was marshal'd in one Division I know some are of opinion that the Majors Company should be in the Reer Objection against that way of marshalling of the Lieutenant-Colonels Division because the third place of honour in the Regiment belongs to him and the Colonel having the Van of the first Division and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the second the Major should have the Reer of the second Division because it is the Reer of the whole Regiment I should easily subscribe to this if it were not for two reasons First though it be but Answered one Regiment yet being divided it should be lookt on as two distinct Bodies and it is more honourable to have the Reer of the first than of the last Secondly when a Regiment is divided into two parts the Major ought to wait and lodg at the quarter of that Division of the Regiment where the Colonel is because from him he receives his Orders Directions and the Word which he is not oblig'd to carry to the Lieutenant-Colonel if the quarters of the two Divisions be divided as many times they are but the oldest Captain is obliged to come and receive them from the Major at the Colonels Quarter the first Captain in that case officiating as Major for the Lieutenant-Colonels Batallion Now if the Major ought to be where the Colonel is as I think he should then I think the Majors Company should be where himself is The Great Gustavus used another way of marshalling his Regiments and Brigades of Foot which taken altogether was not square of front yet all the four parts or Bodies which composed it were square The manner was this Regiment or Brigade marshal'd a third way Suppose one of his Brigades to be eighteen hundred men as I can assure you he had many weaker whereof twelve hundred were Musqueteers and six hundred were Pikemen the Pikes advanced twenty paces before the two Bodies of Musqueteers who immediately join'd to fill up the void place the Pikemen had possest Then were the Pikes divided into three equal Bodies two hundred to each Batallion the middle Body whereof advanced before the other two so far that its Reer might be about ten paces before the Van of the other two The two Bodies of Pikes that staid behind were order'd to open a little to both hands and then stand still all fronting one way to the Enemy by this means the place which the two hundred Pikes possest in the middle remaining void there were two passages like sally-ports between the Reer of the advanced Body of Pikes and the two Batallions that staid behind out of one whereof on the right hand issued constantly one or two or more hundreds of Musqueteers who before all the three Bodies of Pikes gave incessantly fire on the Enemy and when the word or sign for a Retreat was given they retir'd by the other passage on the left hand back to the great Body of Musqueteers where so many of them as came back unwounded were presently put in rank and file the fire continuing without intermission by Musqueteers who still sallied thorough the passage on the right hand and it is to be observed that the firemen fought thus in small Bodies each of them not above five files of Musqueteers and these for most part but three deep So you may consider that near the third part of the Musqueteers being on service the other two thirds were securely shelter'd behind the three Batallions of Pikemen who were to be compleatly arm'd for the defensive These Pikes had Field pieces with them which fir'd as oft as they could as well as the Musqueteers this continued till the Pikemen came to push of Pike with the Enemy if both parties staid so long as seldom they did and then the Musqueteers were to do what they were order'd to do and the order did depend on emergencies and accidents which as they could not be then seen so no certain rules could be given for them In this order did I see all the Swedish Brigades drawn up for one year after the Kings death but after that time I saw it wear out when Defensive Arms first and then Pikes came Worn out to be neglected and by some vilipended For the March of a Regiment if it can all march in one breast it should The March of a Regiment do so but if not and if the ground permit it let the right hand of Musqueteers march in breast next it the Body of Pikes and after it the left wing of Musqueteers But if none of these can be then as many should march in one petty Division as the way can permit as suppose twelve eight or ten and so soon as you come to open ground you are to march presently in Squadrons or as they are now called Squads or in full Battel that is the Regiment all in one front for by that means your Soldiers are readiest to receive an Enemy they march in a more comely order and straggle far less than when they march few in breast and in a long row The Major appoints Captains Lieutenants and Ensigns to lead Divisions and Serjeants to attend the flanks every one according to their dignities but for my own part I never thought it convenient much less necessary that every small Division of a Regiment should have a Bringer up since he must be as some will have it a Commission'd Officer as well as the Leader of a Division should be For first consider that in a Regiment of one thousand strong there are an hundred sixty and six files and admit that the way will permit eight files to march in breast as that falls not always out by that account you shall have one and twenty Divisions consisting of eight Files apiece multiply twenty one by eight the Product is a hundred and Reasons why every petty Division cannot have a Bringer up sixty eight Files which consists of a thousand and eight men eight more than the number Reckon again how many Commission'd Officers you have in ten Companies besides the three Field-Officers you shall have but twenty nine now of these twenty one must be allow'd to lead the Divisions and by that account you have but nine Officers to bring up so you want thirteen Commission'd Officers for that imployment for Serjeants should neither be permitted to lead or bring up but in case of necessity their duty being to attend the flanks Besides all Commission'd Officers are not always present some frequently being either sick wounded or absent on furloff It will be enough therefore if all these petty Divisions be led by Commission'd Officers which yet cannot be unless you allow some Ensign-bearers to stay from their 〈…〉 ours and by this means you may spare six foot of ground between two Divisions for those who will allow Bringers up allow eighteen foot between two Divisions to wit six foot between the Reer of the first Division and him that brings it up secondly six foot between
hinder either Prince or State to appoint the depth of their Batallions to be twelve ten eight or six deep as they think fit though by some of them the Bodies cannot be subdivided till they come to one File or one Rank for it was never seen nor do I fansie it can be imagin'd that ever such an emergency of War will fall out that can move a General unless he be to File his Army along a very narrow Bridge or a very narrow way to marshal all his Foot either in one Rank or one File So I conceive the first reason is no reason at all A second Reason is In time of Action an Enemy may charge the Second reason for 16 deep Rear to rencounter whom the Dimaritâ— or Middle-men are commanded with the Half-Files that follow them to face about but without countermarch and sustain the charge By the way observe that in such an occasion the Bringer up or Rear-man hath the command of the Half-File and consequently of the Dimarite or Middle-man himself to whom Aelian gave it before But to the reason it self I give two answers First a Reserve which Aelians Phalange admits not would prevent that danger Secondly I say if they were but twelve in File nay but ten in File they might withstand Answered the charge of an Enemy in both Van and Rear as well as being sixteen deep which I make appear out of Aelian himself thus The Grecian Pikes were all eighteen Foot long except the Macedonians which were twenty one We shall speak of the longest Next Aelian allows one foot and a half of distance between Ranks when they fought which distance he or his Interpreter calls Constipatio Thirdly the same Author allows three foot of the Pikes length for his hands who presents it These grounds being laid which are the Authors own I say that only four Ranks of the Grecian Pikes and five of the Macedonian could do an Enemy any hurt and but hardly so either because between five Ranks there are four distances and for those you are to allow six foot at Aelians account of closest distance next you are by his rule likewise to allow fifteen foot of the Pikes of the fifth Rank to be abated from their length which fifteen being added to six make one and twenty for three foot of the Pikes length of the first Rank being allowed for their hands who hold them you must of necessity grant the like proportion for the rest And so the Macedonian Sarissa did not much advance its point from the fifth Rank beyond the first Rank and therefore the rest behind these five Ranks seem useless But an Enemy attacks the Rear to oppose whom let five Ranks face about and present for if five be sufficient to resist the shock in the Van certainly five may do the same in the Rear And if you will consider it well you will think the points of the Pikes of five Ranks sufficient to give or receive a charge if all the Files be â—err'd together as the Grecians were and as all should be that no interval be given an Enemy to enter between them If then ten Ranks were enough to resist an Enemy in Front and Rear I presume the other six might have been dispos'd of two ways first they might have been bestow'd on the Front and so have extended it to a far greater length which would have brought more hands to fight and not only sav'd the Phalange from being out-wing'd but have put it in a capacity to out-wing the Enemy Secondly these six Ranks might very advantagiously have compos'd a Body apart in the Rear and that should have been a Reserve and then no danger of an Enemy to have troubled the Battel behind But I am afraid you may think I am making up a Grecian Militia of my own unknown to the famous Warriours of that renowned Nation I shall tell you truly and ingenuously my quarrel is only with Aelian because he hath not told us so much as he knew and so much as he was oblig'd to tell us which in this particular is that I am now to tell you and it consists in two things one that Phalanges were not always sixteen deep and secondly that they wanted not always Reserves To prove both be pleased to take the following Instances At Deâ—â—s when the Athenians fought with the Thebans and other Boeotians the