have faced about, will each place himself behind the centre of his company, two paces from the front rank, now the rear.
0-858. At the same command, the captain of the second company of skirmishers will place himself as above indicated for the captains of the battalion companies.
859. At the fourth, these companies will wheel to the left on the fixed pivot by the rear rank; the left guide of each will, as soon as he is able to pass, place himself on the left of the rear rank of his company, now become the right; and when the colonel shall judge that the companies have sufficiently wheeled, he will command:
5. Forward. 6. MARCH. 7. Guide left.
860. At the sixth command, the companies will cease to wheel, march straight-forward toward the new line of battle, and, at the seventh, take the touch of the elbow toward the left.
861. The guide of each company on its right flank becomes left, will conform himself to the principles prescribed No. 837.
862. The second company, from the right, having arrived opposite to the left of the first, will turn to the left; the guide will so direct himself as to arrive parallelly with the line of battle, cross that line, and when the front rank, now in the rear, shall be three paces beyond it, the captain will command: 1. Second company; 2. HALT.
863. At the second command, the company will halt; the files which may not yet be in line with the guide, will promptly come into it; the captain will cause the company to face about, and then align it by the right.
864. All the other companies will execute what has just been prescribed for the second, each as it successively arrives opposite to the left of the company that precedes it on the new line of battle.
0-865. At the fourth command by the colonel, the second company of skirmishers will execute what has been prescribed for the battalion companies, Nos. 859 and 860, and when its left file shall have arrived in a perpendicular with the left of the seventh battalion company, it will turn to the left, and having crossed the line the distance of thirty-three paces, it will be halted, faced about, and dressed to the right by its chief.
866. The formation being ended, the colonel will command: Guides—POSTS.
867. The colonel will cause a change of front on the left company of the battalion to the rear, according to the same principles and by inverse means.
0-868. The companies of skirmishers will execute this movement according to the principles prescribed for them in changing front on the first battalion company, and by inverse means.
869. In changes of front, the colonel will give a general superintendence to the movement.
870. The lieutenant-colonel will assure the direction of the guides as they successively move out on the line of battle, conforming himself to what has been prescribed in the successive formations.
REMARKS ON CHANGES OF FRONT.
871. When the new direction is perpendicular, or nearly so, to that of the battalion, the companies ought to make about a half wheel (the eighth of the circle), before marching straight-forward; but when those two lines are oblique to each other, the smaller the angle which they form, the less ought the companies to wheel. It is for the colonel to judge, according to the angle, the precise time when he ought to give the command march, after the caution forward, and if he cannot catch the exact moment, the word of execution should rather be given a little too soon, than an instant too late.
872. When the old and new lines form an angle of forty-five or fewer degrees, the colonel will find it necessary to arrest the wheel of the companies when the marching flanks shall have taken but a few paces, or, it may be, have but disengaged, respectively, from the fixed pivots of the next companies; and in all such cases, the companies will arrive so nearly parallel to the new line, as to be able to align themselves upon it without the intermediate turn to the right or left; to execute the movement under either circumstance supposed, the colonel will command:
Oblique change of front, forward (or to the rear) on (such) company.
873. In the oblique changes of front, the companies of skirmishers will be established parallel to the first and last battalion companies, and by the means heretofore explained.