Foot soldiers who march ahead of the main army, equipped with pickaxes and shovels, to dig ditches, fell trees, build or repair roads, and generally to clear the way for the others to follow.
"To every thousand Souldiers, there be allotted one hundred pioneers, to be provided with Pickaxes, Shovels, Hatchets, Bills and the like."
Proclamation in Maldon Essex Borough Deeds (1626).
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