barbucomedie:Re-enactors of the Government Forces during the Jacobite Rising of 1745 display Platoon
barbucomedie:Re-enactors of the Government Forces during the Jacobite Rising of 1745 display Platoon Firing at Prestonpans 2015Firing by platoon created a ripple of musket volleys down a line of muskets and proved an effective tactic against the French armies during the Wars of Spanish Succession and Austrian Succession during the 18th Century. Unlike here the platoons numbered 30 to 50 men and would fire in succession to each other and officers could deliver more accurate and disciplined volleys rather than firing by rank. At the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 it is recorded that the French offered the British Army the right to fire first. They did so, using the Platoon Firing tactic, and supposedly wiped out around 700 to 800 soldiers of the French Army.The effectiveness of this tactic during the Jacobite Rising was not always as potent as the Highlanders charged in a loose formation similar to light infantry. At the Battle of Falkirk in 1746 the British forces were overwhelmed despite firing by platoons as the Highlanders managed to terrify the Government Forces under command of General Hawley.The regiments here are the Pulteney’s Regiment, The Edinburgh City Guard, Argyll Highlanders, Royal Scots and the Black Watch during the 2015 reenactment of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans.Photographs taken by myself -- source link