Traveling Trunk Additional Activities: Marching Practice

MARCHING PRACTICE

CIVIL WAR COMPANY DRILL

PURPOSE:
To give students a sense of belonging to a group that functions together just as trained Civil War soldiers.

PROCEDURE:
Using elected officers (Captain, Lieutenants, and Sergeants) and the drawing below as reference, have the students get into formation on a large open area. Use just one Lieutenant and one Sergeant as file-closers. The file-closers stay to the rear while advancing for combat. Students should be lined up very close together, shoulder-to-shoulder. The flagbearers will always be at center-front of the formation when advancing. The Captain will give the orders to the Company, and the Lieutenant may also practice giving orders.

Try some of the following commands with your class-company:
COMPANY. . . FALL IN (line up quickly, as shown in diagram)
COMPANY. . . ATTENTION (stand tall, face forward, silence)
COMPANY. . . RIGHT FACE (quarter-turn to the right)
COMPANY. . . LEFT FACE (quarter-turn to the left)
COMPANY. . . ABOUT FACE (half-turn)
COMPANY. . . FORWARD MARCH (move forward, maintaining formation)
COMPANY. . . HALT (stop, but remain at attention)
COMPANY. . . AT EASE (relax, but stay in place)

Here are some more orders that the captain can give, as needed:

COMPANY. . . RIGHT – DRESS! (turn heads to the right and straighten lines)
FRONT (snap heads back to the front, after the RIGHT – DRESS command)
STEADY MEN, STEADY (maintain pace; don’t speed up)
TO THE STEP (stay in step with captain; match his pace)
QUIET IN THE RANKS (silence; no talking. It is important that everyone can hear the captain.)

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