Drill & Exercise
“The regiment daily out at exercise…
-Captain John Knox, 43rd regiment
A common sight at events is that of units drilling, we are no exception. We can be seen practicing the New Exercise of 1757, the evolutions set forth in the 1759 version of Bland’s, Wolfe’s alternate system of firing, as well as the tactics employed by light infantry and rangers. It is our goal to continually research and work at these in order to master them. As with any army a good performance on the field of battle depends upon good training. Drilling or going through their motions, target practice or “firing ball,” “bush fighting,” and mock battles were among the more military duties of the soldier. Alexander Moneypenny of the 55th Regiment recorded the orders given on
The men, also practiced firing ball at targets. Officers whose men were good marksmen had a distinct advantage in North America where fighting took place with combatants dispersed, hidden behind trees and rocks. Henry Skinner recorded in his journal that General Amherst ordered his regimental commanders “to practice their men at firing at marks, whenever the weather permitted.”4 There are several entries in order books and journals during the 1759 campaign on Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point with orders for regiments to practice firing at marks. At Fort Ontario in 1760, the troops had “stuffed gabions” to shoot at, “that the shot may be recovered, when ordered to be sought for.”5 A year earlier the when the Royal Highland Regiment was ordered to practice musketry, “all the shooting boards [were] to be covered with paper and a black spot made in the middle.”6 By the end of the war the British soldier was indeed a very good marksmen, General Amherst boasted; “in general all the men are so good marksmen that it requires only little practice to keep their hands in.”7 Light infantrymen were particularly expected to be good marksmen. Lt.-Col. Roger Townshend wrote in a letter to Major Robert Rogers that the new light infantry companies “have what ammunition they want, so I don’t doubt but they will be excellent marksmen.”8 In his journal, Lieut. John Knox recorded the qualifications for light infantrymen, which included that they must be “good marksmen” and “expert at firing ball.”9
“Bush fighting” as it was called in North America was practiced quite often by the troops. Capt. Hugh Arnot of the 80th regiment (Gage’s Light Infantry) wrote in his journal that in the spring of 1758, the army was “Exercising a new Method of fighting, forming, and marching, in the Woods.”10 One provincial officer wrote in his journal on June 25, 1758; “In the forenoon we were allarmed by the fireing of several small Arms in the Woods which was the English Light Infantry….”11 Later at the battle of Lord Howe’s Landing on July 5th, he noted how during the skirmish Gage’s men were joined by “some of the Provincials & a few of the Regulars who acted as Lt Infantry in the Army’s new Manuvers.”12 On “the Troops are led to the Field as usual, & exercis’d in the Manner – Viz. – They are form’d into 4 Columns 2 Men deep, paralel to, and distant from, each other about 50 Yards: After marching some Distance in the Position, they fall into one Rank entire forming a Line of Battle with great Ease and Expedition. The 2 Front-Men of each Column stand fast, & the 2 Next split equally to Right & Left, & so continue alternately till the whole Line is form’d. They are then divided into Platoons, each Platoon consisting of 20 Men, & fire 3 Rounds; the right-Hand Man of each Platoon beginning the Fire, & then the left-hand Man; & so on Right & Left alternately till the Fire ends in the Center: Before it reaches this Place, the Right & Left are ready again. And by This Means an incessant Fire kept up. When they fir’d six Rounds in the Manner, they make a sham Pursuit with Shrieks & Halloos in the
Every once and a while soldiers could expect to participate in mock battles to prepare for upcoming campaigns or expected attacks by the enemy. John Knox recorded that soon after arrival in 1 Moneypenny, Alexander. “The Moneypenny Orderly Book” The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga
Museum Vol XII. Oct. 1970. Fort Ticonderoga, 2 Knox, John. An Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North America For the Years 1757, 1758, 1759,
and 1760. Vol. I. Greenwood Press. 3 Amherst, Jeffery. The Journal of Jeffery Amhesrt. Edited by Clarence Webster. University of Chicago Press.
Chicago, 4 Skinner, Henry. “Henry Skinner Journal” Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum Vol. XV, No. 5. 1993. Fort Ticonderoga, 5 Knox, John. An Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North America For the Years 1757, 1758, 1759,
and 1760. Vol. II. Greenwood Press. 6 Stewart, James. Royal Highland Regiment Copy of the Order Book of Capt. James Stewart’s Coy, 1759.
Transcribed by John Neitz, 2001. P. 11. 7 Brumwell, Stephen. Redcoats. Cambridge University Press. NY, 2002. Amherst to Brigadier-General Thomas Gage, 8 Rogers, Robert. The Journals of Major Robert Rogers. Dresslar Publishing, Bargarsville, 9 Knox. An Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North America For the Years 1757, 1758, 1759,
and 1760. Vol. I. Greenwood Press. 10 Arnot, Hugh. “Hugh Arnot Journal” Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum. Vol. XVI, No. 1. 1998. Fort Ticonderoga, 11 Cobb, Samuel. “The Journal of Captain Samuel Cobb, May 21, - 12 Arnot. P. 38. 13 Moneypenny. “The Moneypenny Orderly Book” The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga
Museum Vol XIII No. 14 Knox. Vol. II. P. 529. 15Amherst, William. The Recapture of St. John’s, Colonel William Amherst, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force. Edited by John Clarence
Webster. Privately published: 1928. P. 63. 17 Ibid. P. 38. 18 Idem. P.39 19 Moneypenny. “The Moneypenny Orderly Book” The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga
Museum Vol XII. Oct. 1970. P. 460.