Probably some eight or ten thousand of all ranks have passed through the hands of the author during the twenty years he served as adjutant, and chief drill and musketry instructor; and he here willingly bears testimony to the ever-ready obedience given by all to his directions, and the exhibition of a general desire to lessen troubles and difficulties. These were a little heavy in the beginning, and it was some time before all could be got to see that the wish of individuals must yield to the general welfare, and that such things as breaking up of companies or corps must be done if instruction in battalion drill was to be effectually imparted. Robert Dwarris Gibney, _Major (Retired) Indian Army, Late 1st Wilts Volunteer Battalion_. HISTORY OF THE 1ST BATTALION WILTS VOLUNTEERS. THE BATTALION. According to the information received from officers connected with the corps or companies of which the battalion is or was composed, and also according to records kept of matters bearing on the earlier formation of these separate corps, is the account given. These corps may be said to have possessed an independent history for somewhat over one year; after that the battalion was called into existence, and with that individuality was lost. They were still termed corps as composing a part of an administrative battalion, and were numbered in the battalion as in the _Army List_, according to the date of their services being accepted by the War Office; but they could no longer attend reviews, or even mere local gatherings for mutual instruction in drill, unless with the authority of the officer commanding the whole, and were to submit to be instructed by the adjutant. Of course on the first amalgamation of corps into a battalion, and in the lessening of authority over them, hitherto entirely in the hands of captains, many difficulties presented themselves; and it required tact and temper in all concerned to carry out necessary discipline. A battalion drill, for instance, was often the cause of no little heartburning. One corps, after much expense and trouble, would bring to the place of muster probably two-thirds of its strength; but this very strength required its being partially broken up for the purpose of equalizing companies, and perhaps many of the best drilled men being amalgamated with very ignorant volunteers detached from another corps. This did not help to render the captain of the corps, or the men transferred, in a state of satisfaction with the day's work. Some corps too were more clannish than others, clinging very vigorously together; and being of superior clay disliked such moulding. The men required were, of course, given over to the adjutant and sergeant-major, but they were a selected lot, chosen for their incompetence and quality, and came as ordered, but in the sulks.