Phalanges were all of them eight dâ—â—p and all Phalanges eight deep of them had Reserves At Leuctra Epaminondas his Foot Batallions were all marshall'd in eight Ranks At Siracusa when the Athenian General Niciaâ— was to fight he plac'd his Auxiliaries in the two Wings his Athenians he divided into two great Bodies the half whereof he marshall'd in the Battel between the two Wings the other half he plac'd behind at a distance with And had Reserves command to succour either the Wings or the Battel as they saw them or any of them stand in need of their help and this was a perfect Reserve And observe that his Wings Battel and Reserve were all marshall'd eight deep Take Thucydides a noble Historian and a good Captain for my Author But you will say these were not Macedonian Phalanges true but they were Grecian ones though and the Commanders of them without all peradventure did well enough foresee in what danger their Phalanges of eight deep might be by a sudden charge of an Enemy in the Rear which no question they would have oppos'd by making the last four Ranks face about if their Reserves serv'd not their turn neither could the fourth Rank extend its Pikes being three foot shorter than the Macedonian ones much beyond the first Rank But to take the Objection more fully let us come nearer and view the Great Alexanders Army at Arbela and we shall see he was not at all limited by Aelians rules of a Macedonian Phalange though by it they say he conquer'd the Persian Monarchy Sir Walter Raleigh saith right that in this place Alexander drew up his Forces so that they fac'd to Van Rear and both Flanks but this is not to be understood so that he made his heavy armed Phalange front four several ways for then it should have been immovable and only apt to resist but not to advance which had been both against the intentions of that brave Prince and his actions of that day for he charg'd the Persian Batallions both with his Horse and Foot But the meaning must be that he order'd some Horse and Foot at a distance from his main Battel to face to the Rear for preventing any misfortune there and the like he did on both his Flanks but all these when his main Battel mov'd fac'd to the Van and advanced with it and when it stood they took up their former distances and fac'd as they were appointed And all this was done lest his Army small in comparison of that with Darius should be surrounded If the Army he was afraid to
suitable to so many Guns The Author tells us that King Henry view'd this mighty Army of his near the City of Metz where he saith it was drawn up in Battalia but he forgot A great oversight to inform us here of two very considerable points the one of what altitude or depth both the Foot and Horse were the second what distances were kept or order'd to be kept between the several Files and Ranks both of Horse and Foot and how great the Intervals were between the several Batallions and Bodies as well of the Cavalry as the Infantry for thereby we should have been able not only to have made a probable conjecture but determinately to have known how much ground the whole Army took up in longitude but there are others who are guilty of this neglect as well as this Author of ours who hath fail'd in this With these indeed formidable Forces did the French King intend to defie and fight within the Bowels of the German Empire Charles the Fifth a greater and braver Prince than whom though he had not been elected Emperour of the Romans either for propriety and large extent of Patrimonial Dominions or for personal Courage and Prudence the Western World had not seen since the time of Charles the Great But whilest this Magnanimous King is viewing and exceedingly pleasing himself Henry views his army with the sight of his gallant Army a beggarly and contemptible crew of some Souldiers some Soujats and Grooms and some Countrey Clowns in sight of this great Prince his Nobility in splendid equipage and of his whole Batallions charg'd those who were appointed to guard the Baggage and in spite of the King then in his greatest strength carried a rich and considerable And receives an affront booty into Theonville an Imperial Garrison not far from the place Nor was this affront done so publickly to so powerful an Army at all reveng'd only some Light Horse were sent before the Town to vapour and brave the Imperialists who fail'd not to sally out and skirmish with the French from which bickering neither party carried away any thing but blows And at length Henry's great preparations came to nothing for the two German Princes having not without some stain to their Honour made their Peace with the Emperour without the French Kings privity he was glad to return and defend his own Territories against Charles who was horribly incens'd against him for offering to assist his Rebels for so he call'd those Electors against his Lawful Authority As this French Army which I think so much represented the Phalange Conclusion vanish'd so the Macedonian Phalanx it self on which Aelian bestows the Titles and Epithets of Invincible Inexpugnable and Irresistable after it had in Philips and his Son Alexanders time given the Law to the Eastern World and after their deaths had been kept up by Alexanders Successors and Great Captains the space of one hundred and sixty years yielded to fate and was brought to nothing in Perseus his time and Macedon it self reduced to a Province by the Romans of whose Legions Art and Order of War we are in the next place to take a view PALLAS ARMATA Military Essays ON THE ANCIENT ROMAN ART of WAR BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of the Ancient Roman Government and Militia in General THE hand of Heaven which cast the Empire of the best part of the known World into the lap of the Romans was the more visible in that before they came to any great progress of Conquest and after too their State was Inward Diseases of the Roman State obnoxious to those difficulties which might have render'd it not only incapable to overcome its Enemies but subject to be a prey to any of its Neighbours And of these any who have perus'd their Histories may if they please with me observe them which follow First Their frequent change of Government as from Kings to Consulâ— First then to Consuls joyn'd with Tribunes of the People from these to a Decemvirate from that to Military Tribunes invested with Consular Authority from them to Consuls again from these to a Triumvirate and from that to Emperours Secondly The almost continual â—arrs and debates between the Senate and Second the People not only concerning the â—ex 〈…〉 and division of Lands but even about the Supreme Power of the Governament it self in which the Commons ever gain'd ground and at the long-run obtain'd the principal points and marks of the Soveraignty those were the 〈…〉 of Magistrates yea of the Consuls making and repeating Laws power of Life and Death and the last Appeal Thirdly The constantly Seditious Orations and Practices of the Tribunes Third of the People whereby they publickly obstructed many times the Levies of Souldiers and the pursuance of many Victories gain'd against their Neighbours Whilest the State was yet in its Infancy all those alterations and contentions proceeding from an inward disease of State could not choose but exceedingly weaken it in the undertaking any great action abroad But Fourthly Their Cruelty and Ingratitude to their own Citizens and Captains Fourth who had done them the best and greatest services some whereof I shall instance in in another place few of them all escaping a severe censure enough to withdraw any generous Spirit from a desire to serve them Fifthly Their frequent making Dictators almost upon every sudden apprehension Fifth of fear or supposed danger an Office so unlimited having power to do and command what they pleas'd without comptrol appeal or â—ear to be question'd after their time expired that it is a wonder none of them prevented Julius Câ—sar in usurping the Soveraignty Sixthly Their making two Consuls of equal authority the very fuel of discord Sixth at home and of most dangerous consequence abroad when a powerful Enemy necessitated them to joyn their Forces Take some Instances In one of the Wars against the Volscians Lucius Furius was joyn'd in equal Command with Marcus Furius Camillus that famous Roman who freed his Countrey from the Invasion of the Gauls in this War young Lucius would needs fight sore against old Camillus his advice and well beaten â—e was and had been utterly routed if the old man had not waited hiâ— opportunity and come to his rescue with the Triariâ— Fabius the Dictator nick-nam'd the Cunctator had Minutius joyn'd in equal command with him who would needs with the half of the Army fight Hanâ—â—bal whether the Dictator would or not The Carthaginian beats him and had made an end of him and perhaps of the War too if old Fabius had not parted the fray But the Romans escap'd not so easily at Cannae for there Terentius Varro in spite of his Colleague Paulus Aemilius fought with the same Hannibal where both of them receiv'd such an overthrow that if he who gave it them had follow'd Maharbal's advice and immediately marched he might in all probability have din'd the fifth day after in the Capitol and for
