inevitable the enemy should be engaged as far from the
Convoy as possible, and it will not be halted and parked, except as a
last resort. In the case of mechanical transport the whole of the
escort will be carried in motor vehicles, and except where parallel
roads are in existence, little can be done to secure flank protection
while on the move. A portion of such escort will move with the Convoy
and a portion will be sent ahead to secure any bridges or defiles which
have to be passed, the outlet of any defile being secured before the
Convoy is permitted to enter the defile. In the case of a horsed
Convoy the escort will usually consist of infantry, with a proportion
{117} of mobile troops. Small Advanced and Rear Guards will be
detailed and sufficient men will be posted along the column to ensure
order and easy communication. The remainder of the escort will usually
move on that flank from which attack is most likely.

The far-ranging raid on the Lines of Communications was a notable
feature of the American Civil War. It was freely employed on both
sides and was often harmful to the object of the attack and usually
profitable to the raiders, especially to those of the South, by reason
of the replenishment of stores. General Turner Ashby, the dashing
cavalry leader in the Shenandoah Valley, was a constant source of
terror to the Northern Generals, and his death while protecting the
movements to _Cross Keys_ (June 6, 1862) was a terrible blow to
Stonewall Jackson, who employed his mounted troops with more skill than
any other commander, Confederate or Federal. General R. E. Lee
possessed a great cavalry leader in J. E. B. Stuart, "but cool-headed
as he was, Lee appears to have been fascinated by the idea of throwing
a great body of horsemen across his enemy's communications, spreading
terror among his supply trains, cutting his telegraphs and destroying
his magazines. Yet in hardly a single instance did such expeditions
inflict more than temporary discomfort on the enemy; and the
Confederate Armies were led more than once into false manoeuvres for
want of the information which only the cavalry could supply. Lee at
_Malvern Hill_ and _Gettysburg_, and, on the side of the North, Hooker
at _Chancellorsville_, and Grant at _Spottsylvania_, owed defeat in
great measure to the absence of their mounted troops on raiding
excursions. In the Valley, on the contrary, success was made possible
because Jackson kept his cava