{{Short description|Soldier or small unit tasked with early warning and screening for larger forces}} [[File:The Army of the Potomac-the picket-guard LCCN89706299.tif|thumb|1861 illustration of an Army of the Potomac picket guard]] {{war}}
A '''picket''' (archaically, '''picquet''' [variant form ''piquet'']) is a soldier, or small unit of soldiers, placed on a defensive line forward of a friendly position to provide timely warning and screening against an enemy advance. It can also refer to any unit (e.g. a scout vehicle, surveillance aircraft or patrol ship) performing a similar function. A picket guarding a fixed position may be known as a '''sentry''' or '''guard'''.
==Origins== Picket (Fr. {{Lang|fr|piquet}}, a pointed stake or peg, from {{Lang|fr|piquer}}, 'to point or pierce'), is thought to have originated in the French Army around 1690, from the circumstance that an infantry company on outpost duty dispersed its musketeers to watch, with a small group of pikemen called ''piquet'' remaining in reserve.<ref>{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{harvnb|Chisholm|1911|p=584}} }}</ref> It was in use in the British Army before 1735 and probably much earlier.<ref>"The Picket Guard is a Body of Men always to be ready, lying with their Arms in their Hands, to turn out in case of an Alarm; but are not commanded by the next Officer on Detail, but such as are appointed by the Picket; but must march either faster or slower, to sustain Out-posts, Foraging, Escourts, or any other Service; and it shall be allowed them in their Tour of Duty" {{harv|Gittins|1735|p=165}}.</ref>
==Usage== ''Picket'' now refers to a unit (either naval or army) maintaining a watch. This may mean a watch for the enemy,<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/picket?view=uk |title=Compact Oxford English Dictionary |chapter=Picket, noun |access-date=2008-05-07 |archive-date=2008-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526222617/http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/picket?view=uk |url-status=dead }}</ref> or other types of watch e.g. fire picket. This can be likened to the art of sentry keeping.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sentry|title=sentry|via=The Free Dictionary}}</ref>
A '''staggered picket''' consists of, for example, two soldiers where one soldier is relieved at a time. This is so that on any given picket one soldier is fresh, having just started the picket, while the other is ready to be relieved. Although each soldier is required to maintain watch for the full duration of a shift, halfway through each shift a new soldier is put on watch.
Historically it was used extensively in Zachary Taylor's army during the Mexican-American War, as described by Samuel Chamberlain.
==See also== [[File:Winslow Homer - The Army of the Potomac--A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty - Google Art Project.jpg|thumbnail|300px| ''The Army of the Potomac—A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty'', by Winslow Homer, 1862]] * Picket boat, small naval launch, used for patrolling harbour defences *Radar picket *Screening (tactic) *Screw picket *Skirmisher *Point man *Vedette (sentry), a mounted sentry or outpost
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== {{wiktionary|picket}} *{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Picket |volume=21 |page=584 |mode=cs2}} *{{citation |last=Gittins |first=John |year=1735 |title=A Compleat System of Military Discipline, As it is now Used in the British Foot |location=London |publisher=J. Humfreys}} *{{citation |editor-last=Matthews |editor-first=Bander |year=1922 |title=Poems of American Patriotism |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons}}
Category:Force protection tactics Category:Military units and formations {{Mil-stub}}