to be these which follow in his observation of the advantages and disadvantages of both The Phalanx being compos'd of sixteen Ranks and of one thousand twenty First advantage of the Phalange four Files of lusty well armed men and at its closest Order or Constipation so long as it is able to preserve its â—orce it bears down all before it for at that posture every Combatant takes up but one foot and a half of ground and suppose their Pikes but eighteen foot long whereas the Sarissas were twenty one of length you may easily compute the points of the fifth Rank or if you will of the sixth Rank to extend three foot before the first Rank of all which I have spoken enough in my Discourses of the Gracian Militia Now though all the Ranks behind the sixth are useless as to the presenting their Pikes or wounding an Enemy yet by the weight and strength of their Bodies they assist the impression of the first six Ranks help the charge to be more forcible and take away all possibility from those that are before them to turn their backs upon the Enemy But this Phalange must have such a Its first disadvantage ground that it may open and close at pleasure and that ground must be plain and even without the encumbrances of Woods Trees Bushes Hedges Ditches Enclosures rising Hills and hollow grounds for any of these is sufficient to disorder it in its parts and that being once done an Enemy with little or no danger may enter at the void places of that great Body when it is disjoyned and Sword-men being once within the points of the Pikes the Pike-men are a prey to them especially to the Roman Legionaries who besides short Swords carried likewise Semispathâ— which I English Daggers Now saith Polybius such a Champaign such a Field as we have described not being to be found every where the Phalange must of necessity stay where it hath meâ— with such a ground and march from it and accept of such as time place or occasion offers as all Armies must do If the first then hath an Enemy free liberty to make himself Master of the Countrey to besiege and force Towns and take all other manner of advantages If the second and that the Field prove improper for the Phalange then the Enemy takes the advantage of the ground enters at the void places and having so dis-array'd it quickly overthrows it Next Polybius grants that the Phalange hath the advantage of the Legion in this that three foot being Its second advantage allowed between two Legionaries whereof I have spoke in my discourse of Intervals and but half so much to two Phalangites When they are both to fight it follows that every Legionary had two Phalangites in front of him and consequently twelve Pikes presented to him for it is already granted that the points of the Pikes of the sixth Rank might be extended before the first Rank so by this account there were twelve men against one an advantage in nature irresistible But on the other part the Phalangites could not fight in Maniples â—ohorts or small Bodies for being Its second disadvantage separated or divided they were quickly broken The Legionaries were so Aâ—med and that they could fight any way either in a great or small Body or Man to Man at any time or in any place let the incumbrances be what they will Let us resume all this and say in one word Polybius prefers the Legion to the Phalange because the essential propriety of the Phalange was to fight close together and so long as it was able to keep so it was able to bear down the Legion but sure it could but seldome keep in one entire body the Legion by its order and constitution being apt to fight in small or little Bodies and to divide according to opportunities and emergencies could readily enter at the void places of the Phalange whether these were in the Van Rear or Flanks and overthrow it as often it did I shall presume to add two other advantages that I think the Legion had of A Legions third advantage over the Phalange the Phalange which Polybius hath not mentioned The first The Phalange fought all in one Body the Legion in three Bodies successively one after another so that if the Hasâ—aâ—â— charged briskly they might put the great Body of the Phalange in some disorder and they retiring the Principes finding it in some discomposure might disorder it so that the Triarii coming fresh to the charge might have a very cheap market of it The second advantage which I conceive the Legion had of the Phalange A Legions fourth advantâ—ge was in its larger Front which I offer to make appear thus The great Phalange consisted of sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four heavy armed these marshall'd sixteen deep and so their Front consisted of one thousand twenty four men to whom you are to allow one thousand twenty four foot for them to stand on when they were to fight they had no more but one foot and a half allow'd between Files and therefore for one thousand twenty four Files allow one thousand twenty three distances and for these fifteen hundred thirty four foot and a half add these the aggregate is two thousand five hundred fifty eight foot and a half thus much ground and no more did the Phalange take up in its Longitude when it was to fight The Legion was composed of three Bodies who were marshall'd one behind another The Hastati had the first Batallion and were divided into ten Maniples in every one of which were one hundred and twenty men these were marshall'd ten deep and so each Maniple was twelve men in Front for whom allow twelve foot to stand on and as both Polybius and Vegetius do allow three foot between Files twelve Files have eleven distances and for them you must have thirty three foot add thirty three to twelve makes forty five so much ground did every Maniple possess in Front â—n every Batallion were ten Maniples multiply then forty five by ten the product will be four hundred and fifty You may remember that I have elsewhere demonstrated that these ten Maniples had nine Intervals and every Interval must have as much ground allowed to it as the Maniple that was forty five foot multiply forty five by nine the product is four hundred and five add four hundred and five to four hundred and fifty the aggregate is eight hundred fifty five foot and so much ground did the Hastâ—ati of one Legion possess In a Consular Army there were four Legions then you are to multiply eight hundred fifty five by four and the product will prove to be three thousand four hundred and twenty and so much ground did the Hastati of a Consular Army take up in Front Now here the Hastati are reckon'd to be but twelve hundred the Legion according to Polybius being suppos'd to be but four thousand two
march every day in Armour for custome is another nature but this point of Exercising is generally neglected But Secondly I say if Ratio belli or the present necessity of affairs requires such a speedy and continuated March then such an Army as ordinarily we call a flying one should be made use of consisting of light Horse Dragoons and Musqueteers and the heavy armed Horse and Foot should be left to march after with as much haste as conveniently they can to whom the light armed in case of necessity may easily make their Retreat for to bring these heavy armed forward as I told you the Romans and Grecians did and then permit them to cast away their Defensive Arms is to denude your self of the strength of your Forces and Army Our Modern Armies as the ancient ones consist of heavy and light armed as well Horse as Foot In the Cavalry the Cuirassier is the heavy armed and the Pike-man in the Infantry The strength of all Armies ever was and is the Infantry and the strength of it is the heavy armed He who is in good Armour-fights with courage as fearing no wounds and frightens him with whom he fights that is not so well armed Pikemen then composing the Body Pike men the Body of the Infantry and it of the Army of the Infantry and the men of Arms the Body of the Cavalry should be armed so that they may appear to an Enemy when they come to the shock as a Brazen or Iron Wall It is true a Batallion of Pikes without Defensive Arms may being serr'd together hinder a Troop of Horse from getting in among them but their Heads and Bodies being naked and having nothing on either of them to resist the force of a Carabine or Pistol-ball except it be a Buff-coat and for most part not that it is not to be fancied but a Volley of shot from a Body of Horse standing without the danger of the points of Pikes will make many of the Pikemen fall which will so disorder their Body that a sudden Charge of Horse will easily break it This is a great defect of our Modern Militia of which most Nations are now guilty for though in all their Constitutions of War there is an appointment for heavy armed Horse and Foot yet when we see Batallions of Pikes we see them every where naked unless it be in the Netherlands where some and but some Companies represent the ancient Militia and we find an Universal deâ—ect in the Cavalry as to the heavy armed there being but few Curiassiers in many Armies and in very many none of them at all to be seen Since the invention of Guns we find till these latter times all Nations did allow defensive Arms to both Horse and Foot according to the nature of the service that was to be required of them The Cavalry was ordinarily divided into Curiassiers and Harquebusiers but I shall speak of that more fully afterward The first was to be compleatly armed Man and Horse and those we call Men Defensive Arms for Horsemen at Arms and the French Gens d'Arms which is the same thing The Harquebusiers had a Head-piece back and breast their Horses no arms at all But now for most part the case is alter'd and instead of Curiassiers we have Harquebusiers and instead of Harquebusiers we have Horsemen only arm'd offensively Here I must answer an Objection which is this if the armour for Horsemen be not Musket-proof either the Bullet pierceth through or beats the Iron into the Horsemans body which is equally dangerous and if it be proof it is exceeding troublesome to both man and horse but I answer that there hath been and are at this day Arms made that are proof and of no considerable weight and it is supposed a Curiassier should be of a strong body and should ride a horse that for heighth and strength should be fit for that service wherein both he and his rider are to be employed as I shall tell you afterward The heavy armed Foot-soldier or Pikeman should have a Head-piece a For Pikemen Back and Breast a Belly-piece Taslets for their Thighs and Greeves for their Arms the Armour for their Heads Breasts and Bellies should be Carrabineproof and that for their Backs Pistol-proof But we shall rarely see a Batallion of Pikes in such harness and no wonder since the Pike it self is not now used so much as it hath been and still should be of which I shall speak at length in its proper place But here it will be fit that I speak of the supine carelesness and inexcusable inadvertency of Officers and Commanders in their Levies who take no notice to make a difference of those who are to carry Muskets and Pikes distributing them promiscuously to the stronger and the weaker whereas without all question the tallest biggest and strongest should be order'd to carry Pikes that they may the better endure the weight of their defensive Arms nay which is worse I have known Muskets given to those of the biggest stature and Pikes to the unworthiest and silliest of the Company as if he who is not worthy to carry a Musket were sufficient to carry a Pike neither have I seen this abuse redressed though often complain'd of to Generals so much have I seen a Pike the Prince of Weapons disparaged Many have thought it fit to give Musketeers some defensive Arms as a Head For Musketeers Back and Breast-piece and truly I wish that custom were continued for though most of the ordinary Armour that is given them be little better than Pistol-proof if it be so good yet it encourages them who wear it and if as I said before they be exercis'd train'd and accustom'd with it it will not at all be troublesome to them either in their march or on service for we find the ancient light armed especially among the Romans pretty well arm'd for defence and from thence they had the name of light armed to distinguish them from the heavy armed Legionaries I think I may in this place reckon the Swedish Feather among the defensive Swedish Feather Arms though it doth participate of both defence and offence It is a Stake five or six foot long and about four finger thick with a piece of sharp Iron nail'd to each end of it by the one it is made fast in the ground in such a manner that the other end lyeth out so that it may meet with the breast of a Horse whereby a Body of Musketeers is defended as with a Pallisado against the rude charge of a Squadron of Horse which in the mean time they gall and disorder with their shot I have seen them made use of in Germany and before I left that War saw them likewise worn out of use When the Infantry by several Regiments or Brigades are drawn up in Battel and the Pikes and those Stakes fixed in the ground they make a delightful show representing a Wood the Pikes resembling the tall
