Column of Companies
During the Peninsular War, British riflemen of Craufurd's Light Division marching to engage the enemy but uncertain of the presence of enemy cavalrymen in the area could adopt a formation called "column of companies." Each company would form into two ranks of about thirty files and march close to the company in front. If attacked by cavalry, they could easily bunch up, forming a schiltron of bayonets that would be proof against unsupported cavalry.
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“The actor who lets the dust accumulate on his Ibsen, his Shakspere [sic], and his Bible, but pores greedily over every little column of theatrical news, is a lost soul.”
—Minnie Maddern Fiske (1865–1932)
“I stand on top
of our back steps and breathe the rich air—
a mother skunk with her column of kittens swills the garbage pail.
She jabs her wedge-head in a cup
of sour cream, drops her ostrich tail,
and will not scare.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)
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—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)