Infantry Square, Drill

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
Promise, last one today! Was just let loose amongst photos, that's all, every several pages a gem. National Archives, heavy on the archives since you have to dig but you can get lost in there.

I realize there's another of these somewhere, I ' think' the troops more on the side of a hill? Have been re-reading Eric Wittenburg's book on Buford- the use of this Day 1 at Gettysburg, by Marshall's 52nd North Carolina makes terrific reading plus this pretty thrilling to see one, right? I'd site what page of " The Devil's To Pa " this occurs only cannot because I can't find where it says which page in my Kindle. :smile:

square.jpg
 
Promise, last one today! Was just let loose amongst photos, that's all, every several pages a gem. National Archives, heavy on the archives since you have to dig but you can get lost in there.

I realize there's another of these somewhere, I ' think' the troops more on the side of a hill? Have been re-reading Eric Wittenburg's book on Buford- the use of this Day 1 at Gettysburg, by Marshall's 52nd North Carolina makes terrific reading plus this pretty thrilling to see one, right? I'd site what page of " The Devil's To Pa " this occurs only cannot because I can't find where it says which page in my Kindle. :smile:

View attachment 56960
This is the 139th Pennsylvania Infantry.
 
Those infantry squares certainly worked, as I recall not a single square broke at Waterloo, horses don’t seem very eager to run into a wall of bayonets..
Fantastic pictures by the way.
Across the revolutionary and Napoleonic war it was extremely rare that a square was broken by cavalry alone.
And when it happened wounded horses crashing into the infantry was usually what broke it open.
 
While it may have worked against cavalry, I would think that an artilleryman would be licking his chops to get an opportunity to fire at a mass of troops such as that.
Good point there. I suppose the infantry commander was supposed to array his troops in various formations depending on what opposition he faced. It's a heck of a photo, though!
 
While it may have worked against cavalry, I would think that an artilleryman would be licking his chops to get an opportunity to fire at a mass of troops such as that.
That's just the scenario at Olustee. They formed the square to successfully fend of a cavalry attack, in which the formation is designed for, then the artillery comes up and a few well placed shots runs them off the field.
 
At the 125th anniversary reenactment of Bull Run, while drilling as a full-sized regiment the day before the reenactment, the Western Battalion formed a square from a column of companies at full distance. It went surprisingly well, and was a real kick to do! I wish I had a picture of it. Does anyone else remember it?
 
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