Seventh Argument Enemy will send Horse-men and Musketeers against them who will kill them all and never come near them To answer this I must tell him that here Answer'd and in most of his arguments he presupposeth still a Body of Pikes subsisting of it self without either Horse-men or Fire-men which alters the question and this is a speculative notion of his for that which I defend is that Pikemen are necessary in an Army and the strength and body of an Army not that they are the only necessary members of an Army I never meant that and that which he undertook to prove is that they are not at all necessary And here he mentions General Morgans Retreat with some English Regiments from the long line in the Bishoprick of Verdun in which he informs us that the business was not perform'd by the Pikes I shall not here speak of the nature of Retreats reserving that Discourse to another place but because I have travers'd most of that ground oftner than once I shall tell my Reader that Christian the Fourth King of Denmark having made an unprosperous War against Ferdinand the Second retir'd himself to his Dutchy of Hâ—lstein General Morgan's Retreat Morgan was forc'd by the Imperial Lieutenant General Tili to retire from the long line to a place called Burg within four English miles of Bremen this place being but pitifully fortified gave him only time to breath and leaving some men in it who were given for lost the English General marched towards Bremerford a strong Castle and a Pass twelve English miles from Burg Tili pursues and in the pursuit kills and takes many English At Bremerford Morgan rests but little yet it being a Pass it cast Tili so far behind that Morgan with some more losâ— got into the Town of Stead with the gross of his Army Here he is besieg'd by Tili which he gallantly defended till for want of succours he yielded the place on honourable conditions Now what doth all this militate against the use of the Pike Nothing that I know of Mr. Lupton says the Pikes perform'd not the Retreat I grant not alone neither did the Musketeers but both did together and in most of that ground the Pikes could not but be very serviceable against the Imperial Horse He says many Musketeers were lost I believe him and so were many Pikemen and who knows not that in Retreats both Pike-men and Musketeers must be left behind and given for lost for they are the true Enfans perdus There is no wise Patient but will chuse rather to suffer his Arm or Leg to be cut off rather than lose his whole Body and better save a part of an Army than lose all And in that place our Author takes occasion to instance some as he thinks disadvantages that Morgan had by his Pike-men I shall not contradict him but shall tell him for all that that when that General return'd to Holland to the service of his old Masters the Estates I never heard that he offer'd to advise the then Prince of Orange to banish the Pike as an unnecessary Weapon out of his Army or if he did he prevail'd as little with him as Mr. Lupton did with the Earl of Essex to do the like to whom he dedicated this Book which I now endeavour to examine Eighthly he says Pike-men are not able to resist a charge of Horse And Eighth Argument why so Truly if they cannot do that I agree they are useless Because saith he the Horse-men may stand one hundred and twenty yards distance from them and bestow both their Pistol and Carabine shot upon them and be in no danger of their Pikes I answer first If Horse-men come no Answered nearer Pike-men than one hundred and twenty yards their Pistols will do them little hurt Secondly This argument presupposeth once more a Batallion of Pikes without either Fire-men or Horse-men and therefore it is of no force Thirdly It presupposeth that the Pike-men are obliged to stand-still and receive all the Horse-mens shot and never move But I must add that while the Horse-men are firing if the Pike-men advance upon them it will undeniably produce one of these three effects either it will necessitate the Horse-men to charge through the Foot which they cannot do without loss if they do it at all and so they will neither kill nor rout the Pike-men at one hundred and twenty yards distance or it will force the Horse-men to stand still which will be a greater danger and loss or it will make them quit the field the greatest loss of all By quitting the Fâ—â—ld I mean the Horse men must either fly or caragol by either of which the Pike-men are masters of that ground the Horse stood on till another Squadron of Horse advance against them and endeavour to remove them from it who perhaps may have the same success Ninthly he says The arming a Pike-man he supposeth with Defensive as Ninth Argument well as Offensive Arms is a great deal more expensive to the Prince or State than the arming a Musketeer for he saith a Musketeer may be compleatly armed for twenty two or twenty four shilling Sterling a Pike-man not under thirty five But this is a superfluous argument for if he once demonstrate Answered the uselesness of the Pike it shall be readily granted him that neither Prince noâ— State should bestow any thing for arming a Pike-man But if a Pike be still found necessary then it will be an ill piece of frugality in either Prince or State to save that money that should arm Pike-men His tenth argument he frames by telling us how exceedingly troublesome Tenth Argument and burthensome a Pike with Defensive Arms are and how in time of excessive heat a Pike-man on a march is imprison'd in his Arms whereas a Musketeer with a great deal of liberty is free and open to the air In answer to which first observe that the Musketeer hath not always reason to complain Answered for doing all the duty as Mr. Lupton maintain'd in his fifth argument for here the Pike-man endureth the heat of the day Secondly If this Gentleman had liv'd with the Ancient Grecians and Romans and with many Princes since their time he had if they would have been rul'd by him sav'd them a great deal of money and had given their best Souldiers a great deal of ease for he had made all their Infantries to consist of Velites or light-armed After all these arguments Mr. Lupton shews us that one Branâ—atio a famous Brancatio Warriour as he calls him gives his Judgement for the uselesness of the Pike which says Lupton with all wise Commanders should be of great Authority But unless Brancatio give better reason for his opinion than Mr. Lupton hath done his judgement shall be of no authority with me and therefore I must confess that I am none of his wise Commanders I told you before that I have
not seen Brancatio but Terduzzi his Countrey-man for they were both Italians in his Book of Machines says he hath read him Now if he value neither his opinion nor his reasons I think none should for Tâ—rduzzi himself was so little a friend to the Pike that he writes he would have it broken if he knew what better Weapon to put in its room Out of him I shall give you this short description of Brancatio and his Book His Book describ'd The Title of his Book is this Of the true Art of War whereby any Prince may not only resist another in the Field only with his own forces and with little charge but also overcome any Nation A very gloâ—ious Title I think we need expect small performances from so vain promises This man Himself a great undertaker will prove an Alchimist who promiseth to give us mountains of Gold and hath not a six-pence to buy his own dinner His Preface makes up the fourth part of his Book wherein he tells oftner than once that he studied the Theory of the Military Art fifteen years and practis'd it forty so he hath been no young man when he wrote his Book But he concludes and I pray you mark it that in all these fifteen years he had read no Authors but Casar's Commentaries And thereafter he laughs and scoffs at all those Roman Authors and Histories which mention distinct Maniples in the Roman Legions because he had read no such thing in Câ—sar Not only in this Preface of his but all along in his Book he despiseth the Pike and calls it the enervation the weakening and ruine of War I shall for a while leave Brancatio and return to Mr. Lupton's citations out of this great Italian Tactick that I may answer them And in the first place as it was a reflection on Brancatio Mr. Lupton's citations out of Brancatio first to cite Histories which he had either not read or not understood and next not to be acquainted with the customes of War in his own time so Mr. Lupton's credulity is inexcusable for taking things on Brancatio his report the truth whereof he might have found in Books of which many private Answered Gentlemen are Masters I shall very briefly run through the quotations he cites out of this Italian man of War The King of Portugal says he was ruin'd and overthrown in Africk because First he had Squadrons of Pikes But by his favour he was overthrown because neither his Pike-men nor Harquebusiers were rightly Order'd Train'd nor Commanded Next he says Charles the Eighth of France was the first that brought Pikes Second into Italy Indeed there were Pikes in Italy before France was called France and if that French King brought them first there what lost he by it He travers'd it took and conquer'd the Kingdome of Naples and return'd to France and made his passage good at Fornuovo in spite of all Italy then bandied against him and no doubt his Switzers did him good service and Brancatio knew they were armed with Pikes as to their Offensive Arms. Thirdly he says The Turk these forty years by past reckon them to begin Third at the year 1540 and to continue till 1580 hath been Victorious over the Christians Sempre in Ongaria so