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Re: Really stupid question
In Response To: Really stupid question ()

Because they had a whole lot better spatial skills than the automotive-bound video game groupies of today ;-)

When you get around mostly by foot, by horse, or even today by bicycle, you get a lot better perspective for just how far a mile, or any given distance is. At the same time while they were sometime not too good, there were maps, with measured distances from point to point.

The army staff was assisted here by the Corps of Topographic Engineers, who performed survey, mapping and scouting support for the field armies and kept their observations on a daily basis in field books.

Despite all the jokes about lieutenants and compasses, officers were (and still are) expected to have exceptional (or at least better) navigational skills and to use them in the field. You need to be able to gaze off in the distance and measure off the distance/range to a given target so as to adjust the fire of your battery or regiment upon that target. Additionally, officers and regimental staff were expected to keep track of where the unit was, how far it had traveled, etc., and this information was kept in the regimental and company books and often summarized and reported in the bimonthly muster rolls.

For more accurate counting, distance was often measured in horse paces, or a device was fastened to a wagon wheel to count the number of wheel revolutions. Number of revolutions times the circumference of the wheel equals the distance traveled. Most company officers and enlisted men were accustomed to measuring off shorter distances in rods (roughly, a little more than 5 yards), distance marched in miles.

Some of the longer campaign events in years past, such as the 1994 and 1999 Red River Campaigns actually put re-enactors out in the field for a week or more covering period distances ona daily basis. I took part in Red River II, as well as a number of other distance marching events, and it doesn't take long to figure out how far a mile or so is with a rifle, cartrige box, and knapsack. Probably the longest distance is a mile-and-a-half, because no matter where we were, when someone asked how far it was to the next camp, to the next water hole, or whatever, the officers said "It's just another mile-and-a-half, boys."

Tom

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