EFR Standing Orders

  • Don’t forget nothing.
  • Don’t never take a chance you don’t have to.
  • Tell the truth about what you see and what you do. There is an Army depending on us for correct information. You can lie all you please when you tell other folks about the Rangers, but don’t ever lie to a Ranger or Officer.
  • Have your firelock clean as a whistle, hatchet scoured, Blades sharp, sixty rounds powder and ball, rations, water & Light Kit ready to march at a minute’s warning.
    Every morning & night you’ll be told where to meet if surrounded by a superior force.
  • When you’re on the march:
    • Act the way you would if you was sneaking up on a deer. See the enemy first.
    • March single file, far enough apart so one shot can’t get two men.
    • If we strike soft ground, spread out abreast, so it’s hard to track us.
    • We keep moving till dark, so as to give the enemy the least chance.
    • Don’t ever march home the same way, take a different route so you won’t be ambushed.
    • Don’t cross a river by a regular ford.
    • If somebody’s trailing you, make a circle, come back onto your tracks, and ambush the folks that aim to ambush you.
    • No matter whether we travel in big parties or little ones, each party has to keep a scout twenty yards on each flank and twenty yards in the rear, so the main body can’t be surprised and wiped out.
    • Don’t sit down to eat without posting sentries.
    • When we camp, half the party stays awake while the other half sleeps.
    • Don’t sleep beyond dawn, go to stand to. Dawn’s when the savages attack.
    • Don’t stand up when the enemy’s coming against you! Kneel down, lie down, hide behind a tree! Let the enemy come till he’s almost close enough to touch, then let him have it and jump out and finish him up with your hatchet.
    • If we take prisoners, keep ’em separate till we have time to examine them, so they can’t cook up a story between ’em.
    • Never Leave a Ranger to the enemy and don’t never quit.

~ Typical for a soldier of the American Revolution

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