writes Mr. Lupton only because great Batallions of Pikes both of the Switzer and High Dutch Nation were oppos'd to the Turkish Troops of Horse well arm'd with Pistol and Harquebuss I answer first Brancatio his assertion is false for the Turk was sometimes beaten in Hungary in the time of these forty years and this Mr. Lupton might have learned by perusing Knolles his History if he could light upon no better Next I say If Pikes could not resist the Turks Cavalry Harqâ—ebusiers on foot of which Brancatio would have all his Infantry to consist would have done it much less But what a ridiculous thing is it to impute the loss of all Battels to one cause since Armies may be undone and overthrown by a thousand several occasions What can either Brancatio or Mr. Lupton say against it if I aver that when ever the Turks were beaten and beaten sometimes they were it was because they had no Pike men to resist the charge of a stout and hardy Cavalry Fourthly he avers That John Frederick Duke of Saxe in Germany and Piter Fourth Strozzi in Tuscany were both beaten because of the multitude of their Pikemen To the first I answer I do not remember that Sleidan gives any such reason for his misfortune neither did ever that Prince fight a just Battel with the Emperour Charles the fifth most of whose Infantry consisted of Pike-men as well as that of the Elector of Saxe did To the second of Strozzi I say he was routed because he made his Retreat in the day time in view of a powerful Enemy contrary to the advice given him by Marshal Monluc Finally he says The Battel of Ceresole gives a good proof of the weakness Fifth of the Pike-mens service and the Battels of Dreux and Moncounter prov'd fatal says he to their Leaders who were despis'd by their Enemies because their Foot consisted most of Pikes Here Mr. Lupton does himself an injury to insert such three ignorant and unadvised citations out of Brancatio which I will clear At Ceresole the famous Alphonso Davalo Marquess of Guast commanded Battel of Cerâ—solâ— the Imperial Army and the Duke of Anguien the French The Imperialists were beaten by the cowardise of a Batallion of their own Horse which fled without fighting which a great Batallion of Imperial Pikes seeing open'd and gave them way the French follow the chace through that same lane they being past the Pikes who were no â—ewer than five thousand closed again and kept their ground Another Imperial Batallion of Pikes some Spaniards some Germans fought with a great Body of Grisons belonging to the French and beat it out of the Field and thereafter fought with the Gascone Batallion of Pikes where both parties stood to it valiantly insomuch that the Duc d'Anguien the French General seeing his Grisons overthrown and his Gascons so shrewdly put to it despair'd of the Victory In this charge of the Imperial Pikes and the Gascons almost all the Leaders fell at the first shock but in the mean time there came a Batallion of Switzer Pikes and charged the Imperial Pikes in the flank and notwithstanding they had to do with two stout and redoubted Enemies one in the Van and another in the Flank yet did they keep their Ranks and the Field too after all the Harquebusiers on foot and all their Cavalry with Guast himself wounded as he was had fled and then and not till then they cast down their Arms and cry'd for Quarter which the Switzers gave them sparingly enough At this Charge was Marshal Monluc on foot in the Head of the Gascons with a Pike in his hand and he it is that gives us this relation Will
this both of them promise to do and you shall see how they perform it Brancatio admits no Foot but Harquebusiers Musquets being rare when he Brancatio his Engin instead of the Pike wrote I doubt not but if he were alive now he would call them Musqueteers as Mr. Lupton doth and by that name we shall call them hereafter Terduzzi tells us that his Countryman Brancatio undertakes to teach Princes an invention how their Musqueteers shall march in an open field or a razed Champain either in Squadrons or man by man without running any hazard to be routed or over-run by any Cavalry be it never so strong much less shall they be in danger of any Batallions of Pikes But Brancatio tells us not in his whole Book what this invention is but keeps it up as a secret as that to use his own words which deserves only to be whisper'd in the ear of some great Prince I am afraid he never met with that Prince in his life-time who courted him for that secret and therefore it is more than probable the secret hath dy'd with him Terduzzi tells us that after he had read this in Brancatio his Book he troubled his brain two or three nights in conjecturing what this invention or secret might be At first he imagin'd it must be a Machine made with flanks for defence of the Musqueteer and to move some way or other as the Musqueteers advanced or retired and so to his thinking should be a moving or ambulatory Citadel But he found he had not hit right when he read in Brancatio that the invention is a most easie thing to make but most difficult to imitate unless the order of it be explain'd by the Author himself and withal he calls it in the singular Number a piece of Armour now Brancatio acknowledgeth no Arms but Sword or Harquebusse for Foot hence Terduzzi concludes the invention must be some kind Cannot be well conjectured of Defensive arms and yet no great Engine or Machine While Terduzzi is thus puzled an Italian Gentleman told him that Brancatio had show'd him one of them and said it was a Pike with a certain Iron-triangle in the middle of it which being cast on the ground any way always one of the angles should stand up but when the Pike was fix'd all the three angles stood in the air which when Terduzzi had learned he look'd on it as so frivolous a piece of folly that he neither troubled himself nor us with any further discourse about it Could this Triangle be it never so great be any thing else than one of our Calthrops with these it seems Brancatio was to environ his Firemen for he says his invention was only to defend the circumference whether the Musqueteers were to carry it or some other appointed for it we know not and many more Particularities of that great secret must we want Master Lupton is not altogether so squeamish as Brancatio though we shall Mr. Luptons Musquet and Half-Pike one weapon presently find him reserv'd enough for he tells us that instead of both Musquet and Pike he would have a thing which is both a Musquet and half Pikâ— serve the Infantry He much commends this piece and praiseth the Inventer of it excessively but he gives us no perfect description of it at least not such a one as can make me who never saw it apprehend it aright He calls it a Musquet and Half-pike if so then two weapons but for most part he calls it a weapon in the singular number and therefore not two weapons He tells us by this weapon the Musqueteers are safe within the Barricado of their Steel Pallisado's for so he calls it By this the weapon should be sharp at both ends and should be used as the Swedish Feather and if so it will make but one weapon and the Musquet will make another He says this weapon may be used as a Musquet Rest but if it have no more use than that experience will make it useless And at length he assures uâ— that this weapon the Musquet-half-Pike will save a great deal of Treasure spent by Princes on Pikes Head-pieces Backs and Breasts He told us of such stuff before But good God! can a Barricado of Half-pikes defend a mans head and body so well from a shot as a Head-piece or a Corslet can And to conclude he directs all who desire to know this new weapon to go to the Artillery-Garden at London where they may be satisfied in all their Curiosities But I humbly conceive the knowledg of a weapon which he crys up to be of so general a good and can bring so universal an advantage to Princes and States should not have been confin'd within so narrow a plot of Should not be made a Secret ground as the Artillery or Military Garden And truly I think that either the Author of that invention or at least Master Lupton was oblig'd in charity to have communicated it to the Hungarians Transylvanians Polonians and Croatians to defend themselves by it from the Hereditary Enemy of Christendom and particularly to the Germans to obviate thereby the inconveniences and disadvantages which follow the great number of their Pikes the use whereof Master Lupton hath condemned Now though all along this Chapter I have shewn but small inclination to agree with Mr. Lupton for the laying aside the Pike yet in the close of his Book Soldiers should be exercised and train'd with both Musquet and Pike and this discourse we shall be good friends for he desires if the Pike be not altogether abandon'd that all who carry it may be taught the use of the Musquet likewise and this shall be my hearty desire likewise provided that all Musqueteers may be taught the use of the Pike also for I conceive it to be very fit that every Soldier be so train'd that he may as occasion offers be ready to make use of both weapons And for this I hope no discreet Commander will fall out with either Master Lupton or me CHAP. VII Of Gunpowder Artillery its General and Train IF the Chinois had the use of Guns twelve or thirteen hundred years before Guns in China the Europeans knew what a thing a Gun was as some fancy then they had Gunpowder also at that time for without this Guns were useless They talk of a King of China who being a great Enchanter had a familiar Spirit by whose help he invented Gunpowder and Artillery by the help of which he defeated the Tartars who had grievously afflicted him and this King they say liv'd not long after our Saviours Incarnation If the use of Artillery in that Country be of so old a date I think the Natives should long e're now have attain'd to such a perfection of Gunnery that thereby they might have defended themselves in their late Wars with these same Tartarians better than to have let them make a full conquest of their Kingdom neither do I remember that
