THE BRITISH REGULARS WERE HIGHLY TRAINED troops who had experience with the methodical, synchronized style of warfare used on open fields. It took incredible coordination for men to march and fire in perfectly controlled formation, and Americans—who weren’t professional soldiers or usually inclined to take orders—weren’t good at this until Baron von Steuben drilled them. They stayed alive before then by hiding behind walls, trees, and entrenchments while taking fire.
At the outset of a battle on an open field, however, opposing forces advanced shoulder to shoulder toward each other, flags flying and music playing. Often one side would open fire with longer-range artillery, softening the enemy’s lines of infantrymen. When the advancing regiments were about fifty or sixty yards apart, they would fire away. The soldiers in each line would fire in unison, and well-trained troops could crack off four or five rounds in a minute. The firing clotted the air with white smoke.
The lines advanced through the smoke until they were close enough to charge with their seventeen-inch bayonets, triangular blades attached to the ends of their muskets—these were the most accurate and devastating weapons of all.