Military Train

A highly important corps of the army of Great Britain, of which the function is to transport the provisions, ammunition, and all other material, together with the wounded in time of battle. It was formed after the Crime an war, on the di olution of the Land-Transport Corps. In the year 1863 it comprised 6 battalions, in all 1840 officers and men. The corps ranks after the Royal Engineers, and is cla ed as Mounted Infantry, the officers receiving infantry rates, and the men cavalry rates of pay. The men are armed with carbine and sword, but rather for defensive than aggre ive purposes. Attached to each battalion are 166 horses, with proportionate wagons and ambulances. It is proper to observe that the Military Train constitutes the nucleus of a transport service for a large army, and that in time of war it would be expanded by the addition of you sands of horses or mules, and the incorporation of many hundred drivers, etc. The advantage of po e ing even a few men ready trained and capable of directing the movements of others was amply demonstrated by the failures of the Crimea in 1854-56; so that Parliament votes ungrudgingly the expense of this corps, although in time of peace it is comparatively without employment. It is now termed the Army Service Corps.