place of the depth that every Prince appoints for his Foot Before the Reign of the Great Gustavus Adolphus for any thing I could ever learn Foot-Companies were marshal'd ten deep almost universally but he marshal'd Ten deep all his Infantry in six ranks And after he had invaded Germany the Emperour with most of the European Kings and Princes kept their Foot still at ten deep but before the end of that War which he began all of them follow'd his way and made the file of their Foot to consist of six men except the Prince of Six deep Orange who still kept ten in file I should except likewise the Earl of Strafford who in his Instructions for the better Discipline of his Army order'd every Eight deep Captain of Foot to draw up his Company eight deep In a business of this nature where there is difference a man may tell his opinion without affectation of singularity and therefore I suppose it will be granted me that the more hands a Captain can bring to fight the more shrewdly Reasons for six deep he will put his enemy to it provided still his Batallions be of that strength as to receive the shock of a resolute Impression and in case of the worst that he have Reserves to come to his rescue Of Reserves I shall speak hereafter Now I am hopeful it will not be deny'd me but that more hands are brought to fight by eight men in a file than by ten and more by six men in a file than by eight Take a second argument The more able you are to save your self from being surrounded or out-wing'd by an enemy or the more able you make your self to surround and out-wing that enemy of yours the greater advantage you have over him Both these are done by a large front now it is undeniable that eight in file enlarge the front more than ten and six more than eight and consequently eight deep contributes more than ten and six more than eight for gaining the victory That more hands are brought to fight is very soon instanced first by a Body The great advantages 1500 Musqueteers six deep have of 1500 Musqueteers ten deep of Musqueteers and next by a Body of Pikemen Let us suppose a Body of fifteen hundred Musqueteers marshal'd ten deep is to fight with a Body of Musqueteers of equal number that is fifteen hundred six deep and that they are equally stout and experienced and equally good Firemen The fifteen hundred ten deep must give fire by ranks as the fifteen hundred six deep must likewise do now the fifteen hundred ten deep can make no more but a hundred and fifty in rank for a hundred and fifty multiplied by ten produceth fifteen hundred but the fifteen hundred six deep make two hundred and fifty in rank for two hundred and fifty multiplied by six produceth fifteen hundred so that the fifteen hundred six deep at every Volley pours one hundred Leaden Bullets more in the Enemies bosom than the fifteen hundred ten deep and consequently when six ranks of both parties have fired the fifteen hundred ten deep have received six hundred Ball more than the fifteen hundred six deep which without all doubt hath made a great many men fall more of the one side than the other Next one hundred and fifty files of the fifteen hundred six deep take just as much ground up in front as the whole Body of the fifteen hundred ten deep and therefore the other hundred files of the fifteen hundred six deep may fall on the sides of the fifteen hundred ten deep if they be not flanked either with Pikes or with Horsemen It is the like case mutatis mutandis between fifteen hundred eight deep and fifteen hundred six deep for fifteen hundred eight deep will make but a hundred and eighty eight in rank for a hundred eighty eight multiplied by eight produceth fifteen hundred and four now the fifteen hundred six deep make two hundred and fifty ranks and so shoots at every Volley sixty two Bullets more than the fifteen hundred eight deep Make the like trial of two Batallions of Pikes each of them fifteen hundred The same advantages Pikemen also have strong equally arm'd for the defensive and their Pikes of equal length the hundred files wherewith the fifteen hundred six deep out-wings the fifteen hundred ten deep will likewise enter on their sides and very soon ruin them if they be not flanked by their friends and though they be yet these hundred files of the fifteen hundred Pikemen six deep being otherwise idle may happily give their flanks some work to do Nor hath the fifteen hundred Pikemen ten deep any advantage of the fifteen hundred six deep in the force of the impression for I have demonstrated in one of my Discourses of the Grecian Militia that six ranks of Pikemen may either give or receive the charge abundantly and therefore where Pikemen are ten deep at their charge the last four ranks should keep their Pikes ported because the presenting the points of them is altogether useless Neither was it the apprehension of the weakness of his Body of Musqueteers drawn up six deep that made the King of Sweden make use of his Feathers to defend his Musqueteers against the Polonian Horse for these Feathers may serve a Body of Firemen drawn up ten deep as well as a Body of Firemen drawn up six deep neither indeed is it the deepness of a Body of Musqueteers that can resist a resolute charge of Horse it must be Pikes Halberts or these Feathers or something like them Nor do I think after the Invention of Gunpowder that ten deep was thought fit for Foot in imitation of the Romans as some fancy for I have shewn in another Reasons for ten deep place that Vegetius who is lookt on by many as the Oracle of the old Roman Militia doth make the Roman file to consist of eleven men but I think it was out of this consideration that after the first rank had fired their Guns they could not be ready to fire again till the other nine ranks had all fired and withal a Musquet rest was taken to help with so much wariness did our Ancestors walk when first they made use of the new found Engines of fire We read of a Count of Vaâ—dâ—mont who within thirty years after the Invention of Gunpowder made use of two Culverines in his Wars with the Duke of Bar and by their help defeated his enemy but at every time the Pieces were discharged the Count himself fell to the ground for fear But as Great Câ—sar says Vsus est rerum Magister Use and Custom over-master things and therefore the Cannon is not now so dreadful as it was nor is the Musquet so unmanageable as it was thought daily experience lets us see that the first rank of six can fire make For fine deep ready and stay for the word of Command before the other five
Captains unless he have a Company himself The Swedes of a long time allowed him no company yet allow'd him the command over Captains but it is now many years ago since they were permitted to have companies hence perhaps it is that when they have no companies they may be called Serjeant-Majors as when they have companies the Germans call them Captain-Majors but the English use frequently the words of Serjeant Major and Serjeant-Major General none of them are used either by German Swede or Dane A Lieutenant-Colonel is that in a Regiment that a Lieutenant is in a company Lieutenant-Colonel and therefore when the Colonel is present the Lieutenant-Colonel hath no command and since in the Colonels absence the other commands the Regiment I think he should be endued with all those qualifications that are required to be in a Colonel and what these are I shall tell you as others have told me with my own sense of them A Colonel say some should be a Gentleman of great experience in Military Colonel Affairs bold and resolute courteous affable liberal judicious and religious But such descriptions of Military Officers seem to proceed from those Philosophers who teach men to conform their lives and actions to the strict and severe rules of Moral vertue for my part I would not only have a Colonel to be pious and religious but his whole Regiment likewise but because this may rather be wisht than expected I say if he be not exemplarily pious he may notwithstanding be a Colonel good enough so he be not a profest Atheist I would have a Colonel to be affable and liberal but though His Qualifications he be both churlish and Parsimonious he may be a Colonel good enough I would have a Colonel to be experienced in most of the points of War yet though he be not and hath seen but little if he be of a ready wit and good judgment he may be a Colonel good enough for Princes and States when they raise Armies think it fit to make choice of Colonels who can levy Regiments for which employment without question men of good birth and quality are most proper But courage an aptitude to learn and proneness to follow advice are qualities very essential and requisite in all men of that charge it is little matter how avaritious a Colonel be so he offer not to meddle with any part of the pay of his Regiment except his own It is the less matter though he be ignorant in some points belonging to his command so he be willing to be advised by those of his Officers who understand them But those who fancy that the Title of Colonels entails a right upon them to command what they please and to pay their Regiments as they like and by their wilful ignorance confound matters of Government and Discipline and introduce and frame Customs in their Regiments which no others use should be chac'd out of all Armies as presumptuous arrogant and impertinent if not worse Having spoken now sufficiently of all the Officers belonging to a Company and Regiment of Foot it will be time to put the several Companies in one Body thereby to make a Regiment but I will first tell the Captains that after they have for some time exercis'd their Companies and thereby known the abilities of their several Soldiers they must be careful to put them in ranks and files according as they find they deserve the properest tallest and strongest men they should arm with Pikes the rest with Musquets Next to the Corporal 's the most deserving should be File-leaders the next place of dignity is the To marshal a Company in ranks and files reer the third is the middle or fourth rank the fourth dignity is the second rank as being next the Van the fifth place of dignity is the fifth rank as that which is next the reer the sixth and last place is the third rank All this is meant where all Companies and Batallions of Foot are marshal'd six deep Next to this the Captain should have regard to the right and left hand files and having drawn up his men as he thinks each of them deserves he is to command his Clerk to write down the names of all that are in Arms just as they stand in files and thereafter when he draws out his Company let him constantly put them in Battel according to that Roll this being done four or five days the Soldiers by custom knowing their places their Leaders and their Sidemen will be able without the help of their Officers to marshal themselves When all the Companies are to be join'd in one Body every Captain should cast his odd men in the reer and it is impossible there can be above five odd men in one Company that the Major may make files and so join them to the Regiment in such places as he thinks fitting There be several ways of drawing up Regiments of Foot and they may vary according to the several opinions of men and yet all of them may be good enough But a Major should not marshal the Regiment according to his own fancy