Divisions of Horse and Foot I mean those Divisions of Horse and Foot that are to be imbattelled together in a day of Battel on the flanks of the Body of Foot to be ready to march when occasion shall serve or to be imbattelled And this order which shall be here set down for this one Division of Horse figured with the Letter A in the following Figure and the two Divisions of Foot figured with the Letters B C D E F G the same order ought to be observed after the same manner for a march when you come near an Enemy By this means your Army will be much the sooner imbattelled upon any occasion and always in a readiness to receive your Enemy if so be your Divisions of Horse and Foot when they march be of the same strength as you desire to have them when they are imbattelled to fight and that you march your Divisions of Horse and Foot by Brigades as you do intend to fight them The Figure before figured with the letter A standeth for a Division of Horse the order that they are in in rank and file is their order The figures figured with B C D E F G are small Divisions of Foot the which shall be at large demonstrated in this following observation the order that they stand at in rank and file is their order viz. three foot in file and six in rank The distance of ground between the Divisions of Musqueeteers D F and the Division of Horse A is thirty paces three feet to the pace And this distance of ground of thirty paces between the two Divisions of Musqueeters D F and the Division of Horse marked with the letter A ought to be when the Divisions of Horse and Foot are imbattelled to fight The distance of ground between the Division of Musqueteers and the Divisions of Pikes is twelve Footmen Which are Pikes and which are Musqueteers this following demonstration will declare unto you The figure before figured with the letter A is a Division of Horse of threescore in front and three deep and in the strength of the Division is an hundred and eighty Horse The figure with six files and six ranks of small pricks figured with the letter C is a Division of Musqueteers in strength six and thirty each small prick standing for a Musqueteer The figure figured with the Letter B with cross strokes is a Division of Pikes of twelve files and six deep The strength of the Division is seventy two Pikemen and each stroke standing in way of a rank standeth for a rank of Pikes being twelve in rank and each stroke standing in way of a file is to be accounted for a File six deep The figure figured with the letter D is a Division of Musqueteers of the same strength that the figure C is The figures figured with the Letters E F G are the same that B C D and the little small strokes in the Front Reer and Flanks of the Divisions of Horse and Foot stand for Officers When these two Divisions of Foot and one of Horse are to march away by small sub-divisions as the way will give leave then the right-hand division of Foot figured with B C D is first to march away next the Division of Horse signified by the Letter A then the left-hand Division of Foot figured with the Letters E F G is to follow the Division of Horse figured with the Letter A. You are to appoint to every Division of Horse two Divisions of Foot like as you see in this former figure of A B C D E F G if your Foot will hold out to do it If you have not so many as to do it you ought not to fail to flank each Division of Horse in the Van-guard of your Army with two Divisions of Foot as is set down in the former figure And each Musqueteer of those Divisions of Foot which are to be imbattelled on the flanks of each Division of Horse ought to have when they come to encounter with the Enemy two pair of Bandaliers or a pair of Bandaliers and a dozen of Charrages in each Musqueteers Pocket Likewise each Musqueteer ought to have twelve spare Botlets besides his Bandaliers furnished with Powder and Bullet and each two Divisions of Foot ought to have a Powder-Bag full of Powder carried along with them All the Divisions of Horse and Foot that are to be imbattelled together on the flanks of your Army in a day of Battel for the Wings of your Battel being divided into Brigades are to march after this order as is here set down for the marching of this one Division of Horse and two of Foot when you are near an Enemy and marching towards him This way of fighting Foot amongst Horse is much the stronger way of Imbattelling an Army in my judgment then any other that I have either seen or read of and hereafter in a fit place I shall shew sufficient reason for to prove it so to be The following figure marked with the Letters HIKLMNO shall shew you in what manner the Musqueteers in the two Divisions of Foot that are imbattelled on the flanks of each Division of Horse as you see them in the foregoing figure marked with the letters ABCDEFG how I say the aforesaid Musqueteers shall be drawn into a fit Order to give fire on the Enemies Horse or Foot upon any occasion The words of Command that you are to give to the Musqueteers to bring them into the Order of the following Figures KLNO from the Order of the foregoing figures CDFG are these words of Command which follow Command the two first Ranks of the two Divisions of Musqueteers marked with the Letters C and D to march forwards till the two last ranks of the aforesaid two ranks of both the Divisions be twelve foot beyond the front of the Pikes then command them to stand then command the two ranks of Musqueteers that belong to the Division of Musqueteers marked with the letter C to turn to their left hands and the two ranks of Musqueteers marked with the letter D to turn to their right hands then command these four ranks of Musqueteers the which are now files to march forwards till they meet Then command those Musqueteers which before did turn to their right hands to turn to their left hands and those Musqueteers which did turn to their left hands to turn to their right hands and file even with the Pikes Then command the two last ranks of Musqueteers of the two Divisions of Musqueteers marked with the letters CD to turn to their right hands about and march forward till the two reer ranks of both the Divisions be twelve feet beyond the reer rank of Pikes in the Division of Pikes marked with the letter B. Then command the four ranks of Musqueteers to stand commanding the two ranks of Musqueteers that belong to the Division of Musqueteers marked with the letter C to turn to their right hands and the two ranks of
your Army to discover and search for Ambushments and parties of the Enemy which will be always apt to attend upon an Army for booties When you come to march with your Army through any Woody Country then you ought to have loose Wings of Musqueteers to march on the flanks of your Army some Musquet-shot off from the Body of your Foot to keep small or great parties from firing on your main Body And in such places you ought to have a special care that your Baggage be well guarded on the flanks and that your Scout-Master and Spies do bring you intelligence daily It is most necessary when you march to make an halt once in a day for the ease of your Souldiers and relief and ease of your Carriage-Horses in some convenient place where is both Horse-meat and water It is very fit you give orders to your Pioners to make you three ways on each side of your Carriage way that is six ways besides your Carriage-way or as many as conveniently the ground and places through which you are to march with your Army will give way So by this means the one half of your Army may march on one side of your Carriages and the other half on the other side of your Carriages By marching in this order your train will be the shorter and a less guard will serve to guard the reer of your Waggons by reason the main body of your Army will be so near the reer of your Waggons And also your Army will march much the nearer together whereby you will the sooner draw them into order to fight upon any occasion Likewise you will be able to march safer and farther in a day than you can when your Army marcheth but in one or two ways If it fall out so that you must be constrained to march with your Army and Baggage in one High-way or over one Bridge the Conductor that hath the Conducting of the Van-guard of your Train ought to know upon such an occasion what Regiment his Train of Artillery is to follow and that he have a special care not to march into any narrow passage before those Troops he is to follow If you have any occasion to send out any parties to provide Provisions for your Army against night you ought to give order unto those Officers to keep their Souldiers from stragling for such oversights do many times bring great inconvenncies to an Army Therefore Officers ought not at any time to suffer their Souldiers to straggle nor slacken the severity of Military Discipline though they believe themselves far from an Enemy and in great security For Souldiers are commonly least secure when they think themselves most secure Security is commonly the fore-runner of misery In marching with an Army to fight with your Enemy you ought to carry with you as much Bread Cheese or Cattel and Salt as you may conveniently for it is impossible that Souldiers should find Bread to be bought every where And if it be possible to be done with safety lie with your Army between your Enemy and his Provisions being better furnished with Provisions than your Enemy For lying near your Enemy with safety and without fighting will in the end surely discourage your Enemies Souldiers by their necessities or force them to fight upon disadvantages or at last put them to a retreat And then the Victory is more then half won if any of these things happen unto your Enemy An Army may be divided into four parts namely the Cavalry the Infantry the Artillery and the Victuals If you March with Cannon and suffer an Enemy to approach too near you without intrenching it is impossible for you to avoid fighting or losing your Cannon Therefore a General ought to know how to make use of it at his advantage and avoid the inconveniences of it by his foresight either by intrenching or retreating in time if he hath no mind to hazard a Battel There is nothing that bringeth so much disorder to an Army upon the March as the Baggage And therefore it is highly necessary to reduce it to the smallest proportion that may be and the Waggon-Master-General ought to make a review of it every morning when the Army marcheth for otherwise it will daily increase Your Marshal-General ought not to suffer many Women or Boys to March with an Army whereby Sickness and Famine get into the Army If your Army be of any great strength then may you march with it in two parts each part about two or three miles distant from the other if you have no Enemy near you that is able to affront you And if you can march in this order with safety you will march much the farther in a day and your Souldiers will be much better provided for at night If you are to march with an Army into a Country where you think the Inhabitants will flie before you then ought you to carry Hand-mills and Baking-pans along with you that each Company upon occasion may be able to grind their own Corn and provide themselves Bread It is very fit and necessary if you have any occasion to pass over any Rivers that are not fordable in your march to carry with you Boats or Punts to make a Bridge of It is most necessary likewise to carry with you Caltrops into the Field the which are very convenient at times to be thrown in places as either into Fords or narrow passages where Horses are to pass to spoil them and they are of especial use in a night upon a Retreat to be thrown into narrow passages or by day into dirty or watry passages Those Caltrops that are made for Fords must be made somewhat more weighty than those that are made for other passages that the water may not be able to carry them away CHAP. XVII Some Observations for the Quartering of an Army at Night upon a March and for the setting out of their Guards to secure their Quarters YOU ought to give a strict charge to the Quarter-Master-General of the Foot to have a special care if it be possible to Quarter your Infantry upon a march and your Train of Artillery in places that are naturally or casually well fortified as with inclosures or in places compassed with Rivers or Moors and where there may be Provisions for your carriage-Carriage-Horses or where Provisions may conveniently be brought in by the Country-people for them This way of Quartering your Army must be carefully observed if any Enemy of strength be near you that may be able to do you any affront upon any of your Quarters If any Enemy of strength be near you you ought to Quarter your Army as near together as possibly you can but by all means if it be possible avoid Quartering your Infantry in the Campagnia The time of lodging an Army is a dangerous time to be assaulted in because the Army is then tired and every man desirous to be lodged hastneth to the quarter in disorder which is a thing hard
to your Marshal of the Field and your Major-Generals and Colonels of the Brigades both of Horse and Foot before they begin to fight And your Orders ought to be written if you have time for after the Battel is once begun is is impossible for a General to give Orders more than in that part where he is present at the same time That you may know how to place your Divisions of Horse and Foot at their true distances you ought to allow unto every Horseman in the Front of the Divisions of the Van-guard and Battel six foot of ground in breadth and to every Foot Souldier in the Divisions in the Van-guard and Battel you ought to allow five Foot Also you must observe that between every two Divisions of Horse and Foot in the Van-guard of your Army to allow an hundred paces of ground in breadth three feet to the pace besides what you allow for the Division in the Battel which is for the reserve You ought likewise to allow between the Vanguard of your Horse-Troops an hundred paces and between the Van-guard of your Foot an hundred and fifty paces three feet to the pace This order must be observed both in placing the Divisions of Horse and Foot and the Van-guards Battel and Reer-guard of your Army that the formost Troops being put to recoil may not fall upon those which should come up to relieve them nor the Battel upon the Reer You must always be careful to place the best Regiments either of Horse or Foot on the Wings of your Army The Officers that lead the Divisions in the Vanguard of a Battel ought to have special care to see that the Divisions both of Horse and Foot keep their distances but especially the Officers that lead the Divisions in the Van-guard of your Army on the flanks of your Horse or Foot they must be extraordinarily careful that they close not with their Divisions in upon the main Body I know no one thing that Officers care is more required about in fighting a Battel than to see that such Divisions as they Command keep their Distances For let a man consider how hard a thing it is for an Army that is imbattelled in a Campagnia to march a mile together without losing their Order And questionless it is much harder for an Army to march a mile together in the face of an Enemy and the Van-guard of the Army continually skirmishing to keep their distances And unless the Officers of an Army are punctual in observing their Orders of keeping their distances in marching it is impossible but some part of your Army if not the whole will be in a confusion before the Battel be half fought It is seldom or never seen that two Armies that are of any equal strength and that