Walking the Battle Ground -The Modern Staff Ride

During the 19th Century, the Prussian Army led the way in the field of military education for its officers and future commanders. The Prussians introduced institutions of formal higher military education, the use of map or terrain table based war games to hone decision-making skills, and they introduced the staff ride – a guided tour of an historical battlefield to included examination and discussion of what happened during the battle fought on that ground and why. This practice is one of the reasons for the existence today of our own National Battlefield and National Historical Parks and Sites maintained by the underfunded National Park Service. Originally intended for the training of America’s military officers, these parks are now part of a larger system intended to introduce the American people and others visiting the United States to the complicated history that created and shaped this nation.

Officers on a military staff ride would be expected to have read about and studied the battle before the ride. During the actual staff ride, the director of the ride might challenge one of the participating officers with a question about what actions he might take to attack or defend a given position on the battlefield, or whether the original attack might have been better executed or supported perhaps resulting in a different outcome. In my experience, there is still no better way to really understand a battle than to visit and walk over the ground upon which it was fought. I am happy to say that I have had the good fortune to be able to personally visit many battlefields, fortifications, castles, etc. during my travels and have been cataloging my collection of such visits on Google Maps: Battlefields, Castles, and Forts I Have Visited.

The importance of terrain and its impact on a battle is an aspect of warfare not often explained to the general public and not easily accessible to those not professional soldiers. Jeff Shaara’s “Killer Angels” included several references to the importance of “good ground” and how it shaped the battle of Gettysburg – highlighted by General George Meade’s question (as a new and still nervous commander of the Army of the Potomac) arriving at the battlefield during the night, “Is this good ground?” meaning, can this army fight and possibly win here against Robert E. Lee? He was quickly assured that, “This is good ground!” There are today a few books that explain how terrain and climate affect military operations, historically and today. These include:

"Military Geography for Professionals and the Public" by John M. Collins (ISBN 1-57906-002-1),

"Battlegrounds, Geography and the History of Warfare" edited by Michael Stephenson (ISBN 0-7922-3374-3), and

"Battling the Elements, Weather and Terrain in the Conduct of War" by Harold A. Winters (ISBN 0-8018-5850-X).

I recently viewed a cable TV documentary program on the battle of Antietam that did succeed in illustrating the importance of terrain on a battle and upon the men who are fighting it. A couple of participating researchers and a cameraman stood in the sunken lane position held by Confederate troops. As they watched from this vantage point, a second group of researchers walked towards them along the route followed by Thomas Francis Meagher’s Irish Brigade during its original attack on the lane. Viewers clearly saw the approaching researchers appear and disappear in the undulations and irregularities of the ground which would have protected the advancing Irish from much of the Confederate fire until they were very close. This meant that despite the distance of the open ground they had to cross, the men of the Irish Brigade were actually protected in great degree against Confederate fire by the undulating nature of the ground leading up to the Confederate position in the sunken lane. Such insights into why a battle was fought or ended in a particular way can only be obtained on the actual ground.

The modern day equivalent of the Staff Ride can be achieved with a good guide book or a good guide and some preparation before you visit the battlefield. It is also possible to download complete staff ride guides for a number of U.S. battlefields that have been prepared by the Center for Military History. You can start with a booklet that explains the Staff Ride itself and what goes into the planning of a staff ride called "The Staff Ride." You can also download Adobe pdf versions of the staff ride guide books to several battlefields in the United States from the Army Command and General Staff School website.

The available ones include:
The Battle of Cowpens (South Carolina)

First Bull Run (Virginia)

The Battle of Antietam (Maryland)

The Battle of Balls Bluff (Virginia)

You can also find useful maps for visiting Civil War battlefields at the website of The Civil War Preservation Trust which hosts a collection of maps prepared by the organization. A number of these are even presented on the website with animation and discussion of the battle. The Osprey Campaign Series of books published in the UK and the US are a series of books on wars, campaigns, and battles that include good maps and information useful in walking a battlefield. Also from the UK comes the publication After The Battle “Then and Now” which publishes books and magazine collections of photos showing many battlefields as they appeared in period photographs and images alongside photos of how they appear today (or at least as of the date of publication given how long this magazine has been around).

In addition to the research and reading before the battle, you will want to make sure that everyone dresses appropriately, wears good walking shoes, and has easy access to plenty of water. Many successful staff rides include a planned picnic and/or an evening dinner over which the day’s trip can be discussed further. Optional but often useful items would also include binoculars (or a telescope if you want an idea of how an 18th and many 19th Century generals viewed a battlefield), a compass or handheld GPS receiver that will also give you compass points and bearings.

So, got everything you need? En avance!

Ernie Pyle and the mud-rain-frost-and wind boys – The Poor Bloody Infantry

This past week I had one of those travel experiences that seems to happen all too often with modern airline travel. However, the fifteen hours I spent shuttling between four airports and two different airplanes gave me an opportunity to read “Ernie’s War: The Best of Ernie Pyle’s World War II Dispatches” compiled and edited by David Nichols. I picked up this book as I left the house for this trip because I had just seen the bio-pic made about Ernie during World War II – “The Story of G.I. Joe” starring Burgess Meredith as Ernie Pyle (based upon Ernie’s first World War II book, “Here is Your War”). I can only say that if you really want to find some insight into the world and the experiences of the infantry soldier, you have to read Ernie’s columns. His World War II writings were compiled into two books – the already mentioned “Here is Your War” recounting his experiences and those of the American G.I.s in North Africa, while “Brave Men” was based upon his reports from his time in Europe. (And by the way, reading of their experiences in war makes the obstacles and challenges of modern air travel fade into at worst minor annoyances!)