or yet that of his Colonels but according to the known practice of the Prince or State in whose Service he is for Uniformity is required in Military Uniformity in Marshalling Regiments in one Prince his Service Customs as much or rather more than in other things The pleasure of the Prince or of his General in matters which depend on their own judgments ought not to be debated or disputed I will not trouble my Reader with the difference of opinions in marshalling the several Companies according to the Precedency of those to whom they belong whether these be Officers of the Field or private Captains when they are to be join'd in one Body But shall lay down three grounds wherein I suppose all our Modern Commanders agree These are First That the Regiment should be marshal'd in a Square front the Wedg Rhombus and Ring-Battels not being now made use of except for show Secondly That the Pikemen make the Body and the Musqueteers the wings Thirdly That the Colonels Company ought to have constantly the right hand whether the Regiment be drawn up in one two or three divisions When Regiments were two or three thousand strong it was thought fit to marshal them in three Batallions or Divisions and these were called the Colonels the Lieutenant-Colonels and the Majors Divisions but being to speak of a Regiment consisting only of one thousand and composed of ten Companies I shall tell you how I have seen such a one marshal'd both in one and in two Divisions the manner whereof pleaseth me better than any other that I have either seen or read of leaving notwithstanding every man free to his own choice for I offer not to impose The Major of the Regiment having either chused the ground himself or got it assign'd to him by the Major-General if he be to draw up in one Division
of 10000 men making square Battels and therefore their 10000 men were drawn up a 100 in rank and a 100 in file and a 100 times a 100 makes 10000. And so their Batallion was square of men and might have been also of ground if they allow'd no greater Intervals of ranks than of files which hardly they could do being they were all offensively arm'd with Pikes both long and strong But our Author saith that Cyrus was glad of this wishing Croesus's whole army had been marshal'd a thousand deep for then he had sooner destroy'd it as I have told you in the second Chapter of my Discourses of the Grecian Art of War Yet Xenophon tells us that these Aegyptians fought best of any of Croesus his army yea so long till they had fair quarter given them And withal he informs us that Cyrus his own army his Foot I suppose he means were marshal'd 24 deep and that was eight more than the depth of the Macedonian Phalanx CHAP. XVII Of the Modern way of Embatteling and Marshalling Armies AS all Armies are marshal'd according to the pleasure of those who command them so their pleasure often is and ever should be over ruled by the circumstances of time the posture of the enemy they have to do with the Weather the Sun the Wind and the ground on which they are to fight if the General find by his foreparties or Vancouriers that his enemy is before him drawn up in Battel ready to receive him he will do himself an injury to march forward for it is not to be fancied that his adversary will be so courteous as to permit him to marshal his army but will take his advantage and fall upon him before he can draw up his Van especially if his march have been thorough any close or strait Country and in such a condition as that a Generals A General should have a ready wit own ready wit and resolution must serve him for Counsellors for there will be no time given him to call a Council of War But we speak now of Embatteling Armies when Generals have half the choice of the ground The manner was in many places and still is in some to marshal Armies in three distinct Bodies one behind another the first was called the Vanguard the second the Battel the third the Reer-guard But several times every one Armies marshall'd in three distinct Bodies of those consisted of three Bodies likewise these were two wings of Horse and one Body of Foot and when they march'd these three great Bodies were called the Van Battel and Reer Their proper Title was to be called so when they marched for many times when they drew up in order of Battels it was in one Breast and then the Horse were divided in two wings and the Foot made the Battel This was done when the ground was very spacious and to prevent surrounding otherwise Armies seldom fight but in two Battels if not in three But as I said time ground the power of an enemy minister occasions to a Commander of an Army to alter the ordinary custom and frame a new method of his own to serve him for that opportunity I shall give you one instance and that of a mighty army marshal'd as few before it have been and I believe none since It was that which Charles the fifth and his Brother King Ferdinand had at Vienna when they lookt for Sultan Soliman the ground was very spacious and though their numbers were very great yet those of the Turk were How the mighty Army of the Emperour Charâ—es the Fifth was marshal'd at Vienna very much beyond them and they fear'd to be out-wing'd by his numerous Horse The order of their Battel was to be this if they had fought They had sixty thousand arm'd with Pikes Halberts Partisans and other long Staves these were divided in three great Batallions each of twenty thousand on the right hand stood one of them on the left hand the second and the third in the middle There were about six or seven thousand Harquebusiers on foot to attend each of these great Batallions of Pikes who were to have several little Intervals thorough which these Harquebusiers were to salley and fire incessantly before the grand Batallions till they should be necessitated to retire through these same Intervals to the Reer and then the Pikes were immediately to close and fill up those void places These three great Batallions separated one from another made two great Intervals in each of which stood fifteen thousand Horse Here then you see upon the matter one of the bravest Armies of Christians that ever was marshal'd in one front without reserve only some thousands of men were order'd to guard the Baggage and Munitions scarce read of before or since Here you see the Pikemen make the Wings whereas both before and since they made the Body Here you see the Firemen marshal'd behind and ordain'd to fally from their station and do their service in the Van and then to retire to their place according to the custom of the ancient Grâ—cian and Roman Velites and not marshal'd on the wings of the Pikes And here you see the Horse who before that time and since made the wings of an army make now the Body of it strongly flanked with Pikes this being the inversion of former Ordinances of War was then thought necessary to prevent the surrounding and the impetuosity of the Turks numerous Cavalry Armies for most part now are marshal'd in two distinct Bodies the Vanguard and the Arreer-guard which are commonly called Battel and Reserve But it is not only difficult but purely impossible for any the most experienced General to set down any one certain rule or order whereby he may constantly Battel and Reserve keep one manner of marshalling or one form of Battel as it is called forma aciei though he could be assur'd that his Regiments or Brigades of both Horse and Foot should constantly continue of one strength since the place situation Houses Villages Castles Hills Valleys rising heights hollow grounds Waters Woods Bushes Trees and Marshes do occasion such alterations as make the form or mould of an Army cast in one place change so much as you shall not know the face of it on another piece of ground perhaps not above one or two hours march from the former And in this as I said before the General is to act his part and take such advantages as he may and readily possess himself of such places which being in the enemies power might do him prejudice One of his great cares in Embatteling would be to secure both his Flanks of an Army to be well secur'd in â—attel flanks which are called the right and left hand of his Army with some River Brook Ditch Dike or Retrenchment if these cannot be so readily got then he may do it with the Waggons or Baggage of his Army for in time of-Battel it is almost impossible for a Batallion or
left hand three Brigades of Foot drawn up directly behind the three Intervals appointed to be between the four Brigades in the Battel and on their left hand the second Brigade of Horse drawn up behind the Interval appointed to be between the two Brigades of Horse which makes the left wing of the Battel The Longitude of the Battel marshal'd as I have said you may compute thus Longitude of the Battel computed The two Brigades of Horse on the right wing each consisting of 600 Horse and consequently of 200 Leaders both of them 400 Leaders each whereof hath three foot of ground allow'd him require 1200 foot and the Interval 600 the distance between them and the Foot 24 as much you are to allow to the left wing of the Horse add these together you will find the aggregate to be 3648. Each Brigade of Foot consisting of 1800 men six deep hath 300 Leaders and so the four Brigades have 1200 Leaders each of these hath three foot allow'd him inde 3600 foot so every Brigade hath 900 foot of ground as much must every Interval have now there be three Intervals and three times 900 amounts to 2700. There must be in every Brigade two Intervals each of six foot between the Pikes and Musqueteers so 12 foot in every one and in all the four 48. Add 48 to 2700 and both of them to 3600 the aggregate is 6348. So much ground is requir'd for the Foot of the Battel Add 6348 to 3648 which was allowed to the Horse the aggregate will be 9996 which will want four foot of two Italian miles I shall neither trouble my Reader nor my self to compute the Longitude of the Reserve What I have said of two ways of Marshaling this Army of 16200 Horse and Foot is meant only in order to Intervals for it is most certain an Army may be drawn up in as many several figures and forms as there may be Generals to succeed one another in the command of it Between the Battel and Reserve there should be as great distance of ground as a Brigade of Foot possesseth in its Longitude but if the Army be marshalled in three bodies then the distance between Battel and Reer-guard must be double that distance that is between Van-guard and Battel that there be room for both to rally this was observ'd by two late Princes of Orange Maurice and Henry in drawing up their Armies following therein the practice of the Romans in their Intervals between their Hastati