Читать книгу American Civil War For Dummies - Keith D. Dickson - Страница 110

Infantry units use foot marches and massed rifle fire in the attack or defense to accomplish the commander’s battle plan (see Figure 4-4). The infantry contains the bulk of an army’s combat power, because it is the decisive arm of war. Everything that has happened in war for thousands of years can be reduced to this one exquisite bit of simplicity — nothing is accomplished until soldiers on foot close in on and kill the enemy in close combat and occupy terrain. Infantry units marched to the battlefield in column, usually four soldiers abreast. Once on the battlefield and in proximity to the enemy, the column would make a flanking movement to form two lines facing the enemy. From this formation, units (usually regiments) would advance to a point where they could engage the enemy infantry effectively with massed rifle fire. While this seems simple, moving thousands of men like this took a high level of skill. The best units of the Civil War were those that had a high level of discipline based on time invested in drill, and skilled commanders who had mastered the intricacies of moving large bodies of troops over varied terrain in the face of artillery fire, gun smoke, and noise of battle.

The Library of Congress / Public Domain

FIGURE 4-4: Infantrymen of the 6th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.