I feel a close kinship with the infantry, even though my own limited military training was as an armored scout observer. However, my training company captain may have known something more about the subject than I did at the time. I once in jest asked him why in the age of mechanized infantry (such as my home National Guard unit) we had to walk so much. He explained that in the U.S. Army, being mechanized infantry meant that you got to carry a P-38 (this P-38 being the Army issue can opener essential to opening the tins that our C-rations came in). Having come relatively late in life to reenacting, I find I have come home to the infantry whether it be Billy Yank, Johnny Reb, Tommy Atkins, or G.I. Joe.

Ernie Pyle wrote that “I love the infantry because they are the underdogs. They are the mud-rain-frost-and wind boys. They have no comforts , and they even learn to live without the necessities. And in the end they are the guys that wars can’t be won without.” Ernie Pyle spent much of his time as a war correspondent during World War II with the infantry in Europe and in the Pacific (with the Marines). While he spent time with the other services and branches of our armed forces, his writings make evident his bond with and affection for “the poor bloody infantry” whether G.I.s or Marines.

Years ago, a friend shared with me a short text he had found that also spoke of the infantry that I was reminded of while reading Ernie’s columns. The links between its words and those of Ernie seemed to speak of the universal and eternal experience of the infantry soldier. It was reportedly written as a practice piece for Egyptian scribes learning the art of writing in hieroglyphics, while also serving as a warning of what might befall them if they were not diligent in that practice and failed to win a scribe’s position.

“Come, [let me tell] you the woes of the soldier, and how many are his superiors: the general, the troop-commander, the officer who leads, the standard-bearer, the lieutenant, the scribe, the commander of fifty, and the garrison-captain…..He is awakened at any hour…..His march is uphill through mountains. He drinks water every third day; it is smelly and tastes of salt. His body is ravaged by illness. The enemy comes, surrounds him with missiles, and life recedes from him. He is told: "Quick, forward, valiant soldier! Win for yourself a good name!" He does not know what he is about. His body is weak, his legs fail him…..Be he at large, be he detained, the soldier suffers. If he leaps and joins the deserters, all his people are imprisoned. He dies on the edge of the desert, and there is none to perpetuate his name. He suffers in death as in life. A big sack is brought for him; he does not know his resting place.”

Even in the 21st Century, the poor bloody infantry (in a phrase whose origin is almost as ancient and obscure) constitute the sub-atomic particles of the military machine. Ultimately, each and every individual in uniform with their personal weapon is an infantryman. Any armed force that fails to remember this will find itself at a serious disadvantage when confronted by another force that did not thus fail.

It's Not Just Art Historians That Plague Museums

I may have left the impression in my last posting that the only problems museums have are with art experts and historians who fail to do proper research on military and war related exhibits. However, the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History has had a similar problem now for several years. In the year before it closed for renovations, the Museum unveiled an exhibition called "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, this presents a survey of America's conflicts and their costs. This exhibition is again on display, unchanged, after these renovations.

An obvious element in such an exhibit would be the American Civil War, described by many historians as the conflict that defined America. The photo included with this article is one that I took earlier this year after the museum was re-opened. I took an almost identical photo before the closure for renovation and attempted to alert museum curators to the errors thus illustrated. Whoever placed the equipment upon the mannequin did it backwards - a fact that as an active reenactor of a Civil War Union soldier immediately struck me when I first visited the exhibit.

The most visible item of equipment is the canteen covered in brown blanket cloth. This is resting on the mannequin's left leg when it should be resting on top of the oilskin cloth haversack and both lying atop the left hip, out the way yet still accessible. The haversack on this mannequin has been reversed from its proper position and can be made out hanging close to the body at the right front.

On the mannequin's left hip, resting approximately where the haversack should be is the black leather cartridge box which would have carried the soldier's rounds of ammunition. This should be resting on the right hip where the soldier can easily use his right hand to reach back, open the pouch, and pluck out a single paper cartridge containing both one bullet and the black powder that when the weapon is fired would propel the bullet towards the chosen target.

The next most important accessory is the cap pouch, a small coin purse sized leather pouch that contains the soldier's percussion caps. After the soldier has poured the black powder down the barrel of his musket, dropped in the bullet, and then used his ramrod to force all of this down to the bottom of his weapon's barrel, he would hold the musket in his left hand while his right hand would reach down to remove a single cap from this pouch which should be just the right side of the buckle of his waist belt. This cap is placed upon the cone or nipple of the musket where it will be struck by the weapon's hammer when the trigger is pulled. The hammer's blow should set off the fulminate of mercury contained in the percussion cap which should create enough of a spark to ignite the black powder already poured down the barrel, firing the weapon. In this instance, the mannequin's pouch is in approximately the right position though the haversack being incorrectly placed just below it makes it difficult to reach.

It would be reasonable to surmise that neither the mannequin nor the curator or individual who kitted out this mannequin was ever dressed down by a sergeant major or any kind of sergeant for being a "slovenly soldier" because their kit was all a scramble. It is not impossible that the individual was using an original image of an actual Civil War Union soldier as a reference aid when placing the equipment on the mannequin. If this is the case, the individual was either unaware or had forgotten that in some forms of photographs or images from this period, the image is in fact a mirror image of the original subject, i.e., backward or reversed so that the real person's right side is on the leftside of the image. The sad result is that the exhibition misinforms the public and leads knowledgable visitors to conclude that the museum is ignorant on this subject and reluctant to admit that fact.