Artillery is never without supports. One part of the infantry, therefore, deployed as skirmishers, should attack the guns, circling round them, and opening fire on the men and horses; while the other part attacks the support in flank. On getting sufficiently near, the assailants should try to draw the fire of the guns, and then rush on them before they have time to reload.

If a battery gets into confusion, or there is any delay in unlimbering or limbering up, then is the most favorable time to capture it by a vigorous charge with the bayonet.

IV.—Bayonet Charges.

1. When made resolutely, and without slackening the gait, bayonet charges have succeeded in nine cases out of ten.

2. The bayonet is usually more effective than grape, canister, or bullets.

At the battle of Leipsic, in 1813, Kleist's Prussian division was sent to carry the position of Probstheyda. For this purpose it was necessary to advance up a long slope, the crest of which was occupied by Drouot's artillery. The French allowed the Prussians to approach to within a short distance, and then poured into them a most destructive shower of grape, which drove them back for a moment in confusion. But they immediately rallied, and rushed desperately on again. Marshal Victor then charged them with the bayonet, and completely repulsed them.

Afterwards, having been re-enforced by Wittgenstein's Russian division, they again advanced, under a constant shower of grape from Drouot. They, nevertheless, kept advancing; and, in spite of the great loss they suffered, were about carrying the position, when the French again charged with the bayonet, forcing them down to the very foot of the declivity; where, being once more covered with grape, their repulse was complete and final.

So, at the battle of Mill Springs, in January, 1862, after the combatants had been exchanging musketry fires for several hours without any decisive result, the rebels' left was vigorously charged by the Ninth Ohio with the bayonet. This charge broke the enemy's flank. His whole line gave way in confusion, and the battle was won.

So, at Malvern Hill, in 1862, in several instances, columns of rebels whom a storm of canister and shell had failed to repulse, were driven back and routed by a dash with the bayonet, after a volley poured in at a few yards from the muzzles of the guns.

So, at the battle of Seven Pines, according to General Heintzelman's report, whenever our troops used the bayonet, their loss was comparatively light, and the enemy was driven back, suffering heavily.

3. The bayonet charge, when made from any considerable distance, should be in column; the only formation in which order can be combined with sufficient speed. But, at a short distance, a bayonet charge by a line, instantly after firing a volley to repel an attack, will be very effective, and usually successful.

4. In ordinary cases, the charge should be prepared by first shattering the hostile masses, or, at least, wearying and demoralizing them by artillery, or by skirmishers' fire.

5. The more vigorous and resolute the charge, the greater the chance of success. The enemy never retires before a moderate advance.

6. Where the enemy is forced into a defile, a charge with the bayonet, preceded by a few rounds of grape, will complete his destruction.

7. When the enemy is behind cover, the best way to drive him from it is with the bayonet. This will cause less loss of life than to attempt to return his fire. But, in such case, the charge should be prepared, when possible, by a few shells, or rounds of canister.

8. Shots up or down a declivity usually miss. A height should, therefore, be carried with the bayonet, without firing.

The moral effect, moreover, of a steady charge of infantry up a hill, without stopping to fire, is very great; and such a charge is usually successful. Prince Czartoryski, Alexander's most experienced general at Austerlitz, admitted that he lost all confidence in the result on seeing the French infantry ascending the plateau of Pratzen, the key to the Allies' position, with a firm and decided step, without once stopping to fire.

So, at Chattanooga, in November, 1863, Thomas's troops carried the height of Missionary Ridge by a similar steady and determined ascent, in spite of the volleys of grape and canister from nearly thirty pieces of artillery, and of musketry from the rebels' rifle-pits at the summit. General Grant attributed the small number of casualties our troops sustained in the attack to the rebels' surprise at its audacity, causing "confusion and purposeless aiming of their pieces."

V.—Defence against Infantry.

1. The defence of infantry is by its fire, and therefore its proper defensive formation is in deployed lines.

2. Avoid a premature commencement of the fire. Long firing exhausts the men's energy, expends the ammunition, fouls the pieces, destroys the soldier's confidence in his weapon, and emboldens the enemy.

3. So, a fire upon an enemy while under cover, as in a wood, would be virtually thrown away. If his fire from such a position causes us any loss, he had better be shelled, or driven away by skirmishers, according to circumstances.

4. The practice of hostile regiments exchanging for a considerable time a musketry fire at a distance, is highly objectionable, as it causes a great sacrifice of life without corresponding results. Instead of standing in line for ten minutes, receiving and returning fire at a distance of three hundred yards, it would be much better to clear this space at double quick in two or three minutes, and close with the enemy; for, in returning his fire, we can do him no more harm than we receive, while nothing decisive is accomplished. The case is, of course, different where our own troops are behind cover, while the enemy's are exposed.

5. But in special cases, as where we have to cover a flank movement of our second line, or of the reserve, or to await a force coming to our support, it may be necessary to keep up an incessant fusillade, without regard to losses received.

6. Fire in action is of two kinds: the fire at will, and the fire by volleys; the former kind being the rule, the latter the exception. Although the fire at will is the one principally used, there are very strong objections to it.

(1.) The men load and fire as individuals, and generally with great rapidity, and under more or less excitement, rarely stopping to take a deliberate aim. The consequence is, that very few shots take effect, and the fire is, for the greater part, wasted, as is shown by the well-established fact that, in every engagement, for every man killed or disabled, there have been from three to ten thousand musket or rifle bullets fired.

(2.) Except on windy days, a cloud of smoke soon collects in front of a line firing at will, hiding, more or less completely, the enemy from view. The fire being then at random, it is, of course, unreliable.

(3.) The fire at will leads to a rapid and enormous consumption of ammunition. To show how serious is this objection also, it is only necessary to consider in how many instances victory has been turned into defeat by the premature exhaustion, by one or more regiments, of their ammunition.

(4.) As a necessary consequence of this rapid consumption of ammunition, the pieces soon become fouled, and thus, to a great extent, useless.

(5.) Troops under a musketry fire at will, soon become accustomed to it, and its incessant din produces on them a stunning effect, which deadens, in no small degree, their sensibility to danger.

7. On the other hand, volley firing has often been attended with decisive results, especially when it has been reserved to the proper moment, and delivered at short range. Instances of this have occurred in almost every great battle we read of in