Out of personal interest and to better visualize what battles looked like I have been collecting any accounts or excerpts I run across describing how an infantry line of battle actually fought - whether standing, kneeling, lying down, from behind cover (trees, rocks, etc., not counting when in fortifications or earthworks), in closed ranks or more spread out. Of course it often varied depending on the circumstances and the unit.
If anyone knows of any other accounts then feel free to add them.
Berry Benson, 1st South Carolina Infantry:
Allen C. Redwood, 55th Virginia Infantry:
- Photographic History of the Civil War, Vol. 8, p. 174-76
1st Missouri Infantry (CS) at Shiloh:
- Captain Joseph Boyce and the 1st Missouri Infantry, C.S.A., p. 64-65
Granbury's Texas Brigade at Pickett's Mill:
- One of Cleburne's Command: The Civil War Reminiscences and Diary of Capt. Samuel T. Foster
Ambrose Bierce's account of Pickett's Mill:
- The Crime at Pickett's Mill by Ambrose Bierce
Pvt. J. P. Cook, 1st Texas Infantry in the Cornfield at Antietam:
- San Antonio Daily Express, March 29, 1908
Robert Campbell, 5th Texas Infantry at Gaines' Mill:
Pvt. William H. Moon, 13th Alabama Infantry, with Archer's Brigade at McPherson's Ridge, July 1 at Gettysburg:
- The Confederate Veteran 33, p. 449
John M. Berry, 8th Arkansas Infantry, at Stones River:
- The Confederate Veteran 8, p. 73
Henry Morton Stanley with the 6th Arkansas Infantry at Shiloh:
- The Autobiography of Sir Henry Morton Stanley, p. 192
The official report of Capt. William H. Battey, 38th Georgia Infantry at Gaines' Mill:
- OR, vol. 11, pt. 2, p. 603
Official report of Col. Micah Jenkins, commanding the Palmetto Sharpshooters and a couple other regiments at Seven Pines:
- OR, vol. 11, pt 1, p. 947-50
Report of Capt. W. L. Duff, 17th Mississippi Infantry at Ball's Bluff:
- OR, vol. 5, p. 363
Bvt. Major Charles D. Miller with the 76th Ohio Infantry at Arkansas Post:
- The Struggle for the Life of the Republic, p. 78
Report of Lt. Col. W. M. G. Torrence, 30th Iowa Infantry at Arkansas Post:
- OR, vol. 17, pt. 1, p. 770
Report of Col. John M. Thayer, 1st Nebraska Infantry at Shiloh:
- OR, vol. 10, pt. 2, p. 195
Sgt. Ira Blanchard, Co. H, 20th Illinois Infantry at Raymond:
- I Marched With Sherman by Ira Blanchard
- Wilson's Creek by Piston and Hatcher, p. 280-81
37th and 59th Illinois in Morgan's woods at Pea Ridge:
- Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West by Shea and Hess, p. 125-27
First day of the battle of Corinth:
- The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth by Peter Cozzens, p. 189
Period sketch by Henry Lovie of the 44th Indiana fighting while kneeling or lying down at Shiloh:
"The woods on fire. The 44th Regt. Ind. Voltr. Col. H.B. Reed commdg. Left Wing near the Peach Orchard."
If anyone knows of any other accounts then feel free to add them.
Berry Benson, 1st South Carolina Infantry:
A battle is entered into, mostly, in as good order and with as close a drill front as the nature of the ground will permit, but at the first "pop! pop!" of the rifles there comes a sudden loosening of the ranks, a freeing of selves from impediment of contact, and every man goes to fighting on his own hook; firing as, and when he likes, and reloading as fast as he fires. He takes shelter wherever he can find it, so he does not get too far away from his Co., and his officers will call his attention to this should he move too far. He may stand up, he may kneel down, he may lie down, it is all right; — tho' mostly the men keep standing, except when silent under fire — then they lie down. . . .
