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The platoon is divided into two sections or squads.

Thus you could have a group of men who are identified as 1^st Squad, 1^st Platoon, 1^st Company. For purposes of this article we will assume that there are twenty five men in this squad. (twenty four rank and file and one NCO who does not fire.)

In this case we will assume this British unit is the Brigade of Guards at Waterloo and the oncoming foe is the Imperial Guard.

As the French approach his position the commander can commence firing volleys into them. The command would be "Make Ready, Volley Fire, by Sections, Commence Fire." The officer in charge would commence fire by the first section. The first platoon section would fire, and commence reloading. The second section would immediately fire, followed by the second platoon, first section. Then the second platoon, second section fires. The action shifts to the tenth company first section and so on. The fire would roll from one end of the brigade to the other. What might you ask is the reasoning behind this?

By firing from differing sections of his battalion an officer in charge is doing several things. First he is reducing the amount of black powder smoke in his front. A second benefit is that if the section volleys are punishing enough there will be a tendency in the oncoming troops to shift to the right as they instinctively react to the incoming musketry. Study what happened to Confederate troops at Pickett’s charge and see how they were almost herded into making themselves a better target.

Allowing five seconds for each section to volley, it is over a minute and half before the firing order returns to the first group. If the individual soldier is carrying sixty rounds of ammunition, he is capable of staying on line for close to ninety minutes. More than enough time for an ammunition resupply or reinforcements to arrive.

British regiments were trained to sustain this rolling fire. Every five seconds or less; twenty-five muskets are slamming a one-ounce lead ball into their chosen target. Some simple math should convince you that there is a lot of hurt going downrange.

The volley at close range is an attempt to provide the "shock of combat" on an oncoming foe. The idea is to get him to close range, hold him, and break him. At the battle of Fontenroy; although they lost the battle, one well-timed volley by the British put 700 Frenchmen out of action. At Breed’s Hill it was"don’t fire until you see the white’s of their eyes" that broke the first British charge.

Prior to the rifle musket being accepted into service by the American army, the standard ammunition round was the .69 cal ball. To make the smoothbore even more effective, the "buck and ball" which consisted of a .69 cal ball topped with three .31 cal balls was issued. In addition there was a "buckshot round" that consisted of twelve .31 cal balls that could be loaded. George Washington recommended that the "buck and ball" be made the standard service round of the continental army. All these rounds are designed to increase the effectiveness of the smoothbore musket at close range.

Take a good look at a smoothbore musket. You will notice that there is no backsight. The soldier was expected to sight along the barrel and when told, pull the trigger

Despite the usual reenactor propaganda of everyone carrying rifles, we need only to look at some of the official records and realize that even as late as Spring of 1864 there were still significant amounts of troops on both sides still armed with smoothbore muskets. When you tour Civil War battlefield look at the visitor’s center and the recovered artifacts on display. Almost always you see .69 caliber round balls.

The rifle musket was about to start a revolution on the battlefield, but it was a revolution slow in fulfilling its promise. Although the rifle promised increased accuracy and longer range several problems were discovered when attempting to develop new tactics for rifles.

In what is surely an example of the law of unintended consequences it was found that although the rifled musket was more accurate at longer ranges, in the hands of untrained troops it was hopelessly inaccurate.

The problem lies in the fact that the black powder used gave the minie ball a rather slow trajectory. For the first 100 yards there is virtually no difference between a .69 cal ball and a .58 caliber Minie ball as far as accuracy. After a 100 yards an interesting phenomena begins to affect the Minie ball.

The slow trajectory and the spin imparted to the ball caused the minie ball to rise from its projected path of impact. If uncompensated for there is a good chance than an infantryman in a zone from approx 120 to 350 yards from a fired rifle will be relatively safe as the minie ball will probably pass over his head. The rifled bullet would then drop back down along its original path.

Studies by the French and British armies concluded that although the new rifles were very accurate they would be useless in the hands of untrained soldiers. So both the British and French started schools of musketry whose purpose was to instruct soldiers in the proper use of the front and rear sights on their new muskets.

This training came too late for the Crimean war but by the time of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, British soldiers were regularly engaging targets at 600 or more yards.

The French realized the significance of the new technology and they realized something else as well. That no matter how fast a soldier moved he could not run faster than a bullet and so something else needed to be tried.

French military theory believed that unless aggressive tactics were utilized the battle would degenerate into a long range shooting matches that would do no one any good. So they developed a new tactical manual designed to move the troops as quickly as possible into a close range combat situation and then with a quick volley, the application of the bayonet and the "Furor Gallic" would carry the day.

