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Originally Posted by
eulmanis12
2. Distances of firing. Yes, a good marksmen with a smoothbore musket has a Good chance of hitting a target at well beyond the distance that musket armed infantry would normally engage at. The chief reason for this was that A, not every man was a good marksmen, B even the good marksmen would be hampered by the fact that most smoothbores had primitive sights at best, often no rear sight, C, Most soldiers did not actually aim (this was more common in Europe than America, in the Americas soldiers depending on the state were encouraged to take careful aim at a specific target), at the command "Present Arms" they leveled their muskets in the general direction of the enemy formation without sighting along the barrel, the assumtion being that it would hit somebody and it didn't matter who. Untrained infantry were more likley to engage at a longer distance, and to take careful aim than veteran infantry. When rifle muskets came along, at first, though now soldiers were all using much more accurate weapons, and now took careful aim at individual enemies, officers who had commanded in the days of the Smoothbore failed to adapt immediatly, massive casualties occured due to the high accuracy an short distance of the engagment. As time went on, most officers adapted to fighting at longer distances, and in looser formations.