And a charge looks just as disorderly. With a burst of yells, a long, wavering, loose jointed line sweeps rapidly forward, only now and then one or two stopping to fire, while here and there drop the killed and wounded; the slightly wounded, some of them, giving no heed but rushing on, while others run hurriedly, half-bent, to the rear.
- Berry Benson's Civil War Book: Memoirs of a Confederate Scout and Sharpshooter, p. 22-23Allen C. Redwood, 55th Virginia Infantry:
Once engaged, the soldier’s attention is too much taken up with delivering his fire effectively to give heed to much else. . . . The line soon loses all semblance of regular formation; the companies have become merely groups of men, loading and firing and taking advantage of any accident of ground – natural depression, tree, rock, even a pile of fence rails that will give protection. But if the soldier is about where he belongs – to the right or left of the regimental colors, according to the normal place of his company in line – he feels reasonably sure of resuming formation whenever the command may come to “cease firing” and to “dress on colors” preparatory to an advance or charge. If the latter, though the move may begin in perfect order, it is almost immediately lost.
- Photographic History of the Civil War, Vol. 8, p. 174-76
1st Missouri Infantry (CS) at Shiloh:
While the battle raged the thorough instructions was evident in an amusing manner. Many of the men were observed under a deadly fire standing bolt upright with every faculty devoted to loading and firing "by the numbers," tearing cartridges, drawing rammer, ramming cartridge, etc., precisely as if their captains were calling the numbers. Their thorough drill actually caused them to forget the dead and wound lying around. . . .
A regiment next to us on our left broke front and "bunched up" behind trees at a critical time. The line could not continue the advance very well until this was remedied, and many of the officers of the First Missouri left their companies and hurried over to this regiment and assisted in re-forming it.
- Captain Joseph Boyce and the 1st Missouri Infantry, C.S.A., p. 64-65
Granbury's Texas Brigade at Pickett's Mill:
The frolick opened in fine style as soon as we got back into our places—instead of two skirmish lines—the two lines of battle open to their fullest extent. No artillery in this fight—nothing but small arms. Our men have no protection, but they are lying flat on the ground, and shooting as fast as they can.
- One of Cleburne's Command: The Civil War Reminiscences and Diary of Capt. Samuel T. Foster
Ambrose Bierce's account of Pickett's Mill:
Standing at the right of the line I had an unobstructed view of the narrow, open space across which the two lines fought. It was dim with smoke, but not greatly obscured: the smoke rose and spread in sheets among the branches of the trees. Most of our men fought kneeling as they fired, many of them behind trees, stones and whatever cover they could get, but there were considerable groups that stood.
Occasionally one of these groups, which had endured the storm of missiles for moments without perceptible reduction, would push forward, moved by a common despair, and wholly detach itself from the line. In a second every man of the group would be down. There had been no visible movement of the enemy, no audible change in the awful, even roar of the firing—yet all were down. Frequently the dim figure of an individual soldier would be seen to spring away from his comrades, advancing alone toward that fateful interspace, with leveled bayonet. He got no farther than the farthest of his predecessors.
- The Crime at Pickett's Mill by Ambrose Bierce
Pvt. J. P. Cook, 1st Texas Infantry in the Cornfield at Antietam:
We began firing at the men around the battery, and after we had given them a couple of rounds they abandoned their guns and took to flight. Just as they did so a body of Federals who lay behind a rock fence fifty yards away, and partly hidden from our view by the standing corn, poured a volley into us. Turning our eyes in this direction, we began firing at them, taking the precaution however, to lie down and do our shooting. You can imagine how brisk the firing was from both sides when I tell you that within five minutes not a stalk of corn was left standing between us and the rock fence.
- San Antonio Daily Express, March 29, 1908
Robert Campbell, 5th Texas Infantry at Gaines' Mill:
With the gallant Hood at our head – we moved forward, a heavy fire, both from artillery and rifles being poured into us – we moved up to the brow of the hill, (before described) which confronted the Yankee breastworks on the opposite brow – The Virginians fell back. As soon as arriving at this hill, we were ordered to lay down, and commenced a brisk fire upon the enemy.
