Lieutenant-GENERAL, is the next in command after the general; and provided he should die or be killed, the order is, that the oldest lieutenant-general shall take the command. This office is the first military dignity after that of a general. One part of their function is, to assist the general with their counsel: they ought therefore, if possible, to possess the same qualities with the general himself; and the more, as they often command armies in chief.
The number of lieutenant-generals have been multiplied of late in Europe, in proportion as the armies have become numerous. They serve either in the field,
General or in sieges, according to the dates of their commissions. In battle, the oldest commands the right wing of the army, the second the left wing, the third the centre; the fourth the right wing of the second line, the fifth the left wing, the sixth the centre; and so on. In sieges, the lieutenant-generals always command the right of the principal attack, and order what they judge proper for the advancement of the siege during the 24 hours they are in the trenches; except the attacks, which they are not to make without an order from the general in chief.
Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance. See ORDNANCE.
Lieutenant-General of Artillery, is, or ought to be, a very great mathematician, and an able engineer; to know all the powers of artillery; to understand the attack and defence of fortified places, in all its different branches; how to dispose of the artillery in the day of battle to the best advantage; to conduct its march and retreat; as also to be well acquainted with all the numerous apparatus belonging to the train, and to the laboratory, &c.
Major-General, the next officer to the lieutenant-general. His chief business is to receive orders from the general, or in his absence from the lieutenant-general of the day; which he is to distribute to the brigade-majors, with whom he is to regulate the guards, convoys, detachments, &c. On him the whole fatigue and detail of duty of the army roll. It is the major-general of the day who is charged with the encampment of the army, who places himself at the head of it when they march, who marks out the ground of the camp to the quarter-master-general, and who places the new guards for the safety of the camp.
The day the army is to march, he dictates to the field-officers the order of the march, which he has received from the general, and on other days gives them the parole.
In a fixed camp he is charged with the foraging, with reconnoitring the ground for it, and posting the escorts, &c.
In sieges, if there are two separate attacks, the second belongs to him; but if there is but one, he takes, either from the right or left of the attack, that which the lieutenant-general has not chosen.
When the army is under arms, he assists the lieutenant-general, whose orders he executes.
If the army marches to an engagement, his post is at the head of the guards of the army, until they are near enough to the enemy to rejoin their different corps; after which he retires to his own proper post: for the major-generals are disposed on the order of battle as the lieutenant-generals are; to whom, however, they are subordinate, for the command of their divisions. The major-general has one aid-de-camp, paid for executing his orders.