RECONNOISSANCE, WITH EXPLANATORY REMARKS-PRECAUTIONS DURING A MARCH INSTRUMENTS. SKETCHING WITHOUT WHEN the operations of a campaign are carried on in a country with whose nature, features, and resources a commander is unacquainted, his situation may be compared with that of a man groping his way in darkness; but if, on the contrary, he possess an accurate knowledge of the surface over which he has to operate, he may act with a boldness and decision that will often ensure success. If the theatre of war lies in a semi-barbarous country, the accounts of observing travellers and intelligent natives will often prove of essential service; but if it lie in any country of Europe, the maps and statistical reports, published by authority, will always be found to afford much useful information in either case, a more particular knowledge, as, for instance, such as relates to the nature of the mountains, rivers, roads, woods, towns, villages, military positions, &c., can only be acquired from personal examination by active. and intelligent officers. The process by which this examination is conducted, and the requisite information collected, is termed Military Reconnoissance. This important duty belongs especially to the department of the QuartermasterGeneral, to which a number of officers are always attached, and who ought to be selected in consequence of their pro ficiency in military surveying, as linguists, and for general intelligence and activity. It is essential that an officer engaged in military reconnoissance should be able to speak fluently the language of the country, and even to understand the jargon of the peasantry, as otherwise he will often miss much valuable information, as well as be liable to be misunderstood, or led astray. As there is no kind of service more likely to bring an officer into favourable notice than an able performance of the duty of reconnoissance, it is strenuously urged on young aspirants for staff-employment diligently to apply their intervals of leisure, so as to acquire due proficiency in foreign languages, military surveying, and the practice of reconnoitring and framing reports on roads, rivers, and districts of country; and they may thus profitably exercise their attention during tours of pleasure. For instance, I know an officer of some experience, who, many years ago, having occasion to descend the Danube, took his passage by the common boat, from Ulm, at a season when, its waters being low, the boat necessarily kept in the deepest channels, for almost a hundred miles below that city. It was impelled by rough oars, some 18 or 20 feet long, each worked by four or five men; and the officer in question, by assisting in the labour, was able to sound so long as the river continued fordable; as he could manage to make the oar touch the bottom, and thereby to estimate, very nearly, the depth of water. The objects to which attention should be directed in the reconnoissance of a country or district may be thus classed: 1. The mountains, hills, ravines, valleys, defiles, and hollowways. 2. The rivers, streams, bridges, fords, canals, lakes, and marshes. X 306 MOUNTAINS, HILLS, RAVINES, VALLEYS, ETC. 3. Roads and passes. 4. Towns, villages, hamlets, country houses, churches, farms; the forests, woods, hedges, and enclosures. 5. Camps and positions. Reports. MOUNTAINS, HILLS, RAVINES, VALLEYS, DEFILES, AND HOLLOW WAYS. In the reconnoissance of a mountainous district, the points to be examined and reported on are: Their position, isolated or forming part of a range or chain; their slopes on both sides; the points most important to occupy; the routes, by-ways, paths, tracks, and passes; in short, every way of gaining their summits, and traversing them in all directions; whether cavalry and artillery can pass and act, or infantry only; whether wooded or barren, rocky, &c.; the positions suitable for encampment or defence, and whether susceptible of being turned; if the heights of moderate elevation are practicable and useful to occupy, and if posts of observation or batteries should be established on them; what is the nature and extent of the ravines and valleys; where they originate, in what direction they run, and whether difficult of access or easily passed; what the nature and extent of the defiles and hollow-ways, and if the heights above them can be crowned by light infantry, in order to cover the passage. Observations.-Mountainous districts are difficult and tedious to reconnoitre, especially if wooded. To execute his reconnoissance well, an officer must begin by obtaining a general idea of the country; there is always a dominant part, from whence ravines run; these and their several streams he must endeavour to trace. The degree of steepness in the slopes of ravines must be observed, as also the nature of the wood, if there be any. Information must be obtained as to the quantity of fodder, whether green or dry, which can be drawn from a country: this is to be done by observing the quality, number, and extent of the meadows, of which many are often to be found among the valleys of hilly districts. Great chains of mountains, though forming good territorial divisions, are not, by any means, the formidable barriers that some writers imagine them. They have always passes, and all cannot be sufficiently guarded; in short, a range of mountains never yet prevented invasion. The Alps have been repeatedly passed, from the days of Hannibal to those of Napoleon; Wellington passed the Pyrénées, notwithstanding the opposition of Soult; and Soult crossed the Sierra Morena, in spite of the Spaniards. We have seen that Diebitsch crossed the redoubted Balkan, though defended by the Turks. And, lastly, the gallant Sale was relieved in Jellelabad by Pollock forcing his way by the Kyber, one of the most difficult passes in the world. RIVERS, STREAMS, BRIDGES, FORDS, CANALS, LAKES, AND MARSHES. Large rivers always materially affect the operations of war: they require to be carefully reconnoitred, in order to obtain accurate information, whether as regards the obsta cles they offer, or the resources they afford. Rivers and large streams running through plains are commonly sluggish in their course, and almost invariably of considerable depth; while those in a mountainous country, or into which several tributaries from mountains run, are rapid, and subject to sudden rises and falls in their waters -at times, according to season, being either almost dry, or rolling in impetuous volume. The points chiefly to be noticed in reconnoitring rivers and streams are,— Their source, and direction of their course; rapid or otherwise; their breadth and depth, and what variations they are subject to at different seasons; the nature of their channels and banks-whether rocky, gravelly, sandy, or muddy; if of easy or of difficult access; whether affected by tide, and to what extent, and the point to which the tide reaches. The bridges across them-whether of stone or wood-their length and breadth; and whether accessible to artillery, and capable of bearing its weight; the readiest means to destroy or repair them, and how best to defend them. What rivers are navigable, and from and to what points, and by what description of vessels or boats; and what number of boats could be collected on emergency. The ferries-their breadth, and the nature of the landingplace upon each side; what description of boats are used at them, and how many men, horses, or carriages, each boat is capable of conveying; how much time the passage requires, and in what manner it is performed. Fords.-Their situation; the tracks or marks which indicate them; their bottom, whether mud, sand, or gravel, obstructed by rocks or free from obstacles; their length and breadth; the depth of water at each end, and in the middle, and whether subject to sudden rises, so as to become impracticable; the approaches to them on each side. The best fords are those which have gravelly bottoms: those of which the bottom is of fine sand are not to be depended on for much passage; the sand, being disturbed, is carried away by the stream, and the ford deepens insensibly, so that the last horses pass it almost swimming. Mud bottoms are even more dangerous. The depth of fords must invariably be stated; the reports of the peasants must |