Principes and Triarii CHAP. XVIII Of the Women and Baggage belonging to an Army of the General Waggon-master and of his Duties OUR levied men being arm'd paid exercised disciplin'd divided into Troops Companies Regiments and Brigades with Officers belonging to them and sufficiently proyided with General Officers and a Train of Artillery and at length marshal'd in order of Battel are now ready to march but I am afraid the Baggage will disturb them unless it be put in some order The great number of Coaches Waggons Carts and Horses loaded with baggage the needless numbers of Women and Boys who follow Armies renders a march slow uneasie and troublesome And therefore the Latins gave Baggage justly called Impedimenta baggage the right name of Impedimenta hinderances But because without some baggage an Army cannot subsist it would be his eare who commands in chief to order the matter so that the baggage may be as inconsiderable and small as may be and that it march in such order that every Waggon-man Carter and Baggage-man may know his own place that so they may neither disturb one another nor yet hinder the march of the Army The place where the Baggage should march is appointed according to the knowledg the General hath of his enemy if he be in the Reer the Baggage should be sent before the Army if he be in the Van it should be in the Reer But in these places there should be Baggage should have Convoys of Horse and Foot with it a Convoy of Horse and Foot strong or weak according as occasion seems to require And of Convoys for Baggage I shall say these few things in general In them these Horsemen who are not very well mounted may well enough be employed but no men are to be set there whether of Foot or Horse that are sick lame or wounded for that were to betray both them and the Baggage to an enemy When Convoys are put to fight for defence of their Charge as many times they are for the desire of booty spurs men to desperate attempts they should if conveniently they can cast themselves within the Waggons and Carts drawn up round for that purpose from whence Musqueteers may do notable service and out of which retrenchment the Horse may as they see occasion make handsome Sallies If they cannot get this done they should be sure to put as much of the Baggage or all of it if they may between them and their own Army and themselves between the Baggage and the enemy whether he fall out to be in the Van or in the Reer Sometimes if the danger appear to be both before and behind the Baggage marches in the middle of the Infantry and though some be of the opinion that the Baggage should still follow the Artillery yet that doth not nor cannot hold in all cases and emergencies the marching of both Armies and Baggage many times depending on contingents of which no determinate rule can be given The way to regulate Baggage is to appoint under a severe penalty that no Company Troop or Regiment shall have more Waggons Carts or Baggage horses than such a set number already order'd by the Prince or his General The number of Waggons Carts and Baggage-Horses should be determined which should be as few as may be with full power to the Waggon-master General to make all that is over that number prize with an absolute command to all Colonels to assist him in case of opposition In the former Discourses we have seen that the Grecians and Romans to free themselves as much as was possible of this great Embarras of Baggage loaded their Soldiers like Mules and Asses this perhaps did suit those times better than it would do ours But most of our Modern allowances for Carriages of an Armies Baggage hath been in the other extream I shall instance four The Swedish Kings and their Generals allow ten Waggons to every Troop of Horse and two to every Company of Foot and a Sutlers Waggon to every one of them sometimes two to a Troop of Horse besides the Waggons allowed to Swedish allowance of Waggons the field and Staff-officers of Regiments Let us then suppose that the Cavalry of an Army consists of five thousand Horse and these divided into a hundred Troops and fifty Horse in a Troop were thought fair in the German War These hundred Troops had for themselves a thousand Waggons and a hundred for their Sutlers Model these hundred Troops in
must every Interval between Brigades have now in six Brigades there are 5 Intervals 5 times 600 make 3000 allow for three ranks and two Intervals in every Brigade marching in breast 36 foot and multiply 36 by 6 which is the number of the Brigades the product is 216 add 216 to 3000 the aggregate is 3216 add that to 8688 the aggregate is 11904 divide this number by 5 to make paces the Quotient will be 2380 paces and four foot this will be two Italian miles and more than one third An intollerable distance between the first rank of the Cavalry and the last rank of it the Infantry marching in the middle a thing intollerable that there should be so vast a distance between the Front and Reer of an Army of 18000 Horse and Foot marching in Brigades and every Brigade marching in breast and neither piece of Ordnance Waggon or Baggage-horse among them And this leads me to another speculation which is that all who have the conduct of Armies should in a march allow as little Interval between either greater or smaller Bodies as possible may be in regard Woods Waters Passes close Countries Straits and narrow ways will make a greater distance between the Vans and Reers of their Armies than is in their power Distance between Van and Reer of an Army marching to make less To verifie which let us suppose with Bockler a late German Author that 10000 Foot and 1000 Horse are upon a march where the Foot may march ten in breast and the Horse five and have only ten half Cannon with Powder and Bullets for one day and only some necessary Baggage with them he passeth his word to us that this little Army when it is marching shall take up of ground between Van and Reer 28000 foot this is more than five Italian miles and one half I have a little examined the computation and I believe his reckoning to be right But if you please let us not trust his word but try our selves what distance there may be between the Van of an Army consisting of 15000 Foot and 3000 Horse with which shall be no more Ordnance than ten Demi-cannon Instanced in an Army of 18000 men and twenty Field-pieces and a less Train if any you cannot allow to an Army of 18000 fighting men And with this Army we shall suffer no more Waggons to be than 1200 for carrying all the Ammunition Instruments for Fortification and Artillery Proviant and Baggage belonging to the General Officers and the whole Horse and Foot whereas twice that number may be well enough allowed and to make the distance the less we shall allow but two horses for every Waggon without having any regard to Coaches or great Rust-Waggons drawn ordinarily by six horses whereof there be but too many in every Army Let us imagin we march not in a Champaign but in a close Country yet not so close but the Horse shall march five in breast and the Foot ten and there be many ways which will not permit so much and to spare ground I shall allow no Intervals between Regiments or Brigades of Foot only Intervals between Divisions shall be allowed and no Interval at all between either Regiments or Divisions of the Cavalry shall be allowed but the whole 3000 shall march five in breast all in one row The Foot being six deep and ten in front will march 60 men in each Division 15000 Foot marching ten in front or breast We must see how many such Divisions will be in 15000 men To know this divide 15000 by 60 the Quotient will be 250 so you have 250 divisions allow as you must 36 foot for the 6 ranks of every Division that is 6 foot for the ranks to stand on and 30 foot for the 5 Intervals therefore you must multiply 250 by 36 which is the number of your Divisions and the product will be 9000. For an Interval between two Divisions I shall only allow 12 foot whereas many allow 18 now there be 249 Intervals multiply therefore 249 by 12 the product is 2988. Add 2988 to 9000 the aggregate is 11988 And so many foot of ground must 15000 Foot have from Van to Reer when they march ten in breast Being our 3000 Horse are to march five in breast you are to divide 3000 3000 horse marching five in Breast by 5 and the Quotient will be 600 so you have 600 ranks we must allow every Rider ten foot for the length of his Horse multiply then 600 by 10 the Product is 6000. Ordinarily a Horses length is allow'd for an Interval between ranks of Horse but because we would march close we shall allow but the half of that to wit five foot now there be in 600 ranks 599 Intervals multiply then 599 by 5 the Product will be 2995. Add 2995 to 6000 the aggregate is 8995 so many foot of ground 3000 Horse take up in their marching five in breast We have ten Demi-cannon which shoot each of them a bullet of 24 pound at least each of them shall weigh no more but 4400 pound of metal though the Germans allow more than 5000. Allow then one Horse to draw 250 pound of this Piece you shall need 18 Horses at least to draw one Demicannon with her Carriage Leaver Sponge and Laddle these 18 Horses being Ten Demi-Cannon drawn one after another coupled make nine couple allow then for nine couple of Horses for the length of the Piece and her Carriage 110 foot and it will be little enough multiply then 110 by 10 which is the number of your Demi-cannon the Product is 1100 so much ground they must have when they are drawn one after another and here is no allowance for distance between them nor shall we give any between the 20 Field-pieces but shall allow each of them to be drawn by two Horses nor shall we give more ground to the Horses Piece And twenty Field-pieces and Carriage than 20 foot that is for all the twenty 400 foot Our 1200 Waggons will take up much ground nor is it possible to help it Nor can we allow less ground for a Waggon drawn with two Horses and a convenient distance between it and the Waggon which follows it than 1200 Waggons drawn one after another 22 foot multiply then 1200 by 22 the Product will be 26400 so much ground require twelve hundred Waggons when they are drawn one after another The Foot then require 11988 foot the Horse 8995 the Demi-cannon 1100 the Field-pieces 400 the Wagons 26400 add these numbers together the aggregate will be 48883. These make in paces 9776 and three foot about nine Italian miles and three quarters If you suspect I have cast up a wrong account be pleased to work your self and mend it at your pleasure By this you may see if the Army be stronger than this of ours as many be or the Train greater as indeed it should be or your Waggons more numerous as assuredly they