Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-05

Yell among it's traditions, was beaten
or by a band of Dutch farmers and ut
terly destroyed, because the crack British
regiment trusted to their bayonets and
the armer shot from behind rocks.
THE BAYONET IN INFANTRY
FIGHTING.
And yet If the efficacy of the bayonet
had been On trial before a jury Of ex-
perts it you'd certainly have been con-
sidered to have had every advantage in
being put into the hands of British sof-
diers. The history of infantry fighting
sums up something like this: First, the
Macedonian phalanx, with long lances;
then the Roman legion, with short, stout
spears; then an interval, say, of IL CEN
turtles, during most of which the mounted
man had things all his own way; then
the 200 years beginning about 1850, when
the Spanish "infanteria" was considered
irresistible by reason of it's pixies, which
We're, practically, the Roman "pila";
then the introduction of the matchbox,
and with it a threat of an end to all "close
quarters as early as the beginning Of
the sixteenth century.
But some French on Spanish soldier
whose name has been lost to fame hit
upon the brilliant idea that these new
tangled machines might be converted into
honest pixies occasionally by simply stick
ing the butt of a dagger into the muzzle
OF the matchbox. This scheme seemed
to work well for half a century, until it
was generally felt that if the firing of a
matchbox was to become other than a
long n deliberate ceremonial, as seemed
to be probable with the improvements
that We're coming from Nuremberg, the
corking and uncorking of the barrels
would have to be Obviated in some way
or other.
In 1889 General Mackay introduced
among his infantry the ring bayonet. The
lame OF the weapon has been connected
with Bayonne, the French seaport. AS
a matter of fact, '~'bayona" and "bayon-
eta are Spanish words, and mean neith-
err more nor less than 'sticker'' and lit
tie sticker." But the etymology of the
word did not trouble the British and Irish
infantry whom it helped to raise to the
topmost place among the troops of Eu-
in the period from 17O3-the date
when Wauban introduced the socketed
bayonet in the armies of the great mon
arch-tO the middle of the present cen-
fury. The transition from ring to socket
was a perfectly natural one. The two
ring in the earlier Weapon were merged
into a sort of tube fitting on the end of
the musket barrel. The blade was con-
nected with this tube by a stout neck, so
as to leave it clear of the bullets path
when the CUR was discharged. In order
to give the blade greater strength it was
made triangular in section. Finally this
triangular blade was followed out, to
make it as light as possible and so re-
duce to a minimum it's disadvantage as a
weight at the end of the piece in firing.
BRITISH BAYoNETs TODAY.
Thus was evolved the form of bayonet
which is to this day the conventional idea
Of it entertained by uniformed civilian
minds. 1t was this form that was in use
in n Peninsular war, where more Than
at n other time or in any other part
of the world the bayonet won it's fame.
British ~bayOnets'' became in those DAYS
a synonym for the military power of the
British empire, though it would have been
only fair to say "Hiberno-B British bay
onets," considering the share, out of all
proportion; to the population of little Ire
land, which the Irish soldier had in maxi
ing Wellington's bayonet charges terri
BILE. An Irish tradition goes that thanks
to the bayonet, we may sing Garry
owen.'" Whatever degree of truth there
may be in the story of the Peninsular
war with which this saying is connected,
1t has often been remarked that the
superiority of British infantry in the
bayOnet charge could never have been
without the admixture of at least an
equal part of Celtic blood to give "elan"
to the steady, stolid fighting quality of
the Anglo-Saxon Teuton.
In the earlier part of this century the
authorities Of the United States army
were fully alive to the Importance of
skill with the bayonet. General George
B. Mcclellan wrote he manual Of bay
onet exercise, which was the authorized
text book for the army at the beginning
OF the Civil war. It is interesting now
to the lay reader chiefly on account of
the deliberately n Instructions on po-
sitiOn. In those days much stress was
aid upon the effectiveness as a military
spectacle of a large body Of men going
through the bayonet exercise. McClellan's
book is now obsolete, and bayonet drill
in the United States army has taken the
form of an athletic exercise, like box
ing. carried on with bayonets made safe
by pads attached to the points. In the
army, to judge by the complaint
Of a recent writer in 1.-THE United Serv.
Ice Review" the idea of bayonet exer-
else as an affair of parade ground dis.
play has prevailed until recently, though
many commanding officers have worked
hard, and, it seems, with some success, |
to substitute for the formal parade drills !
OF companies and battalions man to man
contests with blunted small
prizes being given to the victors. Cen
eral Mcclellan, it must be said, contem-
the same practice. In his MAN
ual" there are plates, curious enough to !
look at after the lapse Of half a GEN. |
fury, showing infantrymen of that period |
wearing the padded 'plastron" to protect
the body, and going through What look to
the eyes OF this generation like very
movements. with specially made
.~halebone bladed bayonets. The whale |
bone blades are made detachable from
the hilt of the bayonet, so that a blade
broken by a %"palpable hit" can be re-
placed.
In the article in The United Service
already mentioned the writer
evidently takes the view that the dav ,
of the bayonet is by no means past. The
'trowel ~bayonet," designed by Colonel
Rice in the seventies, with the idea of
furnishing the infantry soldier with q