Camp (military)

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Engels planned to write the articles "Camp" and "Catapult" in January 1858 but at first he did not have the necessary sources. On January 7 and 14 he asked Marx to go to the British Museum and collect the necessary material. Marx's letter to Engels of February 1 shows that Marx complied with this request a little later. No direct information is available about the progress of work on these articles, nor is there any entry in Marx's notebook on their dispatch to New York. In a letter to Marx of February 18, 1858 Engels wrote that he had enclosed "a few small pieces for Dana". It can be assumed that this refers to the articles in question and probably to the article "Coehorn" on which Engels was working about the same time, as can be seen from the Marx-Engels correspondence.

Camp, a place of repose for troops, whether for one night or a longer time, and whether in tents, in bivouac, or with any such shelter as may be hastily constructed. Troops are cantoned when distributed among villages, or when placed in huts at the end of a campaign. Barracks are permanent military quarters. Tents were deemed unwholesome by Napoleon, who preferred that the soldier should bivouac, sleeping with his feet toward the fire, and protected from the wind by slight sheds and bowers. Major Sibley, of the American army, has invented a tent which will accommodate 20 cavalry soldiers, with their accoutrements, all sleeping with their feet toward a fire in its centre. Bivouac tents have been introduced into the French service since 1837. They consist of a tissue of cotton cloth impregnated with caoutchouc, and thus made water-proof. Every man carries a portion of this cloth, and the different pieces are rapidly attached together by means of clasps. In the selection of a camp, good water within a convenient distance is essential, as is the proximity of woods for firewood and means of shelter. Good roads, canals, or navigable streams are important to furnish the troops with the necessaries of life, if they are encamped for a long period. The vicinity of swamps or stagnant water is to be avoided. The ground to be suitable for defence must admit of manoeuvres of troops. As far as possible the cavalry and infantry should be established on a single line, the former upon the wings, the latter in the centre. The shelters or huts are arranged, as nearly as the nature of the ground admits, in streets perpendicular to the front, and extending from one end of the camp to the other. In arranging a camp, however, no universal rule can be laid down, but the commander must decide according to circumstances whether to form his army in 1 or 2 lines, and upon the relative positions of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The guards of camps are: 1, the camp-guard, which serves to keep good order and discipline, prevent desertions, and give the alarm; 2, detachments of infantry and cavalry, denominated pickets, stationed in front and on the flanks, which intercept reconnoitring parties of the enemy, and give timely notice of a hostile approach; and 3, grand guards, or outposts, which are large detachments posted in surrounding villages, farm-houses, or small field works, from which they can watch the movements of the enemy. They should not be so far from the camp as to be beyond succor in case of attack. Immediately after arriving on the ground, the number of men to be furnished for guards and pickets are detailed; the posts to be occupied by them are designated; the places for distribution of provisions mentioned; and, in general, all arrangements made concerning the interior and exterior police and service of the camp. One of the most ancient camps mentioned in history is that of the Israelites at their exodus from Egypt. It formed a large square, divided for the different tribes, had in the middle the camp of the Lévites with the tabernacle and a principal gate or entrance, which, with an adjacent open space, was at the same time a forum and market-place. But the form, the dimensions, and the intrenchments of the regular military camps of the Hebrews, or their enemies, can scarcely be traced.

The camp of the Greeks before Troy was close upon the sea-shore, to shelter their ships drawn upon the land, divided into separate quarters for the different tribes, and fortified with ramparts fronting the city and the sea, and externally with a high mount of earth, strengthened with wooden towers against the sallies of the besieged. The bravest of their chiefs, as Achilles and Ajax, were posted at the extremities. The camp of the Lacedaemonians was circular, and not without the regular precautions of sentries and videttes.

The Roman camp varied according to the season of the year, the length of time it was to be occupied, the number of legions, as well as the nature of the ground, and other circumstances. A historian of the time of the empire mentions camps of every shape, circular, oblong, &c. ; but the regular form of the Roman camp was quadrangular. Its place was determined by augurs and according to the 4 quarters, with the front to the rising sun; it was measured with a gnomon; a square of 700 feet was regarded as sufficient for 20,000 men. It was divided into an upper and lower part, separated by a large open space, and by 2 chief lines (decumana and cardo), running from E. to W., and from N. to S., and by several streets. It had 4 gates, the principal of which were the decuman and the praetorian, which no soldier could pass without leave, under pain of death, and was surrounded with a rampart, separated by a space of 200 feet from the inner camp, a ditch, and a mound of earth. All these intrenchments were made by the soldiers themselves, who handled the pickaxe and the spade as dexterously as the sword or the lance; they levelled the ground, and fixed the palisades, which they carried along, around the intrenchments into a kind of hedge of irregular points. In the middle of the upper division was the pavilion of the general {praetorium), forming a square of 200 feet; around it the auguraculum, the quaestorium, or quarters of the treasurers of the army, the forum, serving as a market and meeting place, and the tents of the legati, those of the tribunes opposite their respective legions, and of the commanders of foreign auxiliary troops. In the lower division were the tents of the inferior officers and the legions, the Roman horse, the triarii, the principes, the hastati &c; and on the flanks the companies of foreign horse and foot, carefully kept apart. The tents were covered with skins, each containing 10 soldiers, and their decanus; the centurions and standard-bearers at the head of their companies. In the space between the 2 divisions, which was called principia, were the platform of the general, for the exercise of justice as well as for harangues, the altar, the sacred images, and the not less sacred military ensigns. In exceptional cases the camp was surrounded with a wall of stones, and sometimes even the quarters of the soldiers were of the same material. The whole camp offered the aspect of a city; it was the only fortress the Romans constructed. Among the most permanent memorials of the Roman occupation of Britain is the retention of the Latin castra (camp), as, in whole or part, the name of a great number of places first occupied by them as military posts, as Doncaster, Leicester, Worcester, Chester, Winchester, &c.

The camps of the barbarous nations of antiquity were often surrounded with a fortification of wagons and carts, as for instance, that of the Cimbri, in their last battle against the Romans (101 B. C), which camp was so fiercely defended, after their defeat, by their wives.

An Intrenched Camp is a camp surrounded by defensive works, which serves also as a fortification, and is intended accordingly for prolonged use.