Learning Point:

Currently Len Blasiol and I are working through Lt. Burton's bayonet system of 1853. In that process, it has become apparent that understanding the underlying military drill of the period and country that produced the system may be