Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 270, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1912 — How to Estimate Number in a Review. [ARTICLE]

How to Estimate Number in a Review.

Did you ever try to estimate the number in a crowd and then find out later that you had missed your guess. by hundreds? Here is a simple system with regard to the number of troops on the march: The strength of a body Sf troops may be estimated from the length of time it takes to pass a given point. Assuming that infantry in column of lours occupies half a yard per man. cavalry one yard per trooper, and artillery is in single column of guns and caissons, a given point would be passed in one minute by about 175 infantry, 110 cavalry at a walk, 200 cavalry at a trot, and five guns or caissons. Allowing for spacing between companies, battalions, and regiments, all of which is according to mathematical rule, it takes a regiment of 1,000 men divided into battalions Just ten minutes to pass, or at the rate of 6,000 an hour. And this supposes no breaks in the line. These rules, it must be remembered, are for trained soldiers used to a long step and to keeping up without straggling. No civilians ever have kept up this pace.