is an error to suppose that the generals of antiquity did not pay great
attention to their magazines; it may be seen in Caesar's Commentaries,
how much he was occupied with this care in his several campaigns. The
ancients knew how to avoid being slaves to any system of supplies, or to
being obliged to depend on the purveyors; but all the great captains
well understood the art of subsistence."

_Forage_ is a military term applied to food of any kind for horses or
cattle,--as grass, hay, corn, oats, &c.; and also to the operation of
collecting such food. Forage is of two kinds, _green_ and _dry_; the
former being collected directly from the meadows and harvest-fields, and
the latter from the barns and granaries of the farmers, or the
storehouses of the dealers.

The animals connected with an army may be subsisted by regular
magazines, by forced requisitions, or by authorized _foraging_ [7] As
has already been remarked, it is not always politic, or even possible,
to provide regular magazines for the entire supplies of an army during
the active operations of a campaign. On account of the great expense and
difficulty of transporting forage, the general of an army is more
frequently under the necessity of resorting to requisitions, or forced
contributions as they are called, and to foraging, for the subsistence
of his animals, than to provide food for his men. Nor are requisitions
and foragings for this object so objectionable as in the other case,
being far less likely to produce general want and distress among the
non-combatant inhabitants.

[Footnote 7: This term is sometimes, though improperly, applied to the
operation of forcibly collecting food for the troops.]