Young officers, listen to advice which I give from my own experience, never carry a heavy valise, it will only be in your way.

An officer, of whatever rank he may be, requires no more than a private soldier.

In war some things wear out much more quickly than others; boots, for instance;  your boots should be thick soled, studded with small nails; let them be easy and at least three-quarters of an inch longer than your foot.

Foot straps break very quickly; take care to have several spare pairs, and fix them to your trowsers, not with buttons sewn on, which easily come off, but with two-link buttons of leather; take some of these buttons in your housewife.

Trowser buckles break; have two or three in your case.  Spurs, too may be broken; have a third pair in your valise.

Leather spatterdashes, which button at the side, can also be worn with riding trowsers.  They have one advantage, namely that they can be taken off on reaching the bivouac, and be cleaned separately; but they have also the inconvenience of adding to the kit, and of taking a certain time to put on.  Anything that simplifies the dress of a light cavalry man, and shortens the time he takes in dressing, thus fulfilling one of the first conditions of getting under arms, seems to me preferable.

Officers, in order to make their head coverings lighter, often have their shakos made of linen or pasteboard, said to be waterproof, or of very thin leather, but they are wrong for three reasons.  First, shakos made of such materials cannot resist a sword cut; secondly, they very soon get out of shape; thirdly, they stretch greatly in damp weather, and shrink so much in the sun's rays, that they no longer fit the head, and are very painful.

On service, never wear anything but a shako of solid leather, and take care to fix it firmly by a chinstrap, which will only yield to a violent effort.  At Essling I saw cuirassier's helmets quite cut through with sabre cuts; and how many horsemen have I not seen killed through having lost their head covering.  In war, "Elegance" means "Utility," and "Keeping in Repair."  All leather which is waxed in peace, should be greased in war; many advantages accrue from this practice; first, you are saved the trouble of carrying a number of brushes, which are heavy and take up room; second, it makes your leather last longer; third, it makes the leather less penetrable to the damp.

When leather is wet, take care not to dry it by the fire, but if you do, it should be done very gradually.

The buff leather sword knot is not adapted for service.  Once in the field, it should be put away carefully in the valise, and replaced by a handkerchief rolled round and twisted like a school-boy's clout; a handkerchief prepared in this way holds well to the wrist, and will parry the sharpest sabre cuts.

An officer ought to wear next to his skin a light band of soft leather, or strong linen, in which are placed some pieces of gold: this is his purse.  It would not be amiss either if an officer of light troops sewed some pieces of gold between the cloth and lining of his oldest jacket.

In the pocket of his trowsers he ought to keep a memorandum book of white paper and a good pencil, a portable magnetic compass, a pewter spoon, a knife, which should contain besides its usual blade a penknife and a horse picker, a punch, a lancet, and a steel to strike a light.  That this knife may not be lost it would be well to drill a hole in the lower part of the handle, and to tie one end of a string to it, the other end being fastened to the trowser's pocket; the handkerchief is kept in the shako; the small valise packed on the riding horse will contain the toilette necessaries, a shirt, a pair of socks, a handkerchief, a housewife like that of the privates, a little packet of linen for dressing wounds, a small writing case containing a few sheets of paper, ink, pens, pencils, and sealing wax, a stick of Indian-ink, and a paint-brush.  Under the rider, on the seat, and fixed to the flap will be a wallet of strong ticking or sackcloth; the off-side pocket will contain provisions; in the other pocket will be a feed of oats.  The pockets of the officer's sabre-tasche will contain, one, a folded bag, which will serve as a nosebag in bivouac, the other, a pipe.  The tobacco pouch will be hung from the sabre.  If the officer possesses a telescope he will wear it slung over his shoulder.  As for his brandy, if he has a little goat-skin to carry it in, which is the best of bottles, for it cannot break, he can put it in his wallet.

On his lead horse the officer should place, not a valise, which requires a long time to fit it, even awkwardly, spoils the saddle which supports it, turns round and gets lost in a night march, can be easily stolen since the cords which fix it can be cut in a moment, hurts the horse, has to be taken off every time you want to open it, and, in addition to all these inconveniences, it almost always made of soft spongy leather, which will not keep off the rain; but he should substitute for this a pair of strong saddle bags covered with waterproof leather.  These bags ought to be of medium size, and fixed firmly onto a piece of strong leather, which forma a covering for the saddle which supports it, and is hooked to the flaps to prevent its turning round.  They should be kept in place by a strong girth buckled under the horse's belly, so as not to get shaken and tumble about the things inside.

The bag on the off side will contain linen and clothes, the other, provisions, they must be arranged so that they may balance.  The opening of the saddle bags will be outside, so that things can be got out without taking off the bags.

On the led horse will also be placed, between the saddle bags, a pot, a large tin saucepan, and a scythe with its handle.

The officer must take care that his provision bag contains salt, pepper, garlic, onions or shallots, vinegar, etc., for seasoning is what usually fails on service.  I recommend him to take sugar also; it is a good remedy in many cases.  He should not forget to take also tinder, some lights and tapers, the light of which will be of the greatest use to him in settling himself for the night.

Officers sometimes carry their toilette necessaries in their cartridge boxes, which is inconvenient because, when they want cartridges, they have to borrow them off their men. The officer's cartridge box, like that of the private, is made to carry cartridges, and it should carry cartridges only.

The numbers of things which are served out to a soldier for his comfort has necessitated a valise much too large; a campaign has scarcely begun before the greater part of these useless things are thrown away or lost' but it is to be feared that the horse will not gain much by this temporary diminution of weight.  The rider will replace his canvas trowsers, &c., by rags which he will heap upon his unlucky horse, without useful foresight for himself.  Officers then should make frequent and unexpected inspections of these valises; they should throw away or destroy forbidden articles which they find, and punish those men severely, who, in defiance of orders, repeat the fault of exhausting their horse's strength by making it carry useless, and often stolen goods.

At the present time the weight carried by horses of light cavalry, amounts to 112 or 115 kilogrammes*; and this weight is naturally increased in wet weather.  Add to this the weight of provisions, and you will be able to judge for yourself how necessary it is to be strict about the loads.

Sometimes officers have their own provisions carried on the troop horse of their servant; the commander ought positively to forbid this practise, and to punish the officer severely who acts thus after having been warned.  The horse of the private soldier, belongs to the government, it should only be employed for government service.

*About 250 lbs.

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Copyright © 2001 by Mark Diehl.

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