Voilia ! A new tactical manual is born . Since the United States is getting ready to adopt the 1855 Springfield rifle musket as its standard weapon, we need a new manual of tactics. Then Colonel William Hardee translates the French manual into English and quicker than you can say « Bob’s your Uncle » we have a new manual.

So we have new weapons, and new tactical manuals, what could go wrong? Well American soldiers both North and South are going into battle with relatively little training. What training they do receive has nothing to do with how to use their weapons. Besides the specialist sharpshooter units such as Berdan’s there is no training in range estimation and how to use the adjustable sights. That is until the winter of 1863 when Patrick Cleburne a veteran of the British army begins to train his division in the musket techniques of his former army. This concept spreads fairly rapidly and by the spring of 1864, the newly raised Confederate sharpshooter units will have been well schooled in how to use their sights.

Studies have shown that most combat in the Civil War is going to be at relatively close ranges. Most battles are going to take place at under 150 yards.

During the late unpleasantness we have several examples of effective volley fire.

At the Battle of Gaines Mill, Fitz John Porter’s troops were entrenched to the eyeballs behind log breastworks. They had already repulsed one charge. Hood’s Texans/Georgians came up and in a beautifully executed passing of lines moved through Whiting’s Division whose attack had stalled. Hood’s men although under terrific fire moved forward and at a distance of 100 yards began moving at the double quick the intention of closing with the bayonet.

At a distance estimated at less than 25 yards, Hood’s division let loose a volley that broke the center of Porter’s defenses. Pouring through the gap Hood’s troops along with men from D.H. Hill’s command caused the Union troops to flee the breastworks.

After pushing through, they continued to advance. As the second line of federal defenses began to crumble, five companies of the 5^th U.S. cavalry charged in a desperate effort to save Porter’s retreat. A single volley from the 4^th TX/18^th GA broke the charge and killed or wounded over 150 troopers.

We are not through with Hood’s boys yet. At Second Manassas a single volley from the 5^th Tx completely devastates the 5th NY Zouaves so effectively that they are never again an effective combat force.

Prior to the Manassas campaign, General Beauregard issued an order directing the men to hold their fire until directed. General Rosencrans in several letters and circulars to his commanders emphasized the British method of firing by the wing or the half battalion.

Let’s address an issue concerning volley fire as it relates to reenacting. Some will say that since CW soldiers had rifles they didn’t need to fire volleys because they can engage a target at a longer range. That is true since it would apply to the real world of combat where if I fire a rifle at someone they are going down. Not so at the annual reenactment of the Battle of Joes Pants.

At a reenactment it does not matter what the manuals say. It does not matter what the historical record says. At a reenactment I can be armed with a 500 Gigawatt plasmatronic laser cannon and as long as I am shooting blanks no one is going to fall.

At the recent Cedar Creek Saturday battle we were in a battalion of campaigners. So we marched smartly off and did the parade ground evolutions. We formed up slowly (By the way you never see reeanctors move at the real pace of CW soldiers). Made sure our lines were perfectly center dressed. Had a good chance to study the ranks of the foe.

Meanwhile, the Federals have poured at least five or six battalion sized volleys into our nicely dressed ranks before the concept of removing our muskets from our shoulders was considered. In real CW combat there would have been no need to figure out who was at fault since there wouldn’t have been enough left of the battalion to fill a matchbox. But we stood there patiently awaiting the order to do something.

That said, what needs to be done is if the battalion is going to be the maneuver unit, it needs to start putting some smoke downrange a lot quicker. When the companies come into line there is no reason on earth that they cannot start the firing sequence. The center dressing can wait for another time.

I just got back from a weekend with boy scouts. As you’d probably expect, I had just as much fun as the boys and their scout leaders did. You would not believe the size of the fire ring we had. I was burning tree trunks, not sissy little 2 foot logs. And, yes…I did keep in going all night long. I’m always afraid that Vice is going to show up somewhere all grouchy and no hot coals to make a pot of coffee. Yes, it’s all in the training. It turned out to be an excellent weekend. Warmer weather than we had at Cedar Creek and no rain. They couldn’t believe how I got by on so little. It was about a mile or so walk from my wagon to the camping area. I guess I didn’t mention that it was uphill both ways. Anyway, now it’ll be off to North Carolina to share the last battle event of the season. For those unable to make it, well, it’s your loss, but you will be missed…again.