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The British army believed very strongly in discipline and a regimented lifestyle. Their camps and the atmosphere in which they lived demonstrated this. They usually set up camp every 3 days, sometimes sleeping with only a wool blanket under the stars. The men had to carry the tents on their backs, which included 3 6 foot poles. | |
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The British used A frame British bell-back tents. They were positioned in neat lines (shown to the left) with the sergeants tent facing outward. The only form of waterproofing they had was oils skin, which still wasn't even all that waterproof. The entrance was composed of two flaps that could be tied close with a series of knots. 6 men slept to a tent, so it wasn't very warm, private, dry or comfortable. | |
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These camps sometimes had dining flys, but they were usually reserved for
officers, who also had much roomier tents. Unless women were on the march
( they would only come if their husband was a soldier, that is they didn't
send women to make food) , which was rare, the men cooked for themselves. Their
diet consisted of dried peas and corn, salt bacon, ( and I mean
SALTY, which preserved the meat) hard tack, and sometimes a ration of whiskey.
They usually made a rather nasty stew combining all of these
(except for the whiskey of course). The men ate for nutrition and energy, obviously
not for pleasure |
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Lucky soldiers who were fort's garrison got to sleep in barracks, ( ill now pause for "Oooing" and "Awwing") which had beds. Now granted the not so high up chaps had to sleep outside when the barracks were full, I'm sure they were still happy just to be in a fort. It was one of the more cushy jobs for a private/ |
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Forts often times had very very thick walls with cannons actually positioned in the walls, with places for men to shoot out at the enemies as well. The walls could also usually be walked upon if they were made of brick or stone. This fortification at the left is Fort Niagara. It has a thick brick wall with dirt piled up behind it in which grass grew on This makes it very easy to walk upon the walls. You can also see the slits in the walls were men shot out. | |
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Another defense sometimes used in conjunction with these walls was a cannon tower. It would have a few cannon at the top, pinting in whatever direction the enemy might approach, that being by land or sea. They also sometime had a few floors of barracks beneath them. |
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| Although the French and Indian war was a bit more savage than usual, British warfare was just about always very formals, as was the norm, and the prided themselves on being gentleman. They would basically line up, fire a volley and reload, fire a volley, reload, etc. Many people wonder why the heck would the morons do that?? Well these guns were so inaccurate, only accurate when used by very, very well trained men, that you could probably put two guys 100 yards apart, hand them a brown bess (the standard issue musket) and say " ok, kill him" it would literally probably take a half hour to succeed. |
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So for the army to use these guns most effectively, they would have to have a bunch of them being fired at once, their thinking being "hey, we got to hit something". And they were right. This was really the only way to be lethal and efficient without giving extensive training to the men. Some people say that you can even see the bullet curve. |
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