Line

LINE. In the linear tactics that dominated land warfare in western Europe in the eighteenth century, the term "line" denoted a row of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder across the front of a formation. The formation might be two, three, or occasionally more lines deep, but its width was always greater than its depth, making it difficult to maneuver on the battlefield. The tactical value of the line was its ability to bring the maximum number of individual firearms to bear on the enemy without sacrificing too much of the compactness needed to retain command and control on a battlefield. The line won or lost the battle by the disciplined delivery of sustained volley fire. The term "column," on the other hand, denoted a formation whose front was narrow, but whose depth was relatively great; columns could maneuver more readily on the battlefield and had the capability of punching a hole through a line whose fire discipline was poor.

"Line" also came to mean an army's established, more or less permanent units. In the British army, the "line" meant the numbered units of infantry and cavalry that made up the bulk of the standing forces, not including the units of guards that made up the monarch's household establishment. In the American army, the term was used to distinguish between regiments authorized by Congress and raised for Continental service, and the state and militia units under the control of the state governments, thus making the terms "Continental Army" and "Continental Line" nearly synonymous. Beginning in 1777, nearly all Continental Army units were part of a state's "Line," as in the "Massachusetts Line" or the "Virginia Line." Most officers in both armies held a commission in the line, meaning they were members of the active combat arms; officers commissioned "on the staff" were part of a different hierarchy.

In naval warfare, a "line of battle" denoted a group of large wooden ships whose carriage guns were mounted in broadside, sailing stem to stern so as to bring their batteries to bear on a similarly armed and arranged group of enemy vessels sailing on a parallel or converging course. The pinnacle of naval tactics was to bring the maximum number of broadside guns to bear on the head of the enemy's line, thereby concentrating an artillery crossfire on a few ships that could not respond effectively because they could not fire their guns ahead. This maneuver was called "crossing the T." A "ship of the line [of battle]" designated a warship that was large enough to take part in the main action; in the eighteenth century this meant a warship carrying seventy-four or more heavy guns.

SEE ALSO Muskets and Musketry.

                            revised by Harold E. Selesky