You buy cheap, you get cheap!

The Prussian line infantry were derisively referred to as "walking muskets" but they still trained them so they didn't run at the first shot.

Definitely, but there was no one else. The colonies didn't have their own army until something like May of 1775, so it was militia or nothing for the first few confrontations. Before that, there was no way to train them like a proper military because that would have sparked the war, which isn't what every rebel wanted. However, they did have the advantage of a great deal of them being veterans of the British wars in America.

The founding fathers were far from perfect, but they were about as free thinking as people came back then. Having read countless letters between several of them (albeit usually those from Massachusetts), I doubt they were in the business of sacrificing farm boys for the sake of saving coin. They just didn't have anything but farm boys and very little funds.

There actually was a reason behind this kind of training and various nations used different variants.



Volley fire, by rank, made sure that 1/3 of the battalion was firing, 1/3 was ready to fire, and 1/3 was reloading at any given time.  And it wasn't particularly suicidal to march up at 100 yards as with those muskets at 100 yards you may as well have been on the moon as far as effective small arms fire was concerned.  They would break out of march column and into lines in order to lessen the impact of artillery fire.  A cannon ball going through a column could take out 20 men.  The same ball hitting a line would take out 3.
The thing is you can't train individual militia companies to act as a battalion in action because you can't get them all in the same place at the same time especially in the colonies where the rural population was too spread out.  

This is why Von Steuben's work at Valley Forge was so valuable.  He taught them proper drill.  The British were properly surprised at Monmouth as they retreated from Philadelphia to New York.

Excellent example although far more efficient with those breech-loaders.

Amazing to consider that as late as WWI infantry tactics still had not evolved past the "line up shoulder to shoulder and advance" school of thought.

(October 5, 2017 at 1:32 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Excellent example although far more efficient with those breech-loaders.

Amazing to consider that as late as WWI infantry tactics still had not evolved past the "line up shoulder to shoulder and advance" school of thought.

It was actually worse than that. The order was "level, fire!", not "aim, fire!" because aiming a smoothbore musket was useless. When Pickett's Division charged the stone wall and the Angle at Gettysburg they found out what rifled guns that were being aimed could do to a formation. The Union troops had Henry repeating rifles (lever action) and it word was "you could load on Sunday and shoot all week."

(October 5, 2017 at 1:32 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Excellent example although far more efficient with those breech-loaders.

Amazing to consider that as late as WWI infantry tactics still had not evolved past the "line up shoulder to shoulder and advance" school of thought.

That's right, we're advancing on the machine gun nests. There. Over there! Open your eyes, men! Ok, fuck it, just advance toward the sound of giggling. Everyone's lined up and bayonets fixed? Good. Forward, march!

Quote: It was actually worse than that. The order was "level, fire!", not "aim, fire!" because aiming a smoothbore musket was useless.

I have a replica Brown Bess and it doesn't even have sights.  Just a bayonet lug on the front.  The French Charleville at least had a front sight.  But again, the French pioneered the concept of legere or light infantry skirmishers screening their columns.  It's a good thing as the Revolutionary Armies were every bit as shitty as the American Militia of 1775 but there were a lot of them and their elan was sky high.  The French began using columns to attack covered by a thick skirmisher screen who did aim and annoyed the shit out of their more traditional Austrian/Prussian opponents.

NRA definition,
"Militia=The Gawad given right to take 30 riffles into a hotel room and shoot humans like fish in a barrel, as per "well regulated."

Meh, ISIS loves holy books and weapons too.

The NRA has actually come out today and supported legislation on the enhancements the Vegas shooter used to make his long guns fully auto. I'm surprised, and I'll agree with you before you say it's not enough. Still, it's something. Something surprising.