use one kind of Discipline being imbattelled one against the other but the one Army out-fronteth the other upon one of the Wings and the other Army out-fronteth the other upon the contrary Wing when both Armies come to encounter Therefore you ought to give punctual Orders before the Battel beginneth to those Chief Commanders that Command on the outermost flanks of the Van-guards of the Horse that in case either of the Wings of Horse doth out-front his Enemies Wing of Horse they should advance easily keeping their order with that Wing of Horse which they Command as soon as their Cannon begin to play and not before and charge that Wing of Horse which they do out-front Command also those Divisions of Horse that out-flank your Enemies Horse on the flanks when they come within a near distance of your Enemies Troops to wheel with their Divisions so that they may be able to charge the Wing of their Enemies Horse on the flank at the same time when the rest of the Horse chargeth them in the Front And in case you do out-front your Enemies Army on both flanks either by the advantage of the number of your men or by the well-ordering of them then both your Wings of Horse must observe the aforesaid order Here you must note that if you fight Foot among your Horse your Foot must advance with your Horse and your Horse by no means to advance before your Foot until your Enemies Horse be put to flight But if it falleth out so as most commonly it doth that the one Army be out-flanked upon one Wing and the same Army doth out flank the other Army on the other Wing if it fortune so that you be out-flanked in one of your Wings of Horse then ought the General to give an especial order to the Officers that that Wing of Horse which is out-flanked do not advance from the main Body of the Foot but keep an even front with the Foot until their Enemies Horse come up close to them to charge them And in the mean time so soon as the Officers of either of your Wings of Horse discover that they shall be out-flanked they ought to have order to draw up on the outermost flank of that wing of Horse that is out-flanked the Reer-Guard of Horse of the same wing of Horse with all the expedition that may be For I am confident it is far less dangerous to want a Reer-guard in a wing of Horse than to be out-flanked by his Enemies Horse Likewise those Officers that do perceive they shall be out-flanked by the Enemies Horse ought to have order that if any of their Divisions of Horse which doth most often fall out when they are out-flanked by the Enemies wing of Horse do front against the Enemies Foot and not against their Horse that then they shall draw all those Divisions of Horse on the outermost flanks of the same wing of Horse But in the imbattelling of two Armies if it prove so that your Armies are equally fronted the which seldom or never doth happen then if you have one wing of Horse that are more confident in their Valour and Resolution than you are of the other let that wing of Horse charge first for as many hands make light work so the best hands make surest work and the other wing of Horse keep in even front with the main body of Foot until the Enemies Horse come up to charge them You ought to use your best judgment and skill to charge your Enemy first in that place where you are surest to overcome him for so favourable are mens judgments to that which is already happened that the sequel of every action dependeth for the most part upon the beginning If it fortune so that either of your wings of Horse do put to flight either of your Enemies wings of Horse then ought the Chief Commander of that wing of Horse to have order upon the flight of his Enemies wing of Horse to send but three Divisions of Horse after them the which three Divisions of Horse ought to have their Orders before-hand for the same and their Directions what to do One of the three Divisions of Horse that is appointed to follow the routed wing of
the Enemies Horse should be commanded to be sub-divided into small sub-divisions when they are to follow the execution about fifteen Horsemen in a Division and the other two Divisions of Horse ought to follow after in order and keeping their men together without being sub-divided that they may make good the Retreat of the other Division of Horse which is upon the execution of those Horse of the Enemy which are fled And all the three Divisions of Horse ought to have order not to follow the Enemy above a mile and then to return to the Army again with all the expedition that they may And all your other Horse that have put the Enemies wing of Horse to flight ought to charge the Enemies Foot with as much speed as they can Having spoken of some advantages that may be taken by the Horse on the flanks of an Army in a day of Battel the which are the chiefest advantages in winning of a Battel and how they are to prepare against disadvantages that may happen I will now speak something concerning some advantages and some disadvantages that may happen in Foot Service in a day of Battel And first of the advantages that may be taken by Foot in a day of Battel the greatest advantage that can be made use of is by ordering the Musqueteers so that they may be able readily to skirmish with Foot and to be suddenly put in order upon any occasion to be sheltered by the Pikes from the Enemies Horse Each Division of Foot that fight in the Body of your Army if you intend to use this kind of Discipline which is set down in this Book ought to be in strength two hundred eighty eight men half Pikes and half Musqueteers And each Division of Foot that is to fight amongst your Horse ought to be an hundred forty four men in strength half Pikes and half Musqueteers The way how to order these Divisions of Foot in a day of Battel is shewn you in these three following Battels By this way of ordering your Foot the success of a Battel will not wholly rely upon the success of the Horse as it doth now adays as we do order our Infantry Your Foot being ordered this way as is before spoken of the success of a Battel will lie more upon the success of the Foot then upon the Horse And I account them being thus ordered as is here set down and as you shall see them in these three following Battels a more firm body to trust to for Victory than the Horse The Horse likewise by fighting of Foot among them become a firmer Body than by fighting Horse alone And such as shall make trial of this way of imbattelling their Troops shall find it very advantageous unto them in fighting a Battel and no hinderance at all but a great furtherance to the Horse-Service If your Field-pieces be of ten or twelve foot in length and having their full metal and if you meet with an Enemy whose Field-pieces are not so long you will find that you have by it a great advantage of your Enemy The advantage is this when you come with your Army and Artillery within shot of your Enemies Body of Foot your Artillery being placed in the Van-guard of your Army command your Army to stand and your Cannoneers to play with your Artillery upon the Enemy If your Enemies Field-pieces be no longer than are usually carried into the Field you will be able to shoot upon your Enemies Body of Foot a quarter of a mile before your Enemies Artillery will be able to shoot at your Body of Foot with any certainty The which will prove a great advantage to those that shall make use of it to be able to out-shoot your Enemy a quarter of a mile with your Artillery and your Enemy to recover that disadvantage must be constrained to march a quarter of a mile in Battalia with his Army before he can bring his Artillery to shoot to any purpose at your Army the which will prove if you have good Cannoneers a great dis-heartening if not a total overthrow to your Enemy All the Musqueteers that march in the Van-guard of an Army in a day of Battel ought to have two pair of Bandaliers furnished with Powder and Bullet and in case you have no Bandaliers let there be provided for each Musqueteer in the Van-guard of the Army twelve Carthrages which they ought to carry in their right-hand pockets and twelve Bullets apiece in their pockets besides and each company to carry with them for the re-furnishing their Musqueteers upon occasion a Powder-bag full of Powder Thus ought the Musqueteers in the Van-guard of an Army to be furnished All the rest of the Musqueteers ought to have their Bandaliers furnished with Powder and Bullet and each Musqueteer ought to have twelve Bullets apiece in their Pockets and each company must carry with them a Powder-bag full of Powder It is very fit likewise that you have in each Company six good Fouling-pieces of such a length as a Souldier may well be able to take aim and to shoot off at ease twelve of them being placed in a day of Battel when you bring a Division of Foot to skirmish with an Enemy on the flanks of a Division of Foot six Fowling-pieces on the one flank of a Division of Foot and six on the other flank as you shall see them placed in these three Battels following Those Souldiers that carry the Fowling-pieces ought to have command when they come within distance of Shot of that Division of the Enemy that they are to encounter with that they shoot not at any but at the Officers of that Division Likewise you ought to have on the flanks of each Division of Pikes a Souldier with Hand-Granadoes that if you bring your men to push of Pike they are to fire the Granadoes and to throw them in amongst the Enemies Pikemen which will prove a great advantage if they be boldly and well thrown Unto every Division of Foot in the Battail of your Army you ought to have two Divisions of Horse of forty in a Division ten in front and four deep on each flank of each Division of Foot in the Battail of your Army as you shall see them in these three following Battels These Divisions of Horse will be always in a readiness to charge the Enemies Foot at all times when the General shall think fit If you out-flank your Enemies Foot with your Foot either on the one flank or both the flanks let so many of your Divisions of Foot as do out-flank your Enemies Foot be drawn up on the Enemies flank and give fire on them And the Officers in Chief that Command on the flanks of the Van-guard of the Foot ought to have particular Orders for the same in case any such thing should happen and likewise they are to have a special Order for the keeping of their true distances in their advance towards an Enemy
what condition his Enemies Army is in and he ought to have in every Frontier Town of his Enemy some correspondence with some Town-dweller or Souldier of the Garrison that by them he may understand from time to time what condition his Enemies Garrisons are in And if the Enemy draweth any Forces to an head at any of his Frontier Towns let the aforesaid people give the Governour of your next Garrisons notice of it You ought to know that Intelligence is the most powerful means to undertake brave Designs and to avoid great Ruines and it is the chiefest Foundation upon which all Generals do ground their Actions A General that Commandeth an Army and seeth that for want of Mony he cannot keep them long together is unwise if he ventureth not his Fortune before his Army falleth asunder For by delaying he certainly loseth whereas hazarding he might overcome Another thing there is yet much to be accounted of which is that a man ought even in his losing seek to gain Glory by being overcome by force than by any other inconvenience The principal Heads of War for Field-Service are the Art of Marching Incamping Imbatteling and to know the ways how to procure good Intelligence and providently and skilfully to get Provisions fit for his Army and his Designs and not to ground his foundations upon vain imagination In matter of War the motions ought to be quick where the least moment of time oft carrieth the whole business It is necessary in War oftentimes to change Counsels according to the variety of the accidents In execution of Designs of War good judgment ought to ground them and diligent expedition put them into Act on For the least fault or stay that a man commiteth may give leasure and occasion for the Enemy to provide that all the plots and counsels how good soever shall serve to no purpose CHAP. XIII What strength Divisions of Horse ought to be from four thousand to ten thousand when they are to March in an Army and when they are to Fight a Battel or if Foot be to Fight on the Flanks of each Division of Horse or when they come to be Embattelled to Fight on the Flanks of an Army That small Divisions both of Horse and Foot are much better than great Divisions for Service either in Campagnia or within Enclosures because they are not so apt to fall into Disorder and are much more ready to be commanded upon all occasions AN Army which is imbattelled in small Divisions of Horse and Foot is not so easily routed as that Army which is imbattelled in great Divisions And small Divisions are much more ready than great Divisions for besides seconding one another and wheeling upon all occasions they will likewise out-front an Army which is imbattelled in great Divisions The which is one of the greatest advantages that can be taken in the imbattelling of an Army Also small Divisions of Horse and Foot are much readier for Service where you cannot imbattel them according to the rules of Art by the nature of the place or within inclosures or where the brevity of the time will not give you leave To conclude an Army that is imbattelled in small Divisions is much more troublesome for an Enemy to deal withal than an Army that is imbattelled in great Divisions It is most convenient and ready to have your Divisions of Horse and Foot to March at the same strength or some ten or twelve men more in a Division than you intend to fight them in a Battel by this means your Army will be much readier and sooner imbattelled upon all occasions If you fight your Horse in a day of Battel on the Flanks of your Body of Foot which is the usual way of placing the Horse and if you intend to Skirmish in the day of Battel with a small Division of Foot on each flank of each Division of Horse which I hold to be the best and strongest way of imbattelling your wings of Horse provide always that your Musqueteers in each Division of Foot that are to Skirmish on the flanks of each Division of Horse in a Day of Battel be so ordered that they may be sheltred by Pikes from the Force of the Enemies Horse And in what order the two Divisions of Foot shall fight in a Day of Battel on the flanks of each Division of Horse so as to have the Musqueteers sheltered by the Pikes from the force of the Enemies Horse shall be demonstrated unto you in the following figures If your strength of Horse be four thousand and if they be to fight on the flanks of a Body of Foot and each division of Horse to have a division of Foot fighting on each flank then each Division of Horse ought to be forty in front and three deep and so the strength of each Division of Horse will be an hundred and twenty If your strength of Horse be five thousand then each Division of Horse ought to be an hundred and fifty strong fifty in front and three deep If your strength of Horse be six thousand or ten thousand then ought you to have an hundred and eighty in a Division sixty in front and three deep And of this strength as is aforesaid ought your Divisions of Horse to be If you intend to fight Foot on the flanks of each Division of Horse in a Battel the Divisions of Foot that shall fight on each flank of each Division of Horse shall be in strength twelve files of Pikes and twelve files of Musqueteers which in all make a Body or a Division of an hundred forty four men And on the flanks of each Division of Horse when you come to imbattel them to fight you must place a Division of Foot of an hundred forty four men half Pikes and half Musqueteers The order how the Divisions of Horse and Foot shall march together when they come near an Enemy and how they shall imbattel and skirmish shall be demonstrated in the following Figures The Divisions of Foot before spoken of will serve to fight on the flanks of any Division of Horse of what strength you please to have them In the first place for your better understanding of this new way of Discipline the which I am well assured you will find very serviceable and advantageous against an Enemy if you make use of it I will demonstrate unto you in the following Figure in what order a Division of Horse and two Divisions of Foot shall stand ready to march to be imbattelled when occasion shall serve The which order must be observed by all the rest of the Divisions By this means you may understand how all the rest of the Divisions of Horse and Foot that are to fight on the flanks of an Army in a day of Battel may be ordered for a march and to be in readiness to be imbattelled when an Army cometh near the Enemy These Figures following lettered with A B C D E F G shew you the order of the
