becomes, and this is
dispersion, which constitutes one of the gravest, and at the same
time, most frequent tactical errors.

To continue the problem, we will suppose you have reached the stone
bridge over Sandy Creek; the point is at the cross roads by the Smith
house; you can see the two men moving along Sandy Ridge; and Corporal
Davis' patrol is just entering the orchard by the Barton farm. Firing
suddenly commences well to the front and you hear your point reply to
it.

=Sergeant Adams:= I halt to await information from the point.

=Captain:= That is absolutely wrong. You command the advance party of
an advance guard; your mission requires you to secure the
uninterrupted march of the main body; and at the first contact you
halt, thus interrupting the march (Par. 1021). The sooner you reach
the point, the better are your chances for driving off the enemy if he
is not too strong, or the quicker you find out his strength and give
your commander in the rear the much desired information.

=Sergeant Adams:= Then I push ahead with the advance party, sending
back the following message--

=Captain= (interrupting): It is not time to send a message. You know
too little and in a few minutes you will be up with the point where
you can hear what has happened and see the situation for yourself.
Then you can send back a valuable message. When but a few moments
delay will probably permit you to secure much more detailed
information, it is generally best to wait for that short time and thus
avoid using two messengers. When you reach the cross roads you find
six men of the point deployed behind the fence, under cover of the
trees along the County Road, just west of the Chester Pike, firing at
the stone wall along the Mills' farm lane. The enemy appears to be
deployed behind this stone wall, from the Chester Pike west for a
distance of fifty yards, and his fire is much heavier than that of
your point. You think he has at least twenty rifles there. You cannot
see down the Chester Pike beyond the enemy's position. Your patrol on
Sandy Ridge is midway between the 68 and 66 knolls, moving north. The
ground in your front, west of the road, is a potato field; that east
of the road as far as the swamp, is rough grass land.

=Sergeant Adams:= I give order, "Corporal Gibbs, deploy your squad to
the right of the Pike and push forward between the Pike and the swamp.
Corporal Hall (commands the point), continue a heavy fire. Here are
six m