by August Valentine Kautz, Capt. 6th U. S. Cavalry, Brig.-Gen. U. S. Volunteers is a splendid 290 page book, packed with information. At 5 5/16 x 3 13/16 x 7/8, it is small enough to carry in a large pocket. The format of the book, 717 numbered paragraphs make the book easily referenced. The numbering coupled with an excellent 11-page index ensures that finding a topic is very fast. The book is all-inclusive, defining the duties and rights of every rank of soldier, from private to sergeant major. The author intended that it be a guide for promotion through those ranks.

How useful will this book be to a wargamer? This is a question that comes to my mind for every military book that I look at. Scattered throughout are maxims and bits of information useful both to the player and writer of wargame rules. Some examples are given below. In addition, this book provides specific information useful for development of firing rules and campaign logistics. It also provides the meanings to all of the 1860 era military terms that you wondered about.

Distances needed by rules writer are given in the section called Principles of Firing. Identified is the rate of movement of cavalry during a charge on an artillery battery. “Should an enemy’s cavalry be at a distance of 1,000 yards from the battery it is about to charge, it will move over the first 400 yards at a walk, approaching to a gentle trot, in about four and a half minutes, it passes over the next 400 yards at a round trot, in a little more than two minutes, and over the last two hundred yards at a gallop, in about half a minute, the passage over the whole distance requiring about seven minutes. This estimate will generally be very near the truth, as the ground is not always even, nor easy to move over.”

The author also gives Guidelines for firing artillery rounds at the Cavalry while it is charging, ”Now, a piece can throw, with sufficient deliberation for pointing, two solid shot or three canisters per minute. Each piece of the battery, therefore, might fire nine rounds of solid shot upon the cavalry whilst it is passing over the first 400 yards; two rounds of solid shot and three rounds of canister whilst it is passing over the next 400 yards, and two rounds of canister whilst it is passing over the last 200 yards, - making a total from each gun of eleven round shot and five canisters.” The section also describes what a man can see at various distances, from six to nine miles and ending with, “At twenty-five to thirty yards, you can see the white of the eye.”

It gives the information that a rules writer needs to know for feeding an army on the move, by providing weights, net and gross and the bulk in barrels per 1,000 rations. Also provided are the weights for rations from 1 to 100,000 of: pork, bacon-sides, shoulders, hams, beef, salt, and fresh, corn meal, flour, soft bread, beans, peas, sugar, rice, hominy, green coffee, roasted coffee, tea, vinegar, candles, soap, salt, pepper, potatoes, molasses, desiccated potatoes and desiccated vegetables. A footnote says that fresh vegetables, onions, beets, carrots and turnips, may be issued in lieu of beans, peas, rice or hominy and at the rate of potatoes (fresh), 30 pounds to 100 rations.

The book gives detailed instructions to the soldiers for every activity, marching, picket duty, combat, personal health and cooking. Paragraph 133, in the section on ‘Duties in the Field’, says that “The practice of pickets firing upon those of the enemy is barbarous.” In the section, ‘The Infantry Soldier’, the first two sentence of paragraph 144 give the relationships of the branches of the service, “In the infantry is the main strength of the Army. Cavalry and artillery are the auxiliaries.” Paragraphs 137 - 143 describe in detail the principles to be followed when a man is assigned the duty of a skirmisher.

Kautz says that 10% of the force is the usual percentage of men to be deployed as skirmishers. Paragraph 153 says that “He should learn to wait: a soldier’s life is made up in waiting for the critical moments. The times in distinction are few, and quickly pass, and once gone, he has a long time to wait for the next opportunity.” The section ‘The Artillery Soldier’ describes foot artillery, light artillery and heavy artillery. The main distinction between foot artillery and light artillery is that light artillery rides to their position on horseback, rather than on the caissons or walking alongside the guns.. Apparently, one of the reasons that heavy artillery regiments were easily transformed into infantry is that “The troops are usually armed, equipped and drilled as infantry, in addition to their duties with the large guns.”

While not as useful to the tabletop wargamer, cooking instructions and tips are provided for the items that a soldier would possibly have available, such as hard bread, flour, corn meal, fresh beef, salt beef, salt pork, bacon, beans and peas, rice, hominy, coffee, tea, desiccated vegetables, potatoes, desiccated potatoes, soups and the use of vinegar. This section would be quite useful to those in the reenactor community.

The book doesn’t have chapters. Instead, it is separated into these topics: The Soldier, The Private Soldier, Pay and Allowances of Soldiers, Duties of The Soldier, Duties in Camp or Garrison, Duties in the Field, The Infantry Soldier, The Cavalry Soldier, The Artillery Soldier, The Ordnance Soldier, The Engineer, Signal Corps, Special Enlistments, Special or Extra Duty, Non-Commissioned Officers Organization, Rank, The Corporal, The Sergeant, The First Sergeant, Regimental Hospital Stewards, Commissary Sergeant, The Company Commissary Sergeant, The Quartermaster Sergeant, The Company Quartermaster Sergeant, The Sergeant Major, The Cadet, Promotion, Veteran Reserve Corps, Veterans, Colored Troops, Punishments, The Court-Martial, Prisoners of War, Deserters, Obedience to Orders, Articles of War, Principles of Firing, Battle, Rank, Badges, Take Care of Your Health, Cooking, On Detached Service, Medals, Soldiers Letters, and Pensions.

General Kautz

How qualified was General Kautz to write such a book? A good question. I looked in Generals in Blue, by Ezra J. Warner for the answer. August Valentine Kautz, was born in the province of Baden, Germany on January 5, 1828. Shortly after his birth, his parents immigrated to the United States, settling in Ohio. During the first year of the Mexican War, August served as a private in the 1st Ohio Infantry. A year after his discharge he was appointed to West Point. Graduating in 1852, he served a number of years in the Pacific Northwest, where he was wounded twice.

In 1861, he was made a Captain in the 6th U. S. Cavalry and served in the 1862 peninsula campaign. In Sept, 1862, he was appointed Colonel of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry regiment, serving in the western army. In April of 1864, he was made a brigadier general of volunteers on May 7, 1864 and commanded a division of cavalry in the Army of the James. In March of 1865, he was shifted to command a division of Negro troops in the XXV Corps. His men entered Richmond on April 3, 1865. In May and June of 1865, he was a member of the commission trying the Lincoln assassination conspirators. He was breveted major general in both the volunteer and regular army.

After the war, in 1866, Kautz became lieutenant colonel of the 34th infantry, then colonel of the 8th infantry in 1874, and finally brigadier general, U. S. Army, in 1891 He was commander of various posts on the frontier from the end of the Civil War until he retired.

The book is a reprint of the second edition of Customs of Service for Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers was derived from the Laws and Regulations and practised in the Army of the United States being a Handbook for the rank and file of the Army showing what are the rights and duties, how to obtain the former and perform the latter, thereby enabling them, to seek promotion and distinction in the service of their country and originally published by J. B. Lippincott & Co. in 1865.

Stackpole Books did the reprint in 2001. You can get a copy for $14.95 by requesting ISBN 0-8117-0399-1. The original subtitle really describes the book quite well. My only problem with the book is that I saw a notice on the dust jacket that says that it was “Printed in China”.