Question - how many men per mile?

[Little Powell]

Marching Thru Georgia wrote:

This is very sad.
Is it any wonder America is in a race to the educational bottom.

Don't blame the American educational system on my calculations. I'm a product of it when it was the best in the world. I'm just a bozo.

B

Working in IT, I get asked all the time "hey do you know how to hack this, or program that, or code this?". Do you ever get asked that? It seems to be a common misconception that IT geeks are coders.

I went into IT instead of coding to get as far away from numbers as possible.

[born2see]

Like I said, it took me 3 times to get through Algebra. I was just trying to help D out. Next time I'll defer to the more learned ones.

B

[born2see]

Wait a minute! MTG, you didn't take into account my doubling the number of men for two ranks. Our numbers are the same!

born2see wrote:
Yes. 5280 /4.5 = 1173 (rounded down) per mile. Times 2 = 2347 * 5 = 11,733 in 5 miles.

Using born2see's numbers: each man width:36" + space between men 18" = 54" /12inches/ft = 4.5 feet.
1 mile = 5280 ft. * 5 = 26400ft in 5 miles.

# of men in 5 miles = 26400/4.5 = 5867 men

5867 * 2 for the double ranks = 11,734

Bozo

[KG_Soldier]

The answer is easy: as many men as you have.

[Davinci]

So, the key to this equation is the distance between each man, this is what I found on the net.

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a227467.pdf

Formation of a Regiment in order of battle, or
line, consisted of ten companies, on line, with two ranks
as shown in figure 5. Each company had two platoons, each
consisting of twenty soldiers. The platoons were split
between ranks, with twenty in the front rank and twenty in
the second. Each platoon was split into two sections. The
odd-even files were designated in the company from right to
left and used to form groups of four men, called comrades
in battle.20
Soldier interval was tight. One pace between ranks
was the maximum allowed to permit both ranks to fire
simultaneously. The correct distance between files was
described as individuals should "touch elbows" in the rank.
This "slight touching of the elbows" was an acquired sense.

davinci

[born2see]

Davinci wrote:

The correct distance between files was
described as individuals should "touch elbows" in the rank.
This "slight touching of the elbows" was an acquired sense.

OK. So grab a musket and have your wife measure the widest point between your arms as you load it.

B

[Davinci]

Davinci wrote:

The correct distance between files was
described as individuals should "touch elbows" in the rank.
This "slight touching of the elbows" was an acquired sense.

OK. So grab a musket and have your wife measure the widest point between your arms as you load it.

B

Born – I didn’t write that, that is a direct quote from the reference listed above.

Sometimes, I mean sometimes you have a natural ability to make absolutely no sense.

davinci

[born2see]

I think I'm done with this thread. I KNOW you didn't write that. But "touching elbows" is legitimate. I read about it last night in Hardee's manual on infantry maneuver written in 1854. He mentions it but doesn't actually mention the file spacing.

Has everyone here lost their sense of humor all of a sudden? I was kidding you about measuring the width of your arms. As far as I'm concerned I wasted a lot of time and energy trying to answer your question.

I leave the calculations to to those who can do it better than I.

Good luck

B

[35th Georgia]

:whistle: Basically the 11,734 number would be correct but as always it depended on what you were doing. Parade rank,inspection and so forth.If you were trying to fit as many as possible and not practical,sometimes the order would be elbow to elbow toe to heal.You have to be able to maneuver correctly but space while under fire would dictate spreading the ranks.Hence the order close ranks was intended for more than filling the space opened by a fallen comrade.Hold your arm out to the side bended at the elbow and touch the shoulder of someone next to you and that will give you and idea,not elbow to elbow,but close.Extend your arm forward and touch the person in front of you and that will give you an idea of the ideal space between ranks. There is a couple of good videos on youtube that show close order firing.

[Hancock the Superb]

Try this folks...I get all my information from it:

US RIFLE AND LIGHT INFANTRY TACTICS 1861

http://www.public.asu.edu/~roblewis/ACW ... %20toc.htm

Read Title First, Article First and proceed from there.

Pay careful attention to lines 10, 13 and 14.

Just for grins, check line 26. I wonder how often that happened.