Marches of Concentration

The marches which are made by several bodies of troops, starting from points separated from each other, for the purpose of bringing these troops together at some stated place, are termed marches of concentration . Forced marches are much used in concentrating troops, especially before a battle. Many examples are given in military history. Friant’s division of Davoust’s corps marched over 80 miles in forty-eight hours in 1805, to join Napoleon in the battle of Austerlitz. Craufurd’s brigade marched, so Napier says, 62 miles in twenty-six hours, to join Wellington at Talavera, in 1809. Napoleon marched an army to the relief of Dresden, in 1813, by forced marches of over 30 miles a day for three consecutive days. The marches of the different corps of the Army of the Potomac on the 30th of June and the 1st of July, 1863, by means of which the army was concentrated at Gettysburg, are good examples of marches of concentration . The 6th Corps under Gen. Sedgwick made on this occasion a march over 30 miles.— Prof. J. B. Wheeler.