Mcclellan George Gomard (1 results)
Manual of Bayonet Exercise: Prepared for the Use of the Army of the United States.; Printed by Order of the War Department
McClellan, George B. (Translator and partial author) and Gomard, A. (Author)
Published by J. B. Lippincott & Co, Philadelphia, 1862
- Hardcover
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Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Good. The format is approximately 5 inches by 7.75 inches. [2],115, [2], XXIV plates, [3] pages. Illustrations. Tabular Data. Information on military publications inside the front and back covers and on fep and rep. Cover has some wear and soiling. Some page foxing and soiling noted. Name of previous owner…on second fep--Lieut. P. L Rowe Co. G 8th Regt. [? possibly New York] Nice Civil War use association. George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 - October 29, 1885) was an American military officer, politician, and engineer who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881, as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 1862, and the Democratic Party candidate in the 1864 presidential election. He was chief engineer and vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad, and later president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in 1860. A West Point graduate, McClellan served with distinction during the Mexican-American War. He was a railway executive and engineer until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Early in the conflict, McClellan was appointed to the rank of major general and played an important role in raising the Army of the Potomac, which served in the Eastern Theater. In the fall of 1852, McClellan published a manual on bayonet tactics that he had translated from the original French. Due to his mastery of French, McClellan received the assignment to be an observer of the European armies in the Crimean War in 1855. Interacting with the highest military commands and royal families, McClellan observed the siege of Sevastopol. From the Preface: The Bayonet Exercise presented in the following pages is chiefly from the French of M. Gomard, an eminent French teacher of the art of fencing. After an examination of the systems of Selmnitz, Pinette, Muller, etc., the superiority of Gomard's was very evident. It is, in its arrangement, very analogous to the Infantry Tactics, and of such a nature that it can readily be taught by the non-commissioned officers. In addition, it is far the simplest system of all. In the others are to be found many different "guards," very inefficient thrusts, and an almost infinite number of parries, against the lancer, dragoon, hussar, cuirassier, infantry soldier, etc., ad infinitum. Gomard lays it down as a principle, that the most formidable antagonist an infantry soldier can encounter is an infantry soldier; that the bayonet is more formidable than either the lance or the sabre. This assertion may seem surprising, but trial will convince any one of its truth, and of the consequent fact that an infantry soldier who can parry the attacks of a well-drilled infantry soldier has nothing to fear from a cavalry soldier, because simple variations of the parries against infantry are perfectly effective against the sabre and lance, e.g. the parries in high tierce and high quarte. The work of Gomard was translated by the author of the present work about two years ago, and taught by him to the non- commissioned officers of the company of sappers with which he was then on duty. The non-commissioned officers soon became competent to instruct the men, and the system was in successful operation when the author was relieved from duty with the company. It proved to be an excellent gymnastic exercise, a useful amusement, and gave the men great additional confidence in themselves and their weapons. The French system has been somewhat modified, in order to make it conform more closely to our infantry tactics. It will be proper to remark that any system of fencing with the bayonet can, in service, have its full and direct application only when the men are isolated, or in very open order; as, for instance, when employed as skirmishers, in assaulting breaches, fieldworks, or batteries, or when broken by cavalry, etc. etc. When in the habitual formation, as infantry of the line, the small interval allowed each file, and the method of action of masses, will prevent the possibility, or necessity, of the employment of much individual address; but even then, in the shock of a charge, or when awaiting the at- tack of cavalry, the men will surely be more steady and composed, from the consciousness of the fact that they can make good use of their bayonets, and easily protect their per- sons against everything but balls. There is an instance on record of a French grenadier, who, in the battle of Polotsk, defended himself, with his bayonet, against the simultaneous attack of eleven Russian grenadiers, eight of whom he killed. In the battle of Sanguessa, two soldiers of Abbe's division defended themselves, with their bayonets, against twenty-five Spanish cavalry, and, after having inflicted several severe wounds, rejoined their regiment without a scratch. At that period there was little or no regular instruction in the use of the bayonet. George B. McClellan, Brevet Captain Corps Engineers, U. S. Army. Washington, February 25, 1852. Clear plastic dust wrapper present Later edition, presumed first printing thus.--This appears to be the first officially sanctioned republication during the Civil War, and while McClellan was the Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Army.