The Army Takes to the Countryside 287
own. The other troops were either active soldiers or reservists. In peacetime
they lodged with their farmer comrades, assisting them with the field work.
\Vhen they went off on campaign their families and property were entrusted to
the farmers, who 'shall look after it all and keep it as safe and calm [sic] as they
wuuiu themseives'.^52 Reguiations such as these expressed the ideal ot a military
community run on patriarchal lines. Soldier-farmers were to be selected for
their high moral standards and the respect they enjoyed among their fellows.
Wherever possible they were to be married men who had gained some experi-
ence of agriculture before joining the service. If not enough qualified soldiers
were available, settlers were recruited from the local civilian population, the
rest of whom earned their living as labourers.^53
Last but not least, the soldier-farmer was to have 'a perfect knowledge of
drill movements and everything pertaining to the parade-ground'. He was
exempt from active duty in the field, but had to be fit, martial in bearing and
of smart appearance-and how else in Alexander's army could this be achieved
except by frequent bouts of drill? Exercises were suspended for six weeks dur-
ing the harvest season and in October, a month set aside for building and
repair work around the settlement.^54 In 1826 certain Novgorod settlers were
drilling three times a week, and in the south General Vitt ordained that 'each
farmer, together with his assistant and cantonists, shall stand to attentionbefore his home whenever the commander rides by'. (^55) Characteristically,
firearms training received minimal attention, perhaps because the authorities
feared that the weapons might be turned against them. 56
Settlers were required to wear uniform, even when engaged on construction
work, and were liable to disciplinary penalties if they failed to keep it clean.
Their caps bore the number assigned to each rural district (volost '), con-
sidered the equivalent of an infantry company. (^57) Not everyone resented such
regimentation: when Nicholas I changed the rules some settlers at Romny
(Poltava province) begged to be allowed to keep their uniforms, which they
preferred to normal peasant attire.^58
The reaction may have been similar to the accommodation provided. In
place of the random scattering of tumbledown huts found in most Russian
villages, each settlement consisced of 64 square wooden buildings (called svyazi
or 'links'), painted in identical colours and arranged in eight symmetrical
rows, with the company office in the middle. The barrack-like aspect aroused
misgivings among some upper-class visitors, but the settlers themselves
s2 PSZ xxxiv. 26942 (27 June 1817); Pecrov, 'Us1roys1vo', p. 224.
SJ Pecrov, 'Uscroystvo', pp. 225-8. In the Novgorod area ()ne-chird fell into the latter category:
ibid., p. 222.
54 Lykoshin, 'Voyennye poseleniya', p. 92.
ss Petrov, 'Ustroystvo', p. 204.
l6 Ibid., p. 221; Lykoshin, 'Voyennye poseleniya', p. 92; Kamov, 'O voyennykh poseleniyakh',
3, p. 102; Ferguson, 'Settlements', p. 191.
57 Petrov, 'Ustroyst\o', pp. 130, 203.
ss Storozhenko, 'lz zapisok', p. 454.