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Handy Hints from the Infantrie Garden
KEEPING YOUR DISTANCE 
by: "Seed Drill" Orders of the day, Volume 33, Issue 6, 2001/2002 |
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Once you have got your men formed up into files and the files placed together giving you a succession of ranks, it is necessary to consider the appropriate distances for between both the ranks and the files. This distance is effectively the amount of space that an individual soldier has in regard to those to either side (distance between files) and to those to front and rear (distance between ranks). Within any given situation there will be an optimum distance between individuals and so it behoves a well trained unit to take advantage of this optimum. The drill manuals of the Civil War period generally give (at least) 4 distances: Close Order - 1.5 feet; Order - 3 feet; Open Order - 6 feet; and Extended or Double Open Order - 12 feet. Despite the fact that each of these distances is a mere doubling of the preceding one, they are not mere arbitrary arrangements. Each has its own particular purpose. Furthermore, given the fact that in the midst of battle, or even when forming up for parade, soldiers are going to be unable to judge such distances to within the nearest inch, these distances may be looked upon as approximations which may be obtained through some readily applicable procedures. Let us begin with the distance of 3 feet - the Order . As its name implies, this is the standard, or default, distance. It is the distance, both between rank and file, that soldiers will form up in and which they will maintain until they are told to do otherwise. Applied to both rank and file simultaneously, it effectively assumes that each individual occupies a space 3 feet square, which is actually the sort of natural distance that (English) people tend to adopt when they stand around together in an unconstrained area. It is also the space required by the average musketeer when going through 17th century period musket postures. Thus when formed up in line of battle and stationary musketeers will normally be at order between both ranks and files. The need for such spacing, in order to give individual musketeers enough elbow room, gives a clue as to how to judge this distance, at least between files. Simply, when forming up on the person to your right, place your free hand, balled into a fist, onto your hip and stand so that there is just a couple of inches between your right elbow thus protruding and your neighbour’s left arm. This will, unless you are very large, give you a distance a shade under 3 feet, but no matter, your unit will drill all the better for being that tad closer, and at least you will all have sufficient elbow room. Pikemen can do much the same, but using their left arms. The distance between ranks at Order can be judged as one pace. Again this will tend to be slightly less than the nominal 3 feet, but again it is not critical. The distance of 1.5 feet or 18 inches - the Close Order - is also probably essentially a nominal figure, particularly in respect of the distance between files, that is to say the space allowed for one man across his shoulders, because most men will measure a good couple of inches more than 18 inches. So we can assume that this distance involves men in adjacent files standing or marching with their shoulders hard up against one another, with arms straight down at their sides. Far too close to use a musket, it may be employed when a frontage needs to be narrowed to get through a passageway, being quicker and easier than dividing a unit up and marching it through in two half sections. Theoretically, moving from Order between files to Close Order would halve a unit’s frontage, but in practice it may have reduced it only by a third. Richard Elton in The Compleat Body of the Art Military gives an even narrower distance, that of Closest Order , which is a mere 6 inches (half a foot)! This makes one wonder about the diet of Civil War soldiers! Although he gives it for both rank and file it could not possibly be used for files (across the shoulders) unless, of course, it assumed that soldiers, notably pikemen, slewed their bodies around, such as when holding their pikes at the charge. At this juncture I will say that given the particular speculation and various opinions that surround the appropriate use of pikes on SK battlefields, I shall leave the entire subject of the actual techniques used by pikemen when fighting for another occasion when the issue may be considered in detail. All the above distances so far given are possible for use between files when either marching or stationary, but only possible between ranks when stationary. When marching it is necessary for ranks to have 6 feet or two paces between them. This is Open Order . This is particularly so for pikemen when marching with pikes shouldered. It is also easy to gauge the correct distance when marching with a shouldered pike. In such a posture, the pike should lie at 45 degrees, thus the distance of its butt from its owner will be the height of that individual’s shoulder. This will generally be about 5’ 6” - allow another 6 inches for space and you have your 6 feet. Musketeers and other soldiers will also march at 6 feet between ranks. Order (3 feet) is insufficient distance unless you are marching perfectly in step (‘the lock step’ as later period drill manuals called it) and the whole style and method of the 17th century did not call for such precision (except for the particular use of the pike at close quarters with the enemy. Again, this needs another article.) Open Order is also used between files. Such a distance effectively opens up a space between files for another file, so this distance is used when a unit countermarches, fires by introduction or doubles its frontage by rear half-files. Notice that when a unit opens to Open Order between files then doubles by rear half-files, this doubled frontage now has files at the Order. Beyond Open Order, we come to Double Distance or Extended Order, which is 12 feet, and Elton also gives us Twice Double Distance at 24 feet. Both of these distances give us some problem: simply, what were they used for? Double Distance between ranks may have been used for the rather obscure function of inverting a number of ranks into a single long file, but the need for this motion is scarcely existent. Opening files to Double Distance may have been more practically employed when troops had to move through broken country, such as through woodland, with each file effectively making its own path through an area and being given enough room to manoeuvre. One could take the view that by sending forth a forlorn file, converting it into a single rank then opening this rank to Double Distance between files gives one a screen of skirmishers before the main body. But the concept of skirmishers, familiar though it might be to the viewers of Sharp, did not develop in Western Europe until well into the 18th century... unless, of course, anyone knows differently? Opening the order of a body of men, say opening files from Order to Open Order, often presents a picture of muddle and confusion with individual soldiers each having their own idea of how far to move and with each file having to move a different distance to its fellows. The simple expedient to this is to train your soldiers to face the direction that they are to move, then to step one pace for each file that they are distant from the fixed point of the motion, then turn and face their proper front. Imagine that a body of four files receives the following order: “Files! To your left hand! Open to your Open Order!” The right hand file stands still. The second file turns to the left, steps one pace, then turns to face its front again. The third file turns to the left, steps two paces, then faces front. The fourth file faces left, steps three paces, then faces to the front. Of course, really only the file leaders (who should be well trained soldiers) need do this; the rest of their file just needs to maintain their position behind them. The same principle can be used for opening from Open Order (6ft) to Double Distance (12ft), but each degree of movement is two paces (6ft), and from Order (3ft) to Double Distance (12ft) is three paces (9ft). Opening to Double Distance may have few uses on the battlefield, but it may be smartly done as part of the now ‘standard’ pre-battle display. See also:
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