and two deep marked with the letters R and S on the right and left hand of the left hand Division of Pikes marked with the letter O as is here before set down for the four ranks of Musqueteers marked with the letters M and N. Then command the four ranks of Musqueteers marked with the letters K and P to close their ranks and files to their close order And these words of Command before set down will bring the former figure marked with the letters I K L M N O P Q R S to the order of this figure marked with the figures of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. By these words of Command before set down you see the Musqueteers marked with the letters M N R S P K in the figure before this former figure are now brought into this order as you see them in this figure before marked with the figures of 5 6 11 12 9 3 under shelter of the Pikes The Musqueteers and Pikes being at their close order standing in a readiness to receive a charge from Horse and the Pikes to shelter the Musqueteers every way upon occasion from the force of the Horse The figure marked with the figure 1 is a Division of Horse threescore in front and three deep being at their close order The way how the Musqueteers shall be sheltred by the Pikes from Horse I will here declare unto you Command the two right hand files and the two left hand files of the Division of Pikes marked with the figure 2 the which Division of Pikes is twelve files of Pikes and six deep to charge to their right and left hands the two right hand files to the right hand and the two left hand files of Pikes to the left hand over the shoulders of the Musqueteers on the right and left hand marked with the figures 5 and 6 commanding these four files of Musqueteers marked with the aforesaid two figures to turn to their right and left hands When the two right hand files and the two left hand files of Pikes of the figure marked with the figure 2 are commanded to charge to the right and left hands then command the other eight files of Pikes of the figure 2 which have not as yet charged their Pikes I say command the three first ranks of those eight files to charge their Pikes to the front over the shoulders of the Musqueteers marked with the figure 3. Then command the three last ranks of Pikes of the eight files of Pikes to charge to the reer over the shoulders of the two ranks of Musqueteers marked with the figure 4. And these two ranks of Musqueteers in the reer marked with the figure 4 must observe to turn to their right hands about when the Pikes are commanded to charge to the reer The same Order and words of Command the which are here set down for the right hand Division of Foot marked with the figures 2 3 4 5 6 7 must be observed by the Officers of the left hand Division of Foot marked with the figures 7 8 9 10 11 12. The Musqueteers which are placed without-side of the Pikes marked with the figures 3 4 5 6 9 10 11 12 must stand ready with their Matches Cocks and Pans guarded and ready to give fire either by one rank at a time or two ranks as the Officers shall see occasion to command them which must be done after this manner If you command only the outermost ranks to give fire then must you command them to present kneeling on their right knees and command them to level so low that they shoot at the Horse legs and by that means they will shoot clear under the tops of your Pikes being charged If you please to command two ranks of Musqueteers to give fire at one time the Musqueteers being ready to present command your Pikemen to port their Pikes then command all your Musqueteers to present the first rank of Musqueteers kneeling on their right knees the second rank of Musqueteers must move up close to the first rank of Musqueteers every Musqueteer in the second rank stepping forward with his right leg within the inside of their Leaders right legs and step forwards with their left legs close up by their Leaders left legs without-side of their Leaders left legs and so present their Musquets over their Leaders heads After the Musqueteers in the first rank have thus presented command them to give fire then may you if occasion serve command your Pikemen to charge their Pikes again and your Musqueteers to make ready again But here some may object that if any one of these two Divisions of Foot marked with the figures 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 should be charged by Horse several ways at once then the four corners of the Division of Foot will be ill defended by reason that the two outermost files of Pikes to the right and left hand are charging to their right and left hands so by this means they conceive the four corners of the Division of Foot will be left naked for want of Pikes to defend them To prevent this objection the Captains Lieutenants and Serjeants ought to be placed on the four corners of a Division of Foot with the Musqueteers as you see them in this foregoing figure marked with the figure 7. For you must understand that each little long stroke at the corners of the Division of Foot standeth for an Officer Now all the Captains that command the Foot on the flanks of each Division of Horse in a day of Battel ought to have Pikes and the Lieutenants and Serjeants ought to have Partizans and Halberts of eleven foot in length In this Service against the Horse are two chief things that the Commanders of the Foot who command any Foot amongst the Horse in a day of Battel ought to give their Souldiers a strict charge to observe the first is that the Musqueteers when they are to give fire should always take aim at the Horses legs The second observation is that your Pikemen charge their Pikes against the Horses and not against the Horsemen when the Foot are charged by Horse and that your Pikemen charge not their Pikes until the Enemies Horses are come within forty paces of your Foot If you fight Foot among your Horse on the flank of your Army as you see them placed in these two figures before marked with the letters HIKLMNOPQRS and the figures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. Then you must observe when your Enemies Horse come to charge your Horse or the Foot on the flanks of your Division of Horse that your Divisions of Horse move not from the two Divisions of Foot on their flanks unless your Enemies Horse be put to the retreat but to keep an even front with the two Divisions of Foot on their flanks and receive their Enemies Charge keeping the aforesaid order But in case your Enemies Horse rout any one of the
ever quaileth the courage Because those good orders re-inforce the Spirit and the Fury both being still maintained by the hope of overcoming which never faileth while good Orders and good Discipline hold firm You ought not to despise and think too meanly of your Enemy for that will not only beget negligence in your own Army but care and diligence in your Enemies Army And it is most sure the valour of a few may surmount the number of many and if you be broken by your Enemy that you despise you double your own disgrace by your rash and indiscreet arrogance But to speak of chances and to touch some particularities thereby to shew evidently the weakness of mans wit and power and the casualty of warlike attempts let a man consider by how many accidents the mightiest Armies are many times dispersed and dissipated and the greatest Enterprises overthrown As sometimes by the death of one man sometimes by the dissention of Officers or Souldiers sometimes by tempests or unseasonable weather sometimes again by Plagues or Diseases in the Camp otherwhiles by sudden Fears that fall upon the Souldiers without cause sometimes as Guicciardine noteth by a Commandment either not well understood or ill executed by a little temerity of disorder by some vain word or speech of the meanest Souldier and lastly saith he by infinite changes which happen at unawares unpossible to be foreseen and prevented by the wit or counsel of any man Which sheweth that no humane wit is able of it self sufficiently to govern an Army and that God reserveth to himself the success of Battels and disposeth of Victories at his pleasure CHAP. XIX Some certain Observations concerning the Retreat of an Army TO know how to make an honourable Retreat is one of the principal points of Military Art and worthiest the knowledge of a General to be able upon occasion to make a safe and sure Retreat For those that can do nothing else can easily put themselves into a War but to return home again in safety is that which concerneth the honour of a Leader When a General intendeth to retreat with his Army he must be careful that if it be possible his Retreat be not through any places but such as his Pioners may be able to make him where three or four may march in breast besides the way for the Carriages For there is no greater danger of receiving a Defeat than when a Retreat is made at a narrow passage But if you be forced to make a Retreat through a narrow passage there is no better way to prevent danger than to raise some Works near this passage in the most advantageous places you can find If you retreat in the night with your Army and have pass'd any narrow passage with your Troops it were very good for you to give command that some Caltraps be thrown into those narrow passages to spoil your Enemies Horse if they follow your Troops and if you retreat in the day-time with your Army the aforesaid Caltraps will be very useful to be thrown into dirty and watry passages A Retreat in view of the Enemy is the most dangerous action that can be undertaken by any Commander And therefore it is held in the opinion of most Commanders better to retreat in the night than in the day because it is very dangerous to pursue an Army in the night and if he that retreateth be careful to lay his ambushes well he may sooner do a mischief to his Enemy than his Enemy to him Likewise it is better to retreat with part of an Army than with the whole and it is best to march as far at first as possibly you may to the end you might have some advantage of space before the Enemy that followeth you for so the Enemy durst not follow you with small Troops and with great Forces they will never be able to reach you besides the scarcity and want of Victuals that they will find by following you will much discourage them Some Commanders now adays whose skill reacheth not so far as to know the ABC in the Art Military that is to say the use of their Arms they think it a blemish to their Honours to make a private Retreat in the night But this is that that I will say of such Gallants Presumption and Ignorance are two bad Counsellors in War CHAP. XX. Some Observations concerning the stopping of an Army upon Passages either over Rivers or difficult and mountainous places IN the first place I will speak something of stopping the passage of an Army upon a River if your Army be to pass a River that is not passable but upon two or three places without making a Bridge I conceive this to be the best way Upon the chiefest passage over the River there you ought to attend your Enemy with all your Forces if you may find there sufficient provisions for your Army to subsist And upon the other two Fords or passable places if they may be commanded each of them by one Sconce I think it convenient then for you to give order for the raising of two Sconces and to see them well furnished with Cannon Men Ammunition and Victuals But here you must note if your Enemy do bring with him Punts or Boats for to make a Bridge or if he be able to procure Boats out of the Country for the aforesaid purpose then I conceive the raising of the Sconces is a needless labour Therefore then the best way will be to march with your whole Army on the one side of the River as your Enemy marcheth on the other if the Country in your March be able to afford you Provisions for your Army and so to fight with your Enemy as he passeth the River or after your Enemy hath possessed the River if you think you have Forces sufficient to encounter him I hold it a most dangerous and un-Souldier-like action for any Commander to divide his Forces for the keeping of passages against an Army whether it be upon a River or any other strait and difficult passages for you ought not to put all your Fortune in danger and not all your Forces To do so is a manifest folly He is never thought a good Gamester that would hazard his whole rest upon less than the strength of his whole Game My reasons for it are these If your Enemy forceth one of those passages that you endeavour to keep or find out some other passage that is not guarded you will find much trouble and pains before you can draw your Forces together And very likely the Enemy may prevent you from doing it either by forcing you to fight before your Forces are come to you or by keeping you from joyning your Forces together again And when it cometh to pass that your Forces must leave the passage which they are to guard or lose it by some occasion there is a fear and terror stricken into the hearts of the people and Souldiers which trusted in that place that
