Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-05-19
INDEPENDENCE AND EQUALITY.
rb.Cbtef Value of Infantry.

The Richmond Enamdner says 1.-THE ehief
vaIue of infantry is the bayonet- Those in
fantrv are most formidable who are most
frece in charge. When heavy and I'M
portant work is to be done by infaDtry, the
officers deprive them of cartridges and
knock off their caps or f1ints. The cartridge
is secondary affair to this arm of the ser
vice. 1t is only intended for skirmishing,
and the mere by-plsy of battle. When the
fight grows hot, and the tug of war comes on,
then everything is forgotten but the bayonet
The French, under NAPOLEON, won as many
battles with the bayonet as with the artillery
twas here that they excelled the phlegmalic
Germau, the unstable Cos-ack, aud the irres-
olute Italian They met no enemy on the
continent that could resist their headlOng
and desperate charge with the bayOnet. 1t
was not until they found a match in this en-
counter that they began to lose every battle
The English, Scotch and Irish regiments
proved a match, more than a match, for them
with their own weapon. Equally as brave
and imketuOus, these men were of larger
frames and heavier avoirdupois. They beat
them in the charge.
sit is to forget the true function of infan-
try, and to subordinate them to the secOnda-
~ duties of skirmisbers and scouts, to rely
upon the long range of their muskets and
their excellence as marksmen. For the main
duties appertaining to infantry proper, they
are as well armed with fiht-lOcks and
smOoihbOre muskets, With good bayOnets at
tacbed, as they would be with the best En-
field rifles. The percussion lock, the rified
barrel and the elongated ball. are only addi-
tional means of assault given to the infantry
soldier; and are intended to afford him only
the same advantages at long range which
side-pistol and bowie-knife afford him al
close quarters. The true military man who
understands the real purpose of an infantry
soldier, strips him of his bowie-knife and re-
voIyer, and thinks more of the bayonet than
of his rife bore and bis long bullet.
'The improved arms are much to be de-
sired, and not to be rejected; bat it is dan
gerous policy to accustOm infantry sold, Is
to rely alone upon the ball, and to igno-e the
grand uses of the bayOnet. The Mexican
war was fought in chief part with fint-locks-
The city and provinces of Mexico were con-
auered with gun that we are now prone tC
think of no value Let US not grow so en-
amoured of new things as to forget the ster-
ling value of things not so new. 1t the bay
onet be the real weapon, and the charge the
chief function of infantry regiments, let Us
arm the bravest of our troops who can pro
cure no better weapon, with the long Eiai-
lock musket, and the same bayonet which
wrought such havoc at Waterloo.
The tendency of the hour is to rely tao
much upon the arm, and too little upon tie
man. Our very strength consists in the en-
thusiasm, vigor and pluck of cur yoiGnteers.
1t is blind policy to neglect the matt
chance, and to bestow our anxaeties so eTelu-
sively upon what is secondary We have
fiint-locks by the tens OF thousands collected
in our arsenals, and we have them by thou
sands scattered over the country. Let tbe
authorities, and let the people bring all inio
requisition. Give them into the hands Of the
companies which can be supplied with nOne
other; and our young men, relying upon
Themselves more than upon their arms. will
perform no mean service, depend upon it.
when the fighting comes on. They will at
least be supplied with one incentive to exer-
ton which they would not otherwise have;
they would be under the necessity of con-
quering improved arms from the enemy"