- Lone Star Confederate: A Gallant and Good Soldier of the Fifth Texas InfantryPvt. William H. Moon, 13th Alabama Infantry, with Archer's Brigade at McPherson's Ridge, July 1 at Gettysburg:
While we were thus engaged, the Tennesseans on our left advanced through a copse which ran up a ravine, spreading out into a fan shape as it neared the top of the ridge. They were hotly engaged at close quarters, the Yanks charging them in column, the Tennesseans lying on their backs to load and whirling over to fire.
- The Confederate Veteran 33, p. 449
John M. Berry, 8th Arkansas Infantry, at Stones River:
On we went, and in an open field we found ourselves face to face with the Federal force stationed behind a rail fence. I thought they would kill us all. We laid down upon our breasts, and, firing as best we could, we would roll over on our backs and load, then turn back and fire. I remember shooting right over Dick Jones's head. He looked back at me and said : "John, you'll shoot me." I said; "No, I'll not. You keep your head down." I loaded, and bang went my gun again, riglit at his ear. It so deafened and alarmed him that he turned again, used some very rough words, and declared I would kill him yet.
- The Confederate Veteran 8, p. 73
Henry Morton Stanley with the 6th Arkansas Infantry at Shiloh:
After being exposed for a few seconds to this fearful downpour, we heard the order to 'Lie down, men, and continue your firing!' Before me was a prostrate tree, about fifteen inches in diameter, with a narrow strip of light between it and the ground. Behind this shelter a dozen of us flung ourselves. The security it appeared to offer restored me to my individuality. We could fight, and think, and observe, better than out in the open.
- The Autobiography of Sir Henry Morton Stanley, p. 192
The official report of Capt. William H. Battey, 38th Georgia Infantry at Gaines' Mill:
In obedience to orders received from Captain Lawton I commanded my men to "Fire and load lying," which order they promptly executed until nearly all the cartridges were expended.
- OR, vol. 11, pt. 2, p. 603
Official report of Col. Micah Jenkins, commanding the Palmetto Sharpshooters and a couple other regiments at Seven Pines:
In prompt obedience the two regiments rose from their knees, from whence they had been firing upon the enemy with decided effect, and resumed their old, steady advance, firing full in the face of the foe.
- OR, vol. 11, pt 1, p. 947-50
Report of Capt. W. L. Duff, 17th Mississippi Infantry at Ball's Bluff:
I halted my company and ordered the enemy to halt five or six times. He responded each time, Friends, but continued to advance within 60 yards, when I ordered my men to kneel and fire, which they did with deadly effect, completely breaking his line.
- OR, vol. 5, p. 363
Bvt. Major Charles D. Miller with the 76th Ohio Infantry at Arkansas Post:
We had arrived within 100 yards of the Rebel lines when Colonel Woods ordered us to halt, lie down and open fire. The men all dropped their faces in the grass and underbrush and commenced skimming the enemy's parapets with musket balls.
- The Struggle for the Life of the Republic, p. 78
Report of Lt. Col. W. M. G. Torrence, 30th Iowa Infantry at Arkansas Post:
This being done, I instantly formed line of battle and moved forward through the timber, over logs and brush, as best I could, until within 150 or 175 yards of the enemy's breastworks, forming on his extreme left, we came to an open space of ground. Here I halted, giving instructions to fire, lie down and load, and fire lying down, which they did for the space of about three hours, during which time they did but little more than silence and keep silent some small artillery pieces planted by the enemy at that part of the breastworks, together with the musketry in the hands of the enemy in the rifle-pits.
- OR, vol. 17, pt. 1, p. 770
Report of Col. John M. Thayer, 1st Nebraska Infantry at Shiloh:
I directed the men to lie down when not engaged, and to fire kneeling and lying down as much as possible, and also to take advantage of the ground whenever it could be done. By adopting this course and continuing it throughout the day I have no doubt but that the lives of hundreds of our men were saved.