Alarms or wronged Religion beateth her zealous Marches go on and prosper CHAP. III. Some Observations of an Offensive VVar and Conquering of Countries AN Offensive War will keep you from Civil War at home and make you feared of your Enemies and beloved of your Friends and keepeth your Gentry and Commons from laziness and all sorts of Luxury But here you must note to entertain a Forein War is not good to be observed but by such Kingdoms and States that are able to go thorough with their Designs they undertake Because as a Foreign War is necessary for Rich and Potent Kingdoms and States so it is hurtful to Petty Kingdoms and States for being too weak to gain by it they will in the end but lose their design their Honours and Monies and impoverish themselves and increase their Enemies It is not for Kings and States to undertake a troublesome and dangerous War upon an humour or any other slender motion but diligently weighing the circumstances thereof and measuring the peril and hazard with the good consequents to inform their Judgments of the Action and so try whether the Benefit would answer their Labour They ought likewise to be well informed of the greatness and riches of the Countrey the quality and strength of the People their use of War and the opportunity of their Havens And he that maketh an Offensive War must so proceed therewith that he be sure to keep what he getteth and to enrich not impoverish his own Countrey For he that doth increase his Dominions and yet groweth not in Strength must needs go to wrack Now those grow not strong who grow poor in the Wars although they prove Victorious because their Conquests do cost them more than they get by them This errour many run into by not knowing how to limit their hopes and so grounded on their own vast conceits without weighing their strength they are utterly ruined For Conquests not having Power answerable to their Greatness invite new Conquerours to the ruine of the old That Prince who putteth himself upon an Offensive War ought to be Master of his Enemy in Shiping Purse and Men or at least in Shipping and Purse or else he must see some Garboils in the State which he assaileth And he ought to be called thither by a party otherwise it would be a rash Enterprise If you make any attempt upon any Forein Countrey the first thing you ought to do is to take some Sea Town that hath a convenient Harbour and that lieth nearest the greatest City in that Countrey in which you make your War This Town you ought to secure and harbour very well with good works and take care that it be very well Victualled before you advance further into the Countrey with your Army So this Town will serve to keep your Provisions for your Magazines and being well provided of Victual will serve upon occasion to make good your retreat For having once gotten possession of a Sea Town and having well Fortified and Victualled the same you have one foot on Land and the other on Sea Having fortified a place for your Magazine and your Retreat advance with your Army unto the chief City in the Countrey By which means you will soon force your Enemy to Battel and if you win the Battel and follow your Victory close you may gain the chief City of the Countrey either by Composition or Assault if it be not Fortified or before your Enemy be able to relieve it you may be able to starve it But in case you do not prevail to be Master of the chief City either by Composition or Assault then ought you strongly to intrench two thousand Foot and five hundred Horse in a Quarter and so Fortifying one Quarter after another with your Army until you have intrenched so many several Quarters as you think may be sufficient to keep the City from Provisions And then if you think fit you may run Lines from one Quarter to another And having strongly Intrenched that part of your Army that is quartered about the City draw the rest of your Army into a Body and intrench them in some place near the Town where you think it most convenient to meet with any Enemy that may come to the relief of it You ought likewise to use the best means you can for intelligence and continually to send out Parties of Horse several ways that when any Enemy approacheth near you you may be in a readiness to fight with him If you come to be Master of the Chief City of a Kingdom or Country I account that Kingdom or Country more then half won The surest way to keep that Country you Conquer in Obedience to you will be to oppress them as little as may be especially at first either in their Purses Consciences or Laws He that obtaineth a Kingdom with the Rupture of his Faith hath gained the Glory of a Conquest but lost the Honour of a Conquerour But you ought to disarm them and take Pledges of them for their Obedience the which must be kept in your own Country You ought also to employ in your Garrisons all the Gun-Smiths and all the Salt-petre-men that you find in the Country you have Conquered and to take into your hands all the Powder and Brimstone you find and destroy all the Powder-Mills that are out of your own Garrisons When it shall happen that you are to Conquer a Country that doth afford Covert and Protection to an Enemy who is more malicious than valorous and through the fastness of the place refuseth to shew himself unless it be upon advantages the War doubtless is likely to prove tedious and the Victory less Honourable In such cases there is no other way than so to harrass and waste the Country that the Enemy may be famished out of his Holds and brought to subjection by scarcity and necessity which is a means so powerful as well to supplant the greatest strengths as to meet with Subterfuges and Delays that of it self it subdueth all opposition and needeth no other help for atchieving of Victory It is much better for a Prince to invade an Enemy in his own Country than to attend him at home in his own Kingdom if so be that he hath competent Forces to give him hopes of doing good upon his Enemy For the seat of War is always miserable CHAP. IV. Some Observations upon a Defensive VVar. THE best way to prevent any attempts of any Foreign Enemy is to be able and ready to resist their Designs and the best way to do that is to have a good Rich Publick Treasure before-hand and your people continually well trained up in Martial Discipline When you foresee that an Enemy is resolved to set upon your Country to conquer it and if your Enemy be so much Master of you at Sea that you fear the shutting up of your Havens by his Shipping then ought you to provide your Magazines extraordinarily well with Ammunition Arms and Salt and great
store of Brimstone Salt-petre and Salt-petre-men and to have Powder-Mills in all your Chief Towns In the beginning of a Defensive War if you meet with a powerful Enemy and foresee that the War is likely to last long then it will be wisdom in you to entertain some Forein Nation But you must be careful to entertain none of those Nations who serve in your Enemies Army unless they be such as are of a contrary Religion to your Enemy to the end that you may spare your own Nation as much as may be Provided always you have mony to pay them punctually otherwise they may prove dangerous to you And I would wish you by no means to keep them longer than you have mony to pay them for if you do you will find they will prove more your Enemies than your Friends Likewise you must be careful to entertain no more Strangers than you are well able to Master and that you Garrison them not in any of your Sea-Towns or Forts or where your Chief Magazines are And in what Towns you do Garrison your Strangers in the Winter where you place one Company of Strangers in a Garrison you ought to place two of your own Nation It is a very dangerous thing to entertain a Forein Friend to gain your own Country but there is no danger in entertaining a Forein Friend to help to keep your Country so long as you have mony to pay them You may with good Fortresses and a good Army so tye up your Enemy in hindring him from Victuals and by intrenching always so near him that you may now and then fall upon some of his Quarters and so hinder him from making any Siege of importance And when a Conquerour advanceth not forward he recoileth But here you must note that such places as you fortifie are to be well fortified well manned and well provided of all necessaries and that you do not fortifie any place which will require many men for the Defence of it in a Siege If you be assailed by a Power altogether disproportionable to your Forces and are in this case forced to leave some part of your Country to the Enemy then you ought to burn all the Victual which you cannot contain wiehin your Fortresses and also all the Towns and Villages which you cannot guard For it is better to preserve your self in a ruined Country than to keep it for your Enemy It is a Maxim That no publick good can be without some prejudice to some particular men So a Prince cannot dis-entangle himself from a perilous Enterprise if he will please every man and the greatest and most usual faults which we commit in matters of State and War proceed from suffering our selves to be carried away with this complacency whereof we repent when there is no remedy left A Kingdom or State though they have received many overthrows should never cowardly yield themselves up to be Slaves to their Enemies but endeavour to look Fortune again in the face and to be ready to overcome or lose more gloriously or get honourable terms of Agreement Because by yielding they can hope for nothing but the saving of their lives and it will be in their Enemies hands to deprive them of that at their pleasures and Peace is more grievous to men in subjection than the War is to them that enjoy their liberties and they are hopeful in their Arms who have no other hope but in their Arms. A just Cause is good defence against a strong Enemy CHAP. V. Some Observations for those that undertake a VVar. A Sovereign Prince is more capable to make great and ready Conquests than a Commonwealth and especially if he goeth in person into the Field For never any Prince hath founded a great Empire but by making War in person nor hath lost any but when he made War by his Lieutenants Those that undertake a War ought to make their Levies according to the War which they undertake carefully foreseeing that they undertake no Offensive War but such as they be able to go through with their Purses and their Honours And if their Purses will bear it to make their Wars great and short It is an excellent property of a good and wise Prince to use War as he doth Physick carefully unwillingly and seasonably either to prevent approaching dangers or to correct a present mischief or to recover a former loss He that declineth Physick till he is accosted with the danger or weakened with the Disease is bold too long and wise too late That Peace is too precise that limiteth the justness of a War to a Sword drawn or a Blow given The next thing they who undertake a War ought to observe is Secresie and Expedition in their designs It is a perilous weakness in a State to be slow of resolution in the time of War such Affairs attend not time Let the wise Statesman therefore abhor delays and resolve rather what to do than what to say Slow deliberations are symptoms either of faint Spirits or weak Forces or false Hearts In War more than any other profession the command ought to be single For though you have many Armies in the Field yet ought you to appoint one General to have the absolute command over the rest of your Generals And there ought to be a special care in making choice of an able General For an able General will make choice of good Officers and such as are fit for VVar but a General that is not experienced in the Wars if he meet with good Commanders it is by hazard This advantage also you will find by having an experienced and well reputed man to your General that the Officers and Souldiers of your Army will fight with much the more resolution and confidence of Victory and your Enemy will fight with the less resolution and hopes of Victory For good Officers will make good Souldiers and good Souldiers are as necessary to a VVar as good store of Gold And therefore those that undertake a VVar must not always measure their Power by their Treasure but they must put the goodness of their Souldiers in the balance with their Treasure Before you undertake a VVar cast an impartial eye upon the Cause If it be just prepare your Army and let them all know they fight for God This addeth fire to the Spirit of a Souldier to be assured that he shall either prosper in a fair VVar or perish in a just Cause You must be most vigilant and careful to have all your Magazines doubly provided that if any disaster befal your Armies you may soon supply them again He that would be in VVar victorious must be in Peace laborious You must likewise be very punctual in sending supplies of Mony Men and all other necessaries to your Army For the want of any one supply many times coming too late proveth the loss of the whole design and in no profession the loss of time proveth so dangerous as in Martial Affairs You must
not be apt to judge of your Generals Actions according to the Event but according to Reason and not to lay the fault of your Armies ill success upon your General when it lieth in your selves either for want of necessaries or timely supplies or by bridling the Authority of your General too much Besides if a General be never so wise and diligent he cannot foresee every thing that may break and cross all that which he had purposed For it is a Piece of Divine Power to direct a path free from the crookedness which might lead the straight way to happy ends and it were as great a madness to believe that a man were able to give directions to meet with all chances as to think no foresight can prevent any casualty If you intend to have a well-commanded Army you must pay them punctually and then your General can with Justice punish them severely You must foresee that your Frontier Towns be well Fortified well Manned and well Victualled before your Army taketh the Field You ought not to neglect rewarding those that do you eminent Service for by it you bind them to be faithful to you and you encourage them to do the like Service upon another occasion and encourage others to be ambitious of the same honour You must likewise be careful that the honour of such as have done brave Actions and great Services be not diminished nor blemished Because the most generous Spirits which will easily excuse all want of other recompence for their Services will never endure this to be robbed of the honour due to their brave actions and will sooner stomach such a want of due honour than any other thing whatsoever whereupon very often great mischiefs have followed You must not be too confident in the Arm of Flesh and in your Victories give not too much honour to your Armies and too little praise to God Use all the lawful means you can for the executing of your designs and by your Prayers recommend he success to God and the good conduct of your General The Senate of the Romans reserved nothing else to themselves but a power to make new Wars and to confirm Peace every thing else they referred to the arbitrement and power of the Consul Notwithstanding that there were in the Senate men exceedingly well experienced in the Wars yet forasmuch as they were not upon the place and therefore ignorant of very many particulars which were needful for them to know that will advise well and by interposing their Counsels they would have committed many errors For this cause they suffered the Consul to do all of himself and that the Glory thereof should be entirely his the love of which they thought would provoke and encourage him to do well It is a great vanity and indiscretion in a Prince or State in matter of War to undertake many enterprizes at once It is better for two weak Kingdoms rather to compound with an Enemy to some loss than seek for satisfaction by the Sword lest while they two weaken themselves by mutual blows a third decide the Controversie to both their ruines When the Frog and the Mouse could not take up the Quarrel the Kite was Umpire You ought to be careful you have no Officer in chief that is covetous or given to pillaging For such men are good to no body but themselves and the Enemy and are most commonly easily corrupted with mony Such men ought by no means to be made Governours of Towns No Prince or State ought to doubt but that they may be able to make good Souldiers when they want not men For if they have many men and want Souldiers they should rather complain of their own Sloth and small Wisdom than of the peoples Cowardize CHAP. VI. Some Observations and Considerations to be observed and thought on by a General that taketh upon him the Command of an Army HE that undertaketh the