Support of the Legionary battle line

[jkaler48]

Most of us will be familiar with combatant support to the Heavy Infantry both Auxilia and Legionary drawn up int he line of battle.
These include pursuit and screening forces such as the "Light armed" troops and Cavalry and missle troops like slingers and Archers as well as Artillery of various type and sizes. What is less know about and not often discussed are the various support elements which might be present on the battlefield both Legionary or Auxillia members as well as military "civilian employees".

A few of these support troops are described or inferred by ancient writings are:
Legionary medics responsible for bandaging the wounded in the field
Mounted Legionaries responsible for evacuating the wounded during battle
Mounted Legionary messengers

Others who may have been present on the battlefield in logistical support of the Legions are:
Muleteers or teamsters
Servants of both the common soldiers and officers of the Legion

There are accounts of these personnel occasionally taking part in combat on there own which are recounted as exceptional occurrences. It is probably safe to make an assumption that they must have been first close enough to the battle front for this to have been possible and second to have access to weapons and at least some knowledge as to their use.

Some possible logistical support to the Legion in battle that may have been provided:
Recovery of the dead
Evacuation of the wounded
Salvage of weapons and equipment (This may have been important to prevent materials from falling into enemy hands if the
the battle line retrograded.
Provision of water
Resupply of ammunition from Legion reserves: Pila Javelins Arrows Sling Shot
And I will go out on a limb here as say resupply of Boots.

[Mark Hygate]

I don't want to de-rail the thread, but also don't just want to start a new thread for one aspect when now perhaps the query belongs here......

How many 'supporters'/servants/slaves are we possibly suggesting? Because Polybius and (Ps-)Hyginus have been part of my particular recent study - I would just note that in neither of their camp designs (otherwise covered in a lot of detail) mention anywhere for lots of 'extras'. Hyginus, for all his possible faults, mentions spare horses, but allocates no space to 'extras'.

Consul's & Tribunes will have space for some - but within the century/maniple's lines?

[jkaler48]

Legionary staff officers including Engineers Doctors Supernumerary Centurions Recalled Veterans probably amounted to dozens.
Centurions and century level officers perhaps two or three per century
Ordinary Legionaries perhaps 10 per Century
Cavalry as many as one groom per Cavalryman
Muleteers and Teamsters Hundreds at least (At one point Caesar mounted his Muleteers on mules gave them spare helmets
(and maybe other gear) and had them ride about to deceive the enemy.) Implies a substantial number and that a good deal of spare equipment traveled with the Legions.
Then the muleteers and teamsters themselves probably had their own servants to some extent.

Not all would have been available to provide direct logistical support to the battle line but would have been in camp or with the baggage train. Some may have been to young or old to be of any help on the battlefield but we must remember modern standards concerning the safety of the young and old didn't apply then particularly to slaves.

[Mark Hygate]

.............
Centurions and century level officers perhaps two or three per century
Ordinary Legionaries perhaps 10 per Century
Cavalry as many as one groom per Cavalryman
.........

Whilst some of the others may be open to conjecture - I'm curious about the sources for all those?

Particularly curious about the last one - you don't believe that a Roman Cavalryman looked after his own horse?

[jkaler48]

Evidence for cavalry servants (Perhaps as may as one per cavalryman) is:
Numerous tombstones depicting servants
Tombstones for cavalry servants
More equipment to care for including horse and possible remounts than the Infantry who had servants
Higher pay
Tradition from the Republican period where the Calvary were rich mem from the upper class

[Mark Hygate]

So, where did all these servants live?

In a cavalry barracks, when the men lived in the rear barrack room (only perhaps 3 as opposed to the infantry's 8 so there's room for their equipment) and their horses are next to them in the front room.....

With those sort of conditions, you don't believe that the men looked after their own horses? It's an unusual cavalryman that doesn't.

The Decurion? That could be a different story.

Every servant is another mouth to feed. Every servant with a cavalry unit would need a horse/mule to ride to keep up with the cavalry. One or two 'servants' per century/troop might be reasonable, but the numbers suggested are hard to believe.