- OR, vol. 10, pt. 2, p. 195
Sgt. Ira Blanchard, Co. H, 20th Illinois Infantry at Raymond:
Our boys were suffering so badly that they crouched down to the ground to avoid the flying missiles of death which filled the air; loading and firing as rapidly as possible on the knee, and 'twas in this position that our Captain Victor H. Stevens was shot in the head and instantly killed.
- I Marched With Sherman by Ira Blanchard
At the Battle of Wilson's Creek, the waist-high prairie grass, the soldiers' relative inexperience, and, above all, the scarcity of ammunition, slowed the pace of combat. Under these conditions, a large number of men eventually ended up firing and reloading while either kneeling or lying down, despite their lack of practice in such techniques and the extra time it took them to do so. This was true for both sides throughout the battle, particularly during the fighting that broke out as the Southerners made their third assault on Bloody Hill.
As the Southerners approached, Major John Halderman of the First Kansas ordered his men "to lie down and fire from that position." A soldier in the Second Kansas recalled that they were "ordered to drop to our knees and keep close to the ground." Captain Gordon Granger of Lyon's staff moved from unit to unit across the hillcrest, instructing the soldiers to remain concealed in the grass and expose themselves only to shoot. Most obeyed. "Lying flat on their faces our men poured in their fire with telling effect," newspaperman Franc Wilkie reported. According to one Union officer, "Our men as a whole would rise enough to discharge their weapons and then lie down while loading up." One of Lyon's Regulars contrasted the reality of combat to his expectations from peacetime. He wrote: "The splendid motions we had been taught at drill and parade in anticipation of this bloody day were not practiced here. Each man assumed a position to his liking—most of them on their knees and leaning well forward." The advantages of crouching or lying down were obvious, for once the combatants came within range, the effects of their fire could be devastating even if it was not prolonged. "The bullets whistled, rattled, banged, [and] whirred over our heads," remembered one Kansan on the receiving end of a Missouri State Guard volley. "If our men had stood up, hardly a man would have been left," he concluded. Testimony on the Southern side was similar. As Private Ras Stirman of the Third Arkansas Infantry later described his encounter with the Federals: "They were lying down in the brush and grass until we were within one hundred yards of them, then they opened up on us bringing us down like Sheep but we never wavered. We did not wait for orders to fire but all of us cut loose at them like wild men, then we dropped to our knees and loaded and shot as fast as we could. We had to shoot by guess as they were upon the hill lying in the grass." Because the men kept so low to the ground, a disproportionate number of those killed or wounded were struck in the head.
- Wilson's Creek by Piston and Hatcher, p. 280-81
37th and 59th Illinois in Morgan's woods at Pea Ridge:
Both Barnes and Frederick ordered their men to fight from a prone position. The Federals obeyed with alacrity; David Ash told his fiancee that "we fell down as flat as we could. . . . Another officer was convinced the men of his company "would have been utterly annihilated" had he not "fought them flat on their bellies on the ground."
- Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West by Shea and Hess, p. 125-27
First day of the battle of Corinth:
The Soldiers of the Sixteenth Iowa stood their ground. At Shiloh they had ducked behind trees or rocks at the first fire. Crocker's incessant drilling and strict discipline since that battle had had an impact. Said Parkhurst, "A few men fought on one knee, but not a man lay down, and the great majority stood erect on the color line, and loaded and fired in drill-ground fashion."
Matters were considerably more unsettled in the Fifteenth Iowa. The entire front line got down on one knee.
- The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth by Peter Cozzens, p. 189
Period sketch by Henry Lovie of the 44th Indiana fighting while kneeling or lying down at Shiloh:
"The woods on fire. The 44th Regt. Ind. Voltr. Col. H.B. Reed commdg. Left Wing near the Peach Orchard."
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