NOTE 2.

The following details, communicated to the author by one of Lee’s generals, as to the formations of the Confederate infantry, will be found interesting:—­

“Our brigades were usually formed of four or five regiments, each regiment composed of ten companies.  Troops furnished by the same State were, as far as possible, brigaded together, in order to stimulate State pride, and a spirit of healthy emulation.

“The regiment was formed for attack in line two-deep, covered by skirmishers.

“The number of skirmishers, and the intervals between the men on the skirmish line, depended altogether on the situation.  Sometimes two companies were extended as skirmishers; sometimes one company; sometimes a certain number of men from several companies.  In rear of the skirmishers, at a distance ranging from three hundred to one hundred and fifty paces, came the remainder of the regiment.

“When a regiment or a brigade advanced through a heavily wooded country, such as the Wilderness, the point of direction was established, and the officers instructed to conform to the movements of the ‘guide company’ or ‘guide regiment’ as the case might be, the ‘guide’ company or regiment governing both direction and alignment.

“The maintenance of direction under such circumstances was a very difficult matter.  Our officers, however, were greatly assisted by the rank and file, as many of the latter were accomplished woodsmen, and accustomed to hunt and shoot in the dense forests of the South.  Each regiment, moreover, was provided with a right and a left ’general guide,’ men selected for their special aptitudes, being good judges of distance, and noted for their steadiness and skill in maintaining the direction.

“Then, again, the line of battle was greatly aided in maintaining the direction by the fire of the skirmishers, and frequently the line would be formed with a flank resting on a trail or woods-road, a ravine or watercourse, the flank regiment in such cases acting as the guide:  (at Chancellorsville, Jackson’s divisions kept direction by the turnpike, both wings looking to the centre.) In advancing through thick woods the skirmish line was almost invariably strengthened, and while the ‘line of battle,’ covered by the skirmishers, advanced in two-deep line, bodies in rear usually marched in columns of fours, prepared to come, by a ‘forward into line,’ to the point where their assistance might be desired.  I never saw the compass used in wood-fighting.  In all movements to attack it was the universal custom for the brigade commander to assemble both field and company officers to the ‘front and centre,’ and instruct them particularly as to the purpose of the movement, the method in which it was to be carried out, the point of direction, the guide regiment, the position of other brigades, etc., etc.  Like action was also taken by the regimental commander when a regiment was alone.