John Bright's Regiment of Foote

Part of the Roundhead Association in the English Civil War Society
 

Countermarching

The general purpose of countermarching is to reverse the order of soldiers in Files or Ranks, but not always. We tend to use it on the Battlefield to change the direction of march. However you will remember from the earlier section, a countermarch does not change the Front of a unit only its direction. Countermarches should not be done on the move. The units should be stood both before and after a countermarch. So lets start with countermarching Files, the easy stuff.

There are lots of ways of doing this and we will ignore a couple of them. We will consider four methods and their variants.
Chorean, Lacedemonian and Macedonian all turn the unit around, that is you will end up facing in the opposite direction to that you started in; Bastard Countermarches change the order of men in the file but not the direction of the file. The arrows indicate the direction of facing upon completion of the counter march.
 

1. Chorean or Countermarching maintaining ground

2a. Order: Files to the right/left hand countermarch; everyman turning after his leader on the ground he stands.

The File Leaders countermarch in the indicated direction. As the last moving man in the file passes each man this soldier turns and follows the File. The file Leader continues until the entire file has countermarched, though the Bringer Up should still be stood in his original position.
 

2b. Order: Bringers-up, face about to the right/left, the rest pass through to the right/left and place yourselves before your Bringers-up

The entire Body faces to the rear. The man now immediately behind the Bringer Up leads off to the right or left as indicated and stands in front of the Bringer up; The Next man stands in front of him and so on until the File leader has sto
 

3a. Order: File leaders face about to the right/left; the rest pass through to the right/left and place yourselves behind your leaders

The File Leader Faces to the Rear. The second man in the file now leads off to the right or left, as indicated, of the File Leader and stands behind him, facing to the rear. Each man in the file does likewise.
 

3b. Order: File leaders face to the rear; the rest of the body pass through to the left/right following your Bringers-up, placing yourselves behind your leaders

The File Leader faces to the rear. The Bringer Up leads off to the left or right as indicated, each man in the file following on as the file passes him. The Bringer Up stands once he has made enough ground for the file to stand behind its leader. All turn to face in the same direction as the File Leader. (This is silly)
 

4a. Order: File leaders stand, the rest pass through to the right/left and place yourselves before your leaders

The File Leader Stands. The second man in the file now leads off to the right or left, as indicated, of the File Leader and stands in front of him. Each man in the file does likewise...
 

4b. Order: File leaders stand, the rest pass through to the right placing yourselves before your leaders following your Bringers-up

The File Leader stands. The Bringer Up leads off to the left or right as indicated, each man in the file following on as the file passes him. The Bringer Up stands once he has made enough ground for the file to stand in front its leader. (This is nearly as silly as ‘Macedonian b’)
 

5a. Order: Ranks to the right/left hand countermarch

The Body faces in the opposite direction to that indicated and then countermarch, turning right, through the ranks. The File which is leading the countermarch stands in the position where the previous flank was. All then turn to face the front.
 

5b. Order: Ranks to the right/left hand countermarch, every man turning after his right/left hand man, on the ground he stands

The File opposite to the direction indicated leads off, each man marching in front of his own Rank through the body. Each member of the Rank follows on as the man next to him moves past him, until the body has moved its own width in the indicated direction. The last man not having moved his position.
 

5c. Order: Right/left hand file face to the right/left; the rest pass through to the right/left and place yourselves before your right/left hand man

The indicated File faces as ordered. The next man in the Rank leads off facing in the same direction as the indicated File and marching to the right or left as ordered. He stands in front of the stationary file, the rest of the Rank follows on, each standing in front of the man before him.

 

6a. Order: Countermarch front and rear into the midst

The Rear Half-files face to the Rear. Then the Front Half-files Countermarch as do the Rear Half-files, stopping when the File Leaders and Bringers Up meet in the middle.
(I can see no reason for doing this at all.)
 

6b. Order: File leaders and Bringers Up stand; the rest pass through to the right/left and place yourselves before your leaders.

Rear Half face to the rear. Each Half-file now countermarches, the man behind the File Leader or Bringer Up leading off in the direction indicated and standing in front of his leader, each man thus passing through and doing the same. Then both Half-files face into the Centre of the Body. This should open a nice path down the middle, good for presentations etc.
 

6c. Order: Countermarch your flanks into the midst

The Right Hand Half-rank faces right and The Left Hand Half-rank faces Left. Both Half-ranks then counter march until the outermost Files meet in the middle. This does have a reason as it brings the Shot into the centre of the body and places two wings of pike as protection on the flanks.