Command of an Army ought seriously to consider the hazards of this Charge and the difficulties and examine his own abilities well before he adventureth on it Because if he groweth rich he is traduced if he fail or prove unfortunate he is calumniated scandalized And if the whole success answereth not their opinions who imploy him they will repine although the fault most often is caused by their own neglect or wilfulness or by curbing the Authority of their chief Commander too much And people are always apt to judge of their Generals Actions rather by the event than reason So that it is a very hard thing for a man to take the Command of an Army upon him and to keep his reputation unto the end Therefore no General ought to undertake any design timorously or rashly but such Actions as he foreseeth by his wisdom and experience that his Master or Masters purse or purses and his own abilities be sufficient to go through with Victory and Honour The first thing that a General ought to do is to desire God to assist him in all his Councils and Actions and to beseech him to give him and his Souldiers Courage in the day of Battel For it is he who maketh our Enemies flee before us It is he setteth up Kings and Kingdoms and pulleth them down at his pleasure A General of an Army must make it his principal aim to begin well and then not to omit any thing for the preserving of what he hath gotten He ought to be provident in taking care for Mony Men Arms Victuals Ammunition a good train of Artillery with all things necessary belonging to it Cloaths Shoes Stockings and Shirts He must foresee and provide that none of all these things fail him in the execution of his Designs And he must be careful to make choice of knowing and valiant Officers for his Army For you may observe in all the Roman Wars that they conquered more Nations by their expert knowledge in Martial Affairs than they did either by their Number or Valour It hath been the manner of all famous Generals to bring their Souldiers to perfection by exercise A General ought carefully to observe these three things in his Martial Discipline to recompence commendable Actions to punish the bad and constantly to use the exact exercise of Military Discipline He must never suffer his Souldiers in any place to be idle especially when the Army is brought together in a Body for if he employ them not in that which is good they will busie themselves in that which is naught It is the height of a provident Commander not only to keep his own designs undiscoverable to his Enemy but likewise to be studious in discovering his He that can best do the one and nearest guess at the other 〈◊〉 the next step to a Conquerour but he that failed in both must either ascribe his Overthrow to his own folly or his Victory to the hand of Fortune He that is a Chief Commander ought to know that if he will be secure in War he must be watchful
and valiant and that expedition and secresie crowneth all warlike exploits with Success and Glory and that the opportunity of time is the Mother of all worthy Exploits In the course of War a General shall meet with some occasions wherein he is not only to contend with Men but with Chances and Things which are to be overcome with less difficulty than an Enemy and are more dangerous as Hunger Discontents and Labour Things well and happily atchieved do get the Commander great good-will from the Souldier and things ill carried as much hatred Wherefore a General should always prefer courses of security before those of hazzard and trust Fortune no farther than necessity constraineth him Caesar thought it not best to tempt the waywardness of Fortune when by other means he might obtain his desires and a wise General should always rather follow Reason than Fortune War is not capable of a second Error one fault being enough to ruine an Army And therefore a General ought to be careful even of possibilities accounting always that which may happen to be as certain as any thing which he doth most expect A Generals Counsels should not pass approbation through his own judgment alone neither should they be communicated to more than is needful neither are they to be hastned forwards with passion but ought oft to be maturated with staid deliberation Likewise he is to take special care that no humorous respect do hinder that resolution which true judgment approveth For oftentimes it falleth out that either particular profit delightful pleasures desire of revenge or some other unseasonable affection doth so intangle them in their proceedings as they never attain to the main drift of the action and this is called Stumbling by the way A General must be careful not to measure the humour of his poor needy and undisciplined Souldiers by the garb of his own ambitious thoughts and so lay such projects of difficulty as were very unsuitable in the particularity of occurrences to that which his Souldiers were fit to execute Neither should he be so prodigal of his Souldiers Blood as though men were made only to fill Ditches and to be the woful executioners of his rashness Of all Victories a General should think that best which is least stained with Blood It is requisite in a General to mingle love with the severity of his Discipline They that cannot be induced to serve for love will never be forced to love for fear Because love openeth the heart fear shutteth it that encourageth this compelleth And Victory meeteth encouragement but flieth compulsion If thou art called to the Dignity of a Commander dignifie thy place by thy Commands and that thou mayest be the more perfect in Commanding others practise upon thy self A Chief Commander ought to know that that Command is best and most sure when the Souldier rejoyceth in his Obedience What Souldiers earn with the hazard of their lives if not enjoyed prophesieth an overthrow to the next Battel A General shall rule much if Reason rule him A General ought to use his best endeavours to buy good success with extraordinary labour For Industry commandeth Fortune saith Caesar. And there is no doubt but diligence and laboursome industry by circumspect and heedful carriage seldom fail either by hap or cunning to make good that part wherein the main point of the matter dependeth And where the Lions skin will not serve his turn there let him take part of the Foxes to piece it out It is a dangerous thing for a General to make himself chief in perswading a Prince or State to any weighty and important resolution so that the counsel thereof be wholly imputed to him which belongs to many For inasmuch as men judge of things by their events of all the evils that rise thereupon the blame will be wholly laid upon him as Author and if good come of it he is commended for it but the reward cometh much short of the loss which is hazarded The Sultan Selimus termed the great Turk having made preparation as some report for the Conquest of Syria and Egypt was encouraged by one of his Bashaws who was then upon the Confines of Persia to undertake rather an Expedition against the Sophy By whose counsel the Sultan was perswaded and went to that enterprize with an exceeding great Army But coming into a very vast Country where a great part of it is desert and very few Rivers and finding there those difficulties which long since had ruined many Roman Armies was so distressed that he lost most of his Army by Famine and Plague Wherefore however in the War he was vanquisher he caused the Bashaw Author of that counsel to be put to death CHAP. VII Some Observations what is the fittest strength for Armies to be of and what proportion of Horse and Foot Dragooners and Pioners there ought to be in an Army And likewise shewing the proportion of Pikemen and Musqueteers according to the Service that they shall be most imployed upon AN Army of thirty or forty thousand men Trained well Disciplined carefully Conducted and still recruited upon all occasions may destroy an Army four times as great Because great Armies for want of Victuals oftentimes destroy themselves And an Army of thirty or forty thousand may fight with an Army three or four times as big and beat them provided that by the advantage of their ground they avoid being surrounded and the disorder and confusion that commonly is in a great Army will likewise be apt to break them Where your Service lieth in Campagnia the proportion of your Army ought to be two Footmen to one Horseman besides your Dragooners But where the Service of your Army shall be most in Sieges there you ought to have three Footmen unto one Horseman and sometimes four Footmen to one Horseman besides your Dragoons provided your Enemy be not able to over-master you in Horse But for your Body of Foot when your Service shall chiefly consist in the Campagnia then you ought to have as many Pikemen as Musqueteers amongst your Foot besides your Dragooners But where your Service lieth most in Sieges there you ought to have in your Body of Foot besides your Dragoons two Musqueteers to one Pikeman and to every eight hundred Horse you ought to have an hundred and fifty Dragooners And always to an Army of twenty thousand or thirty thousand men you ought to have a thousand Pioners whereof an hundred ought to have horses as a necessary part of the Army upon a March a retreat drawing off Cannon in a Battel and at Sieges I do not mean that these Pioners shall be entertained to make the Souldiers lazy For each Souldier ought to know what belongeth to his labour for his ordinary pay that is to pass upon his Duty punctually and willingly namely to March Watch Fight and intrench himself and to be ready to endure with Obedience and Patience Labour Hunger Cold and Heat CHAP. VIII Some Observations concerning
the Arming of an Army and how each Souldier ought to be Armed ONE of the greatest advantages that I know which can be taken in War by a Chief Commander is to endeavour to have his Army better armed than his Enemies Army both with Offensive Arms and Defensive Arms. Arms are the security of your own Souldiers the terror of the Enemy and the assured ordinary means of Victory And this is certain that the most warlike Nations and most Victorious have always sought to get advantage of their Enemies by advantage of Arms. The end of Arms is either to assault or defend and hence are Arms divided into two kinds Offensive and Defensive Offensive Arms are to do execution upon your Enemy and Defensive Arms raise the Spirits stirre up desire to fight make the Souldier bold and chearful to perils And whereas the Defensive Arms of Horse-men and Pike-men are much slighted by some in these times I would have such to know that Souldiers ought to go into the Field to Conquer and not to be killed And I would have our young Gallants to take notice that men wear not Arms because they are afraid of danger but because they would not fear it And I am confident that one Army well armed with Defensive Arms may very well expect without any great difficulty to win twenty Battels one after another of Armies equal in strength equally conducted and fighting upon equal advantage of ground but not armed with Defensive Arms. So much advantage do I suppose to be between Armies that are armed and Armies that are not armed with Defensive Arms. I will now shew you how Horsemen Footmen and Dragooners ought to be armed with Offensive and Defensive Arms. An Horsemans Offensive Arms are these A Carbine or a Musquet-barrel of the length of a Carbine-barrel well stockt with a Snapance the which I hold to be much better then a Carbine for Service Also a case of Pistols and a good stiff long Tuck and a Belt An Horsemans Defensive Arms are An Head-piece with three small iron Bars to defend the Face Back and Breast all three Pistol-proof a Gauntlet for his left hand or a good long Buff Glove A Girdle of double Buff about eight inches broad which is to be worn under the skirts of his Doublet and to be hooked unto his Doublet and made so that it may be fastned together before If you find Buff to be scarce and dear you may make those Girdles of Buff before spoken of with Bull Hides or good Oxes Hides dressed like Buff. The Furniture that belongeth to an Horsemans Horse is as followeth He ought to have a very good Horse and a good Pad-Saddle made so that it may very well carry a Case of Pistols three good Girts a pair of good Stirrups and Stirrup-leathers with a Crupper and a Fore-Pattern also a good Bitt Rains and Head-stall with a good leathern Halter I have omitted here to speak any thing of the Armour of a good Cuirassier because there are not many Countries that do afford Horses fit for the Service of Cuirassiers But where Horses are to be had fit for that Service there a General ought to have two thousand of them in his Army The Offensive Arms of a Musqueteer are these A Musquet and Rest and a good stiff Tuck not very long a Belt a pair of Bandaliers but you must be careful that the Charges be not made too big which is a great and common fault now adays Also every Musqueteer ought to have a Scourer to make clean his Musquet For he must be very careful in keeping his Musquet clean or else it will be very apt to break upon Service by means of which neglect I have known many Souldiers spoiled The Defensive Arms of a Musqueteer is a good Courage But in case you have more Musqueteers than you have Pikes so many Musqueteers as you have more than Pikemen in your Army ought to have Swine-feathers with heads of rests fastned to them My reason for it is this your Pikemen will be able with ease to shelter from the violence of the Horse so many Musqueteers as they are in number and these Musqueteers which have the Swine-Feathers being imployed by themselves will be able likewise to defend themselves from the Horse with the help of their Swine-Feathers The Offensive Arms of a Pike-man are these A good long Pike of eighteen foot in length with a small Steel head and a good stiff Tuck not very long with a Belt for if you arm your men with Swords half the Swords you have in your Army amongst your common men will upon the first March you make be broken with cutting of Boughs The Defensive Arms of a Pike-man are these An Head-piece with Back and Breast a Buff Girdle of double Buff eight inches broad the which is to be worn under the Skirts of his Doublet instead of Taces The same Buff Girdle is to be hooked up to his Doublet and to be fastned before A good long Buff Glove for the left Hand I am well assured that a Girdle of Buff will be much safer and much more serviceable and easier for a Pike-man to wear than Taces The Offensive Arms of a Dragoon are these A Musquet or a good Snapance to a Musquet Barrel the which I hold much better for Dragoon-Service being upon occasion they may be able to make use of their Snapances on Horseback and upon any Service in the night they may go undiscovered He must have also a Belt to hang his Musquet in with a pair of Bandaliers and a good long Tuck with a Belt And all your Dragoons ought to have Swine-feathers Of a Dragoon Horse and Furniture He ought to have a good ordinary Horse sl Saddle Snaffle Rains Stirrups and Stirrup-Leathers an Halter and two Girts There are some other necessaries that Souldiers ought to be furnished withal the which I do think fit to be spoken of in this place and they are these Each two Foot-Souldiers ought to have a little Hatchet between them for the cutting of Wood for Firing and Wood for Hutting Also each two Dragoons ought to have an Hatchet between them for the aforesaid purpose Each Souldier ought to have a Knap-sack each Company of Foot and Dragoons to have a Powder-Bag CHAP. IX A List of the Chief Officers that belong to an Army and what Strength each Regiment ought to have of Horse Foot and Dragoons A General a Marshal of the Field a Lieutenant General of the Horse a General of the Ordnance or Master of the Ordnance a Serjeant-Major-General of the Horse a Serjeant-Major-General of the Foot Colonels of Brigades both of Horse and Foot the Treasurer of the Army Colonels of Regiments both of Horse and Foot a Lieutenant General of the Ordnance Serjeant Majors of Brigades both of Horse and Foot a Commissary General of the Victuals Lieutenant-Colonels of Regiments of Foot Serjeant-Majors of Regiments both of Horse and Foot a Quarter-Master General of the
A General ought to be careful before he taketh the Field with his Army that he provide for the punctual supplying of his Army with Mony Ammunition Victuals Arms Men Shoes Stockings Shirts And seeing it is impossible for an Army upon a March to carry with them sufficient of all these necessaries therefore a General ought carefully to foresee as he advanceth any way with his Army that his Magazines for his Army be always so near him and so well stored with such things as he shall have occasion to use that his designs fail not for want of any of the aforesaid things And he must be careful that his Enemy be never able to cut off his Provisions at any time or his Retreat A General or Chief Commander ought to see that he doth not ruine his Army upon disadvantages either by engaging them unadvisedly in Battels or by assaulting Towns and Breaches rashly or by long Sieges or long Winter Services without good probability and assurance in the judgment of men to prevail And he must take care always to joyn Judgment with Valour in all his Actions A General ought carefully to lay hold on such occasions as offer themselves to defeat his Enemy and judiciously observe to know when to fight and when not A good Commander ought wholly to avoid doing any thing which being but of small moment may only produce evil effects in his Army For to begin a Skirmish or a Combate wherein the whole Forces are not imployed and yet the whole fortune is there laid to stake is a thing savouring too much of rashness And yet I hold it fit that wise and experienced Commanders when they meet with a new Enemy that is of Reputation before they come to joyn Battel should cause their Souldiers to make trial of them by some light Skirmishes to the end that beginning to know them and to have to deal with them they may be rid of that Terror which the Report and Reputation of these men have put them in And this part in a General is of exceeding great importance for these small experiences made by the Souldiers will cause them to cast off that terror which by means of the Enemies Reputation had possessed them Thus Livy saith that Valerius Corvinus was sent by the Romans to make some small Skirmishes with the Samnites that a new War and a new Enemy might not affright them But a good Commander must be very careful that nothing arise which upon any accident may take away the Courage and Hearts of his Souldiers Now that which may be of force to take away their Courage is to begin with loss And therefore a Commander should be very careful how he engageth any of his Troops in small Skirmishes and that he send no parties out of his Army upon any occasion without taking care that they be commanded by good Commanders and that the Officers that Command such Parties have Order not to engage themselves with the Enemy unless they have some certain hopes of Victory Nor ought he to undertake to guard any passages where he cannot bring his whole Army together Nor should he keep any Towns unless it be those upon loss whereof his utter ruine followeth And those that he guardeth he should take such care both for their Defences and also with his Army that when-ever the Enemy hath any design to assail them he may make use of all his Forces to the rescue of them If you have any certain hopes of starving your Enemy or putting him to a retreat for want of Provisions your securest way then will be not to fight with him especially if your Enemy be of equal strength with you or stronger than you are If a Commander in Chief discovereth his Enemies Foot to be lodged in their night Quarters in a Campagnia with their Carriages it were good then to charge them in the night with so many Horse as you shall think fit in several places and leave part of your Horse and Dragoons to make good their retreat upon occasion If it falleth so out that your Horse cannot totally rout your Enemies Foot let them have Order to fire their Ammunition and so retreat It is very fit a General should often command his Horse and Dragoons to fall upon his Enemies outermost Horse-Quarters The which is one of the readiest easiest and securest ways that I know of to break an Enemies Army A General is not so much blamed for making trial of an ill-digested project as he will be for the obstinate continuing in the same Therefore the speediest leaving of any such enterprise doth excuse the rashness which might be imputed to the beginning Difficulties of extremity are never better cleared than by adventurous and desperate undertaking And hence groweth the difference between true Valour and fool-hardy Rashness being but one and the same thing if they were not distinguished by the subject wherein they are shewed For to run headlong into strange adventures upon no just occasion were to shew more levity than discretion and again to use the like boldness in cases of extremity deserveth the opinion of vertuous endeavours A General should always be careful so soon as he cometh out of the Field to visit his Frontier Towns and take with him some of his best Commanders and some of his choice Engineers and to see what Fortifications his Frontier Towns want and to give order for the repairing of such wants and likewise to take care that the Magazines be furnished with a years provision and that he give especial Command to the Governours of his Frontier Towns to be careful by their vigilance and good itnelligence to prevent sudden surprises and valiantly to defend their Towns and providently to dispose of their provisions in case they should be besieged Concerning Spies you must be always suspitious of them because as it is a dangerous task for him that undertaketh so it is also for him that imployeth them And that Spies may not agree to give false advice they should be examined severally that by the agreement or disagreement of their advices you may judge whether they be good and by the verification of those which speak true or false you shall know who betrayeth you or doth you true Service But this is not all to beware of your own Spies you must also take heed of those of the Enemy which you must pre-suppose you have in your Camp For this reason besides the secresie which must be used in all enterprises it is good to give a charge by publishing in a still way that you have a quite contrary design to that which you purpose to put in execution that so these Spies may report it to the Enemy But the most effectual means to be well served by these kind of men is to be very liberal to them for they are faithful to those who give them most A General must take care that he have continually Spies in the Enemies Army to know when his Enemy moveth and
the two left hand files of Pikes of the six ranks of Pikes marked with the figures 1 and 2 to charge to their right and left hands over the shoulders of the Musqueteers on the right and left hand marked with the figures 5 and 6. Command also the four files of Musqueteers marked with the aforesaid two figures to turn to their right and left hands When the two right hand files of Pikes are commanded to charge to their right and left hands then command the other twenty files of Pikes in the first three ranks of Pikes marked with the figure 1 to Charge to the front over the shoulders of the Musqueteers marked with the figure 3. Then command the twenty files of Pikes marked with the figure 2 to Charge to the reer over the shoulders of the two ranks of Musqueteers in the reer marked with the figure 4. And the aforesaid Musqueteers must observe to turn to their right hands about when the Pikes are commanded to charge to the reer The Musqueteers which are placed without-side of the Pikes marked with the figures 3 4 5 and 6 must stand ready with their Matches Cock and Pans guarded and to be ready to give fire either by one rank at a time or two ranks as the Officers shall see occasion to command them the which must be done after this manner If you command only the outermost ranks of Musqueteers to give fire then must you command them to present kneeling on their right knees and command them to level so low with their Musquets that they may shoot at the horses legs by that means they will shoot clear under the tops of your Pikes being charged If you please to command two ranks of Musqueteers to give fire at one time then as soon as the Musqueteers are ready to present command your Pikemen to port their Pikes then command all the Musqueteers without-side of the Pikes to present where the first ranks of Musqueteers are to kneel on their right knees then the second tanks of Musqueteers must move up close to the first ranks of Musqueteers every Musqueteer in the second ranks stepping forwards with their right legs within the in-side of their Leaders right legs then they must step forwards with their left legs close up by their Leaders left legs without-side of their Leaders legs and present their Musquets over their Leaders heads in the first rank When the Musqueteers have thus presented command them to give fire And if Horse charge a Division of Foot which stand in the same order that this Division of Horse doth marked with the figures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 You must command your Pikemen to charge again and be careful to place the Captains Lieutenants and Serjeants of the Division on the four corners of the Division as you see them in the foregoing figure marked with the figure 7. CHAP. XVI Some Observations concerning the Marching of an Army You must be careful before you march with your Army into the Field to see your Souldiers well Cloathed well Armed and well Disciplined and that you be stored with Shooes and Stockings for the March and also with Ammunition Bread and Mony If you be not careful of this you will soon bring your Army to ruine You must also have a great care of those Souldiers which fall sick or are hurt upon a March for this alone will not only encourage Souldiers to undergo any danger or labour but by it you will win their affections so that they will never forsake you You ought to know the nature of the Country the quality of the ways the compendiousness of turning the nature of Hills and the course of Rivers through which you are to march And the best way to know these things is by good Guides and good Maps For he that leadeth an Army by an unknown and undiscovered way and marching blindfold upon uncertain adventures is subject to many casualties and disadvantages Let every Commander therefore perswade himself that good Discoverers are as the eye of an Army and serve for lights in the darkness of ignorance to direct the resolutions of good providence and to make the path of safety so manifest that he need not stumble upon casualties For that which a General should chiefly observe upon a March is first Safety and next Convenience If you March into a Country which is hard to enter and which hath but few passages whereby to enter into it you must force one and before you go farther you must there fortifie as well to assure your way for your necessaries as for your retreat For a General must be careful never to March into any such place where his Enemy may be able to cut off his Provisions or his Retreat It is most convenient and ready to have your Divisions of Horse and Foot to march at the same strength or some ten or twelve men more in a Division than you intend to fight them by which means your Army will be much more ready upon any occasion to be imbattelled And your Officers and Souldiers being used to march with their Divisions in the same strength and order as you intend to fight them will not be so apt to be in a disorder as that Army that doth not use to march with their Divisions of Horse and Foot at the same strength as they intend to fight them Your Regiments of Horse and Foot ought to be divided into Brigades your Foot into three Brigades and your Horse into six Brigades if you be twelve Regiments of Horse strong or above It is most necessary to use your Brigades and your Divisions of Horse and Foot to march in Battalia when time and ground will give leave for otherwise you will not be able to march three hundred paces in the view of an Enemy with your Brigades imbattelled but your Divisions of Horse and Foot will be apt to lose their distances and by consequence will be most apt to fall into a confusion You must be careful to be furnished at the least at every quarter with three Guides If you be to march in the night you ought to have six Before you set forwards your Guides must be agreed upon the way which they will take There must also be a Captain of the Guides a man of spirit and vigilance and one that may take care to get Guides from place to place You must be careful to carry with you the Maps of the Country through which you are to march The best way to keep your men from straggling upon a march when they pretend to go out of their ranks and files to drink or to ease themselves is this let them have command to leave their Pikes or Musquets with their Camerades and the Lieutenant and Serjeant ought to see this order observed You ought upon a march to send out some parties of Horse or Foot according as the situation of the Country and the strength of the Enemy requireth in the Van-guard and flanks of
fight wherefore you ought always to have half your Horsemen to watch on horse-back one half of the night and the other the other half of the night and when the one half of your Horsemen watcheth the other half of your Horsemen must be saddled and the Officers and Horsemen be in their cloaths Your innermost Horse-quarters which lie safer than your outermost Horse-quarters when the one half of your Horsemen watcheth the other half may be unsaddled but your Officers and Horsemen must not lie out of their Cloaths And the Officers in each quarter ought to have order upon any alarm that as soon as they are drawn in Arms they should make all the haste they can to assist their Camerades that are assaulted in their quarters and that an Officer in Chief in each quarter go two or three Rounds in a night And this order of watching ought to be observed in your Horse-quarters if you lie within twenty miles of any Garrison of your Enemy that is able to affront any of your quarters The General of an Army ought always upon a March to give out two words at night the one for a Watch-word and the other for a Field-word The Officers ought to receive both but the Souldiers only the Field-word the which ought not to be given to the Souldiers unless there be an Alarm Towns and Villages that lie in a Champaign Country are most fit for Horse-quarters the Towns and Villages that lie in an inclosed Country are most fit for Foot-quarters CHAP. XVIII Some certain Observations to be kept in the fighting of Battels and some Directions for the Imbattelling of an Army WE may observe two especial ends which the great Commanders of the World have ever striven to atchieve Victory and Over mastering their Enemies The latter by cunning and wisely carrying of a matter before it come to trial by blows the former by forceable means and fighting a Battel the one proceeding from Wisdom and the better faculties of the soul the other depending upon the strength and abilities of the body The latter end is principally to be embraced as the safest course in these uncertain and casual events For that which resteth upon corporal strength and maketh execution the way to a conclusion is full of hazard and little certainty And yet of all the actions of War the most glorious and most important is to know how to give Battel For the art of imbattelling an Army hath always been esteemed the chiefest point of skill in a General for skill and practice do more towards the Victory than multitude seeing the gaining of one or two Battels acquireth or subverteth whole Empires Kingdoms or Countrys And therefore a General of an Army ought to know all the advantages which may be taken in a day of Battel and how to prepare against disadvantages which may happen Concerning both which I will here give you my opinion Advantages bring hope of Victory and hope conceiveth such spirits as usually follow when the thing which is hoped for is effected whereby the courage becometh hardy and resolute in Victory and where the Souldiers fear no overthrow they are more than half Conquerours So on the other side disadvantages and danger breed fear and fear so checketh valour and controuleth the spirits that Vertue and Honour give place to distrust and yield up their interest to such directors as can afford nothing but diffidence and irresolutions It is most necessary for a General in the first place to approve his Cause and settle an opinion of right in the minds of his Officers and Souldiers the which can be no way better done than by the Chaplains of an Army Also a General ought to speak to the Colonels of his Army to encourage their Officers with a desire to fight with the Enemy and all the Officers to do the like to their Souldiers And the better to raise the common Souldiers spirits let their Officers tell them that their General doth promise them if they will fight courageously with their Enemy and do get the day that they shall have besides the Pillage of the Field twelve-pence apiece to drink to refresh their spirits when the business is done The which I am confident will make the common men fight better than the best Oration in the world It is very fit a General should use his best endeavour to understand the strength of his Enemies Horse and Foot and how they are armed both with Offensive and Defensive Arms and what proportion of Pikes they have to their Musqueteers Also he must endeavour to know by name and place the Chief Officers of his Enemies Army and their abilities in Martial Affairs by the which means he may guess where the Chief Commanders do command in a day of Battel So he may easily know how to place his Army best for his own advantage This if carefully observed will be of very great use You ought to know that novelties and unexpected adventures are very successful in Battels and in all Martial designs A General must be careful never to hazard a Battel with his Enemy when he findeth him imbattelled in a ground of advantage although he do out-number him much with men The safest way then will be to fight with him by Famine For although a Generals Fortune should be generally subject to his will yet by his wisdom he should rather follow Reason than Fortune in such cases A General ought to be careful when an Enemy approacheth near him to send out some two or three knowing Officers with a good strong party of Horse and Dragooners to make good the Horsemens retreat upon occasion whereby to discover the Enemies strength and order of his March and that they take notice of what advantages may be taken of the ground which lieth between them And the party that is sent ought to have order if it be possible to take some stragglers that the General may the better understand the strength and condition of his Enemies Army If you intend to give Battel you must have regard to these principal things that follow You must never suffer your self to be forced to fight against your will and never to fight your Souldiers when their spirits are either dismayed or cast down If you resolve to fight with your Enemy then you ought to choose a place for the Battel fit for the quality and number of your Souldiers For if you fear to be inclosed by a great number you ought to shelter your flanks or at least one of them by the nature of the place as by a River Wood or some other thing equivalent If you be weak in your Cavalry you must avoid the Plains or fight with Foot amongst your Horse as is shewed in the three next Battels If you be strong in Horse you must avoid strait passages or inclosed places You ought to know that directions are the life of Action and the sinews and strength of Martial Discipline and therefore you must give punctual orders
If you perceive you have more Pikemen in your Army than your Enemy or if your Pikemen be better armed with Defensive Arms or with longer Pikes and that you have no advantage of him in your Artillery nor the Enemy in the ground upon which you are to advance then make what orderly hast you can continually skirmishing with your Enemy with the Van-guard of your Foot to bring your men to push of Pike with your Enemy When you have done that you must give order to the Officers in Chief that Command the Battel of your Army that they be careful to advance so with the Battel to front with the Van-guard of the Enemy some little while before your men come to push of Pike that at that time you may bring as many men to fight as you can The disadvantages that may happen to the Foot in a day of Battel are these The greatest is to be beaten by the Horse either on the one flank or both flanks and therefore the Foot Officers ought to imbattel their Foot so that they may be able to shelter their Musqueteers by their Pikes from the charge of any Horse The way how it may be done is shewed plainly in the three next Battels Another disadvantage is to be out-flanked by your Enemies Foot to prevent which your Chief Officers that command on the flanks of the Foot ought to have Order that as soon as they perceive they are or shall be out-flanked upon one or both the flanks they should draw up the Reer-guard of their Foot unto one or both flanks of the Van-guard of their Foot as they shall see cause Another disadvantage that the Foot may have is to be out-shot by the Enemies Artillery In case it falleth out so then when you once come within shot of your Enemies Artillery your Horse ought to have order to advance as orderly and speedily as they may until they come to encounter with the Enemies Horse If you fight with Foot amongst your Horse your Horse and your Foot must advance together Likewise you must advance with your Foot and Artillery as orderly and speedily as may be until you come within shot of your Enemy with your Artillery without shooting either with your Cannon or Musquets If you understand that your Enemy hath more Pikemen in his Army than you have or his Pikemen better armed with Defensive Arms or their Pikes to be longer than yours then ought you to avoid as much as you can the bringing of your Souldiers to push of Pike In case the Musqueteers in the Van guard of your Foot do come to want Powder or your Divisions of Foot in the Van-guard of your Army have lost so many men that they need relief from their reserves in the Battel then let the Officers in the Van-guard of the Foot have special command not to retreat with the Van-guard of Foot by no means but to advance skirmishing easily towards the Enemy until their reserves be marched by them Then let their Officers Command them to stand and see that their Bandaliers be furnished with Powder and Bullet and set them in order with as much expedition as may be and then let them march up within an hundred and fifty paces of the Reer-guard of Foot and to be in a readiness to second them upon any occasion A General ought to give particular Orders to all the Officers in Chief of his Army before the Battel begins in writing if he have time that the Officers in Chief may know how to Command their Souldiers to make use of all the advantages that he conceiveth may happen unto them in a day of Battel that upon any neglect of his Officers for not making use of any such opportunities the excuse of not having Order for the same may be taken away Likewise it should be written in their Orders how they ought to prevent any disadvantages that a General conceiveth may befal them The which will not only prevent excuses but according to the old saying He that is forewarned is fore-armed Set upon your Enemy when he is affrighted and distracted for there is nothing then to be expected of your Enemy but despair and confusion A General must be careful to give a very strict Order to his Officers and Souldiers that not a man of them offer to Pillage before the Field be clear of the Enemy and that such Officers as do suffer their Souldiers to Pillage before the Field be clear of the Enemy shall suffer for the same as the Souldiers for Pillaging Before the Battel begins you ought to give out a Field-word both to your Officers and Souldiers and besides your word that your Souldiers and Officers may the better be able to know one the other being mixt with the Enemy they ought to wear something or other about them to be known from the Enemy After the winning of a Battel a General should follow his Victory with all the expedition that he may either by keeping his Enemy from gathering an head again or presently falling upon some Countries or Towns where he thinks he may do his Enemy the most hurt For the yieldings after a Victory if well prosecuted are better than the Victory it self because when people are in suspence and great fear and confusion as it happeneth in sudden things it is a singular time to obtain Victories or some honourable composition The fruit of Victory consisteth in the well using of it which whosoever doth not incurreth an infamy so much the greater than not to know how to overcome by how much it is a greater fault to be deceived by the things that are in a mans power than by those that depend upon fortune Likewise a General is to take care for recruiting of his Army upon all occasions but especially after a Battel Although those things which are here before set down seem easie to understand and very easie to practise yet are they so often neglected by Commanders in Chief either in neglecting to make use of advantages or not giving out punctual Orders before a Battel for the aforesaid things or through the neglect of such as should put their directions in execution that one or more of the aforesaid neglects are always the loss of Battels And the loss of two or three Battels proveth the loss of Countries and Kingdoms He that desireth either that a City defend it self obstinately or that an Army in the Field fight it out resolutely must try his Wits to make an impression in the breasts of them that are to fight that such a necessity lieth upon them And it much helpeth an Army towards the winning of a Battel to make them confident that in any case they cannot doubt of Victory The things that give them this confidence are that they be well armed and well ordered For when Valour is accompanied with good Order and good Discipline it makes good use of the fury in such manner and at such times that no difficulty abateth it nor
being unable to make experience of their valour you lose or are in danger to lose your Enterprise Thus it came to pass at the coming of the French into Italy in the year one thousand five hundred and fifteen in the time of Francis the First King of France where it manifestly appeared to what pass it came to hold difficult places ill to be kept and to stop passages as you may see in Guicciard lib. 12. For the reasons aforesaid the Romans never held nor guarded the passages against Hannibal but rather would that their Armies should fight in open places where they might overcome him than to send them to the Mountains to be consumed with cold or other discommodities of those places CHAP. XXI Some certain Observations touching the profitableness of Intrenching and some Directions for the same THE Intrenchment incloseth your Army as a walled City from whence you may march privately with such designs leaving your Baggage in safety The Intrenchment hindereth the Enemy from constraining you to fight unless when you please The Intrenchment causeth you to take strong Cities in the face of a more puissant Army than your own Briefly the Intrenchment is less subject to Infection than the Villages are In effect an Army Intrenched and hutted will rather subsist three months in Health in a Camp in the Summer-time than a fortnight in the best Villages One of the most necessary parts of War is to know how well to incamp and intrench When you come to besiege a Town before which you intend to intrench your Army you ought to place your line of Circumvolation so near the Town that you may be able to quarter your Army within it safely from your Enemies Shot allowing an hundred and fifty foot for an Alarm-place between the Breast work and the front of the Quarters The Trench without your Breast-work must be twelve foot in breadth and six foot in depth and three foot in breadth at the bottom And the Earth that cometh out of the Trench will raise you a Breast-work or Rampier of twelve foot in breadth at the bottom six foot in height and three foot in breadth at the top with one foot bank Upon your line of Circumvolation at the distance of every two hundred paces you ought to have a Spur upon your line to flank it And before the Quarters of every Regiment upon your line of Circumvolation you must leave a small Avenue that one single man and no more may be able to pass through at a time You must likewise have in your line of Circumvolation four great Avenues for Carriages to pass through and upon the great Avenues you must set up Turn-pikes and without every Turn-pike there must be an Half-Moon Here note your Army must be divided into as many Quarters as you intend to have approaches against the Town And you must raise some Batteries close within the line of Circumvolation there where you think the most advantageous places may be for the same for the annoying of any Enemy that may come to trouble you If you suppose your Enemy may come so strong as to attempt the forcing of your Quarters then ought the Trench of your line of Circumvolation to be in breadth sixteen foot and in depth eight and in breadth at bottom six foot You ought likewise to have some Out-works both Half-Moons and Horn-works within Musquet-shot of your Rampier or Breast-work And if there be any Hills somewhat above Musquet-shot off from your line of Circumvolation that may be advantageous to your Enemy for the planting of his Ordnance to play upon your Breast-work or any part of your Quarters you ought upon such an Hill to raise a Sconce Thus you ought to observe and do if you intend to fortifie your Leaguer strongly for to prevent a powerful Army from forcing your Quarters If you have a desire upon any occasion to Intrench your Army in the Field for their better safety your best way then will be to draw your Army into as little a compass of ground as you may with convenience For the less compass your Rampier is the easier it will be to defend And if you have any occasion to send out any part or parts of your Army upon any design those which are left the less compass of ground they have to desend the better they will be able to do it The Sod or Turf which you are to face your Intrenchment withal if you are likely to have any Winter-Siege or any long Siege must be four or five inches long or thereabouts and in length fourteen or fifteen inches diminished inwards CHAP. XXII Some certain Observations about the taking of Towns and strong Places THere are seven ways to win Castles strong Holds and fortified Towns First by Treachery Secondly by Surprise as by Petarring the Ports and by Assaults Thirdly by Approaches Batteries and Assaults Fourthly by Approaches Mining Batteries and Assaults Fifthly by Intrenching Approaches Mining Battery and Assaults Sixthly by Composition Seventhly by Starving Philip of Macedon esteemed no place strong where his Ass loaden with Gold might enter For the attempting or taking of Towns by Surprise is very commendable in Officers and sometimes very successful where the Officers have good Intelligence and carry their business secretly carefully orderly and valiantly And there is no adventure for surprising a place more safe in War than that which is farthest from suspicion of being undertaken and by such sudden designs one may gain that in one hour the which may not be gotten any other way under a years service of an Army or two In the besieging of all Towns a Commander must be careful that his Enemy be not able to cut off his Victual or his Retreat and that he besiege no Town but such as he is able to cut off all relief from the Besieged A Commander in Chief ought likewise to be careful how he adventureth upon Winter-Sieges and long Winter-Services or long Sieges at any time unless the consequence of the place requireth it and that he be sure to take it in the end Long Sieges ruine Armies empty the Purse and most commonly it falleth out so that it hindreth Armies from better imployments and after a long Siege though things fall out according to a Commanders desire he will have little reason to brag of his Victory when he vieweth his Expences his Time and his Army The malice of a great Army is broken and the force of it spent in a great Siege Hannibal entring into Italy with his Army to make War upon the Romans would not be drawn to besiege any of their Towns all his War was to weaken them in Force and Reputation knowing that when he was absolute Master of the Field it would not be long e're the walled Cities would open their Gates without expecting any Engineer or Battery If a General besiegeth any Town in which his intelligence or his opinion hath deceived him so much that he hath little hope of
taking it the speedy leaving off any such Enterprise doth excuse the rashness which might be imputed to the beginning and a Chief Commander is not so much blamed for making trial of an ill-digested project as he is for the obstinate continuing in the same and if he refuseth to be led by reason in such a case as being the best means to guide him to convenient ends he is commonly constrained by the commanding warrant of necessity to undergo the same thing upon harder conditions It is most difficult to accomplish the design of a Siege especially of any In land Town so long as you have a good Army incamped near you or likely to attend you speedily the which Army will be able to cut off your Victuals or constrain you to fight unless you have two Bodies of Armies that so with the one you may hold your Enemy in play and with the other you may actuate without impeachment or unless you be Master at Sea of your Enemy and then you may besiege any Sea Town of your Enemy with one Army without any hazard at all if you can have time to intrench your self strongly before your Enemy be able to inforce you to fight The surest safest and speediest way of taking any Town if it requireth above three weeks Siege and if your Enemy be able to bring any force to put relief into it or to force you to fight is by intrenching your self before them And when you are intrenched before a Town where your Enemies hopes in making you to quit it do consist in nothing else but in cutting off your Victuals you ought to have that foresight to bring with you or cause to be brought into your Leaguer out of the Country so much Victuals as you judge to be necessary to serve your turn for the taking of the Town This way you may take a Town with one Army though your Enemy speedily attendeth you with another Army If you make a Siege with a small Army with an intent to starve a strong Garrison you must fortifie your Quarters one after another with the whole body of your Army and then if you think fit you may run lines from one quarter to another Every Commander knoweth that mans flesh is the best Fortification that belongs to a Town and where a Town is well manned the best way of taking it is by Starving and when a Town is weakly manned the best way of taking it is by Battery and Assaults or by Approaches Mining Battery and Assaults One thing more I could advise a Commander in Chief to be careful of and that is not to assault any Town or Place without great probability of obtaining that which he desireth and never to assault a Town but when he may assault it at divers places at once There is nothing so suddenly ruineth Armies as Assaults when they miscarry For a General is certain to have his best men killed and spoiled upon such designs and the rest so much discouraged that it would prove very dangerous unto an Army if they should suddenly after it fight Mines where you may come to make them are much better than Batteries for the taking of Towns or Castles because they always prove much more dangerous and terrible to an Enemy by means of their sudden and unexpected operations and all sudden and unexpected actions are very successful in all Martial Affairs A Commander cannot take any place of strength with any certainty or safety without the use both of Batteries and Mines A Chief Commander when he marcheth to besiege a Town ought to carry with him as much Mony Ammunition Victuals and all other necessaries as is possible to be carried for the Siege and those necessaries that he cannot carry with him he must be careful to furnish himself withal with as much expedition as may be for fear his Enemy may find out some way that he doth not think of to prevent him of his necessaries or at least cause them to be brought to him with much danger and trouble The first thing you are to do when you are marching towards a Town to besiege it is to send the most of your Horse and Dragooners and with them likewise near as many Musqueteers as you send Horse about three or four days before the body of your Army that you may thereby keep all supplies from coming to the Town and command your Horsemen to take up the Musqueteers now and then behind them upon the March that they may be able to make the more expedition You ought also to send along with the Horse your Quarter-Master General and some two or three of your chief Engineers that they may by that time your Army cometh up have pricked out the line of Circumvolation and the Quarters for your Army and to view how many approaches you may conveniently make towards the Town For so many approaches as you make so many quarters ought you to divide your Army into After your Engineers and Quarter Master-General have pricked out the line of Circumvolation and the quarters then so soon as your Army cometh to the quarters draw them into their Quarters and command them to Hut with all the expedition they can Likewise the line of Circumvolation ought to be divided into as many parts as there are quarters according to the strength of the Regiments in each quarter Then the Quarter-Masters of the Regiments of Foot ought to divide the ground equally amongst their Regiments and each Quarter-Master of a Regiment is to measure out to each Company of his Regiment their ground and the Officers are presently to set the Souldiers their work for the raising of the line of Circumvolation And the Souldiers ought to know when occasion requireth them to intrench themselves that it doth as properly belong to their Duty to intrench themselves as to stand Centry or to carry their Arms. As soon as the earth is out of the Ditch for the raising of your Rampier then may you begin your approaches And you must always be careful to break ground at the first as near the Town as possibly you may with convenience And that you may break ground the nearer and your men be the more bold set your Pioners and some others to work as you come to your Quarters for the making of great store of Cannon-Baskets which may serve you in good stead for this use At the beginning of every night set them up before those which are to break ground and on each hand of those Cannon-Baskets which you set up before the Souldiers that are to break ground you ought to set some Cannon-Baskets for the safeguard of the Guards Your approaches ought always to be well flanked with Redoubts and Batteries If a General come before a Town where is but a weak Garrison and many Out-works to the Town more than the Garrison is well able to defend it will be good then for a General to attempt taking of some of the Out-works and if he take
any he ought to begin his approaches from thence The best time to assault the Out-works will be in the night Through all dry Motes you are to approach the Rampier of a Town by Galleries under ground under the dry Mote of the Town And through all wet Motes you are to approach to the Rampier of a Town by Galleries above ground But in running your Gallery under a dry Mote you must have a care that it be not discovered to the Enemy by carrying the earth out of your Gallery The next thing you must have a care of is that you do inform your self rightly before you begin your Gallery of what depth the Mote is that you may begin to make your Gallery so far back as to be sure to run your Gallery under the bottom of your Enemies Mote For if your Enemy once discovereth against what part of the Wall you are running your Gallery it is ten to one but your Enemy may prevent you either by hindering you from advancing your Gallery to the Rampier or by rubbing your Mines When you have advanced your Galleries to the Rampier let those that are appointed to assault the Breaches and the Ports have Souldiers appointed to throw Hand-granadoes and to fall on with them and give order to those that are appointed to assault the Breaches and scale the Walls that as soon as they are gotten within the Wall or Rampier of the Town with a reasonable number of men they march unto that Port that is next them and open it to let in the Foot and Horse that do there attend And for this purpose there ought to be some Souldiers appointed to carry fit Instruments for the breaking open the Gates of a Town When a Port is opened let the Officers have order presently to repair to the Market place with their Souldiers for clearing of the Enemy from that place And you ought to command the Officers and Souldiers that no man offer to pillage upon pain of death until all the Enemy within the Town that carry Arms be either killed or disarmed Besides the word you give to your Souldiers to know one the other by you should command them to wear something about them that they may know one the other from the Enemy If your Officers when they assault a Town do find the Town to be cut off by the Enemy by raising any works within the Rampier or Wall of the Town then a Chief Commander should give Orders to the Officers appointed for the Assault that in case they find any such thing then they should do their best to plant themselves with their Souldiers on the top of the Rampier only which must be done by help of the Engineers Work-basis and Pioners who must be appointed to be in a readiness with Saccots in their hands when they shall be called upon to fortifie any place that the Souldiers may possess themselves of if occasion require The like order must be observed in assaulting of Out-works as is here set down in this last observation concerning the assaulting of a Town You ought likewise to have in a readiness Ovens to heat Cannon-Bullets red-hot upon all such Batteries whereby you can conveniently come to shoot them into the Town Likewise your Mortar-pieces must be so conveniently placed that you may shoot Mortar-granadoes into the Town and wait a little to see the effect of your Fire-Bullets and Granadoes Here note that you must not shoot any Fire-Bullets nor Mortar-Granadoes into the Town until one half hour before you begin to assault For if you do use the Fire-Bullets and Mortar-Granadoes before the aforesaid time you will teach your Enemy to find out a way to prevent you for doing any mischief with them at your Assault And likewise your Enemy being used to them the fear of the danger of them will by use be taken away 〈…〉 upon your Assault 〈…〉 and your men drawn out and 〈…〉 for the Assault of the Breaches and your Ordnance playing with Fire-Bullets and your Mortar-pieces with their Granadoes then spring your Mines and give a general Assault One thing more I think fit to add to this Discourse There are two ways for blocking up of an Haven or a River The first is You must make of Iron a thing in form of a Frisrutter the beams through which the cross-bars go must be twelve foot in length and the cross-bars that go through the beam must be of that length that when one of these iron Frisrutters is set down into an Haven or River the cross-bars of the iron Frisrutter must be of that length as to reach upon an High-water within six foot of the top of the water This is one of the best inventions that I know for the blocking up of an Haven or River There is no way that I know to remove these Frisrutters out of an Haven or River which is blockt up with them and having so many of these Frisrutters made in a readiness before-hand as will block up an Haven or River upon which you have a design and having all other necessaries in a readiness for the letting of those Frisrutters down into the Haven or River you may block up an Haven or River in four and twenty hours time There is another way of blocking up an Haven or River by throwing great Stones into them and leaving small passages for the water to pass through By this Invention the King of France won Rochel CHAP. XXIII Some Directions for the Removing of an Army that is Intrenched before a Town IF an Enemy be intrenched before a Town it most often proveth hard to remove him if he hath men enough to defend his line of Circumvolation and keep his Approaches The most usual ways to remove an Enemy which is intrenched before a Town are these four The first is to attempt the cutting off your Enemies Provisions from him The second is if your Enemy hath by over-sight left some Hills near the Town without his line of Circumvolation unfortified and if the Hills be so that Ordnance being planted upon them they will command the ground between them and the Town then you may by possessing your self of these Hills force your way to the Town either by a forceable Assault under the shelter of your Cannon or by Approaches Or if any Hills lie so that you may command the ground close within your Enemies line of Circumvolation planting Ordnance on them that your men may under succour of your Ordnance be able to force your Enemies line of Circumvolation then you may beat him off his line of Circumvolation and so force his Quarter The third way is to march into some of your Enemies Countries The fourth and last way is to besiege some of his Chief Towns that you have certain intelligence do want either Men Victual or Ammunition such Horses as he intendeth to keep in his Garrison in a Siege If a Garrison lieth so that it cannot easily be relieved with Ammunition then the