e is generally required; infantry
ammunition being usually carried in the second, or more distant
ammunition train, instead of the first, or nearest one, as it ought to
be.

8. Although a reserved fire is much the most reliable in repulsing
cavalry, the men may sometimes be ordered to commence the fire at a
_considerable distance_. In such case, they should be instructed to aim
at the horses, instead of their riders, as affording a better mark.

9. European cavalry is often practised, on arriving within four hundred
yards, or effective grape-shot distance, of an infantry square, to halt,
and then open at the centre, unmasking a battery of horse-artillery,
which plays for a certain time on the square, when the cavalry closes
again, and charges.

A square, however, attacked in this manner, is _not in so much danger_
of being broken as might be imagined. The enemy's guns, after being
unmasked, would usually require several trial rounds to get the exact
range; and our sharpshooters, who could safely be thrown forward one
hundred yards, with the new rifled arms, ought, in the mean time, to
inflict such loss on the cavalry, as well as on the battery, as to cause
it either to retire, or to charge feebly, and, therefore, ineffectively.
At the very worst, the square would have ample time to re-form its
ranks, and deliver a deadly volley before the cavalry could reach it, as
it also would if this operation were attempted much nearer, say at two
hundred yards. In this last case, a few volleys from the square itself,
with the new arms, would probably be destructive enough to prevent the
charge altogether.

10. It is hardly necessary to observe, that troops formed in square,
when charged by cavalry, can secure their safety only by _standing
firm_. A single opening will suffice to let in the enemy, who will then
easily ride over the square, and cut it in pieces. Whereas, if the
square remain unbroken, cavalry can inflict upon it no loss, or but a
trifling one.

11. In repulsing a cavalry charge, coolness and presence of mind will
sometimes enable troops to accomplish _extraordinary results_.

At Quatre Bras, the square of the Forty-second Highlanders was not
completed, the companies still running in to form the rear face, when
the enemy's leading troop entered. But the square, nevertheless,
finished its formation; and the French cavalry, caught, as it were, in a
net, was soon destroyed by the concentrated fire of all the front