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The 61st N. Y. was the right of our brigade line. I am not sure what regiment was to our right. It is my recollection that no regiment was in close contact with us. As soon as the alignment was perfected, the officers and file closers passed through the ranks and got in rear of the men. Up to this time not a confederate had been seen in our front.
FILE: Two men, the front-rank man and the corresponding man of the rear rank. The front-rank man is the FILE LEADER. A file which has no rear-rank man is a BLANK file. The term FILE applies also to a single man in a single-rank formation. FILE CLOSERS: Such officers and noncommissioned officers of a company as are posted in rear of the line.
Openranks, 2. At the command march, the rear rank and file closers march backward four steps, halt, and dress to the right. When the sergeant major has reported the officer of the guard takes post, facing to the front three paces in front of the center of the guard, and draws saber. The adjutant then commands: 1. Frontandcenter, 3. At the command center, the officers carry saber.
"I don't know, sir; they both hurt me." "Do you want to show me the other foot, or do you wish to get back among the file closers?" "I -I can't walk, sir." Down on one knee went Greg, carefully inspecting the foot and feeling it. The skin was clean, rosy, firm. "Why there isn't a sign of a blister," Captain Holmes declared. "Nor is there an abrasion of any kind, or any callous.
If the number of men grouped is more than 3 and less than 12, they are formed as a squad of 4 files, the excess above 8 being posted as file closers. If the number grouped is greater than 11, 2 or more squads are formed and the group is termed a platoon. For the instruction of recruits, these rules may be modified.
If the column of squads be formed from line, the file closers take posts on the pivot flank, abreast of and 4 inches from the nearest rank. Being in line, to change direction: 1. Forward, 4. Executed as described in the School of the Squad, except that the men do not glance toward the marching flank and that all take the full step at the fourth command.
The officers, first sergeant, and guides fall out; the cooks form a file on the flank of the company nearest the kitchen, the first sergeant and right guide fall in, forming the right file of the company; blank files are filled by the file closers or by men taken from the front rank; the remaining guide or guides, and file closers form on a convenient flank.
The figure was a thing of the past, and the squad shook itself like a great snake, and then broke into little pieces and started off jauntily, stumbling in the high grass and striving to keep step to the music. The officers led it past the figure in the linen suit, and so close to it that the file closers had to part with the column to avoid treading on it.
Yet all this was not enough on the field of battle; a complete rank of non-commissioned officer file closers was also needed to hold the men to their duty. M. Carion-Nisas said, "These file-closers hook their halberds together and form a line that cannot be broken."
When a platoon has two guides their original assignment to flanks of the platoon does not change. The guides of a column of squads place themselves on the flank opposite the file closers. To change the guides and file closers to the other flank, the captain commands: 1. MARCH. The file closers dart through the column; the captain and guides change.
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