Half a leag

ue
The poem tells the story of a brigade consisting of 600 soldiers who rode on
horseback into the valley of death for half a league (about one and a half
miles). They were obeying a command to charge the enemy forces that had been
seizing their guns.
league, any of several European units of measurement ranging from 2.4 to 4.6
statute miles (3.9 to 7.4 km). In English-speaking countries the land league is
generally accepted as 3 statute miles (4.83 km), although varying lengths
from 7,500 feet to 15,000 feet (2.29 to 4.57 km) were sometimes employed.
A league is an old measurement of distance. It was equal to about 3 miles. So
half a league is roughly a mile and a half. It is repeated to set up a military
rhythm, a bit like a march made by a battalion of soldiers.
A league is a unit of length (or, in various regions, area). It was long common in
Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The
word originally meant the distance a person could walk in an hour. [1] Since the
Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries.

Ancient Rome
See also: Ancient Roman units of measurement
The league was used in Ancient Rome, defined as 1.5 Roman miles (7,500 Roman feet,
2.2 km, 1.4 mi.). The origin is the "leuga gallica" (also: leuca Gallica), the league of Gaul.[2]