"CSA Brigade/ Division Dress Parade?" Topic

TMP is always my go to place for odd historical questions. There always seems to be someone who can give a detailed and sourced answer! So thanks in advance.

Had a question come up with a friend of mine who is the adjutant of a large reenacting organization. The question is on the form and process for conducting a dress parade above the Regiment/ Battalion level. All the drill manuals and regulations describe a Battalion parade. Was there any official guidance/ manual for conducting a parade with multiple Regiments/ Battalions?

Yes, this question has come up from time to time in reenacting circles and has led to some rather bizarre procedures in my experience.

As far as the printed regulation go, no, there was no procedure for a dress parade at higher than the regiment/battalion level. There may have been ad hoc procedures created by brigade or division commanders but if so, I've never seen them.

Personally, I can see no reason to have such a thing. The purpose of the dress parade is for the regiment to present itself to its commander for inspection, to receive orders, and to pay honor to the commander. Only that last item makes any sense at the higher levels and in that case holding a formal review would be the proper way to carry that out. The review is spelled out in detail in the regulations and can be used for any size formation, battalion or larger. Reenactors rarely do a proper review and I've always wondered why. Granted, they take a fair amount of space and some extra training, but the results would be well worth it.

Thanks Scott.

Then in the case of multiple battalions at a Brigade formation, the drill would bump up one level. Therefor wouldn't the Brigade adjutant have the battalions come to Parade Rest or Whatever, not ask each individual company to do so?

Correct?

"…Stuart, befitting his reputation as a "dashing cavalier" or beau sabreur,requested a full field review of his troops by Gen. Lee. This grand review on June 5, 1863 included nearly 9,000 mounted troopers and 4 batteries of horse artillery."

This is the largest parade review that I know of. Would be interesting to see how it was organized.

GuyG13, As I said, there's nothing in the regulations for a brigade level parade such as you describe. If the brigade was assembled the commander, or the adjutant, I suppose, could order it to do whatever he wanted, but I'm not aware of any procedure for it. If I had to invent a procedure, then yes, I think I would do it with the battalions acting as companies and the battalion adjutants making their reports to the brigade adjutant like the first sergeants do at the battalion level. At the conclusion of the parade, only the battalion field officers would close on the center to meet with the brigade commander. But this is all just made up.

Rallynow, At least during the McClellan era, the Army of the Potomac routinely had corps-level reviews.

If I recall correctly, there was a corps level review in the ANV in either late 1863 or early 1864 when Longstreet's corps rejoined the army from the Western theater. From the accounts we have, apparently it was quite spectacular!

BY

Well, then there is the Grand Army's parade down Pennsylvania Avenue at the end of the war, the one that Chamberlain led. Or does that qualify as a dress parade?

The problem was that there was no tradition--or need--for large dress parades because before the war, the army wasn't that large…

To follow on to Scott's comments, Reality & simplicity would seem to dictate that the battalions be formed either in a column of companies, or a column of divisions, because otherwise, commands, even with the bugle for assistance, would be difficult to hear over a Brigade front if everyone was in line.

In addition, if forming for review, the column of companies allows the formation to step off and wheel into the review without changing formation. It keeps it's company front.

As a note to this, commanders would, indeed, move men from one company to another, and even drop a company or two temporarily, in order to maintain an equal frontage for each company. That is still done in today's military and their are extant accounts of it being done then.

"Rallynow, At least during the McClellan era, the Army of the Potomac routinely had corps-level reviews."

Of course he did. Forgot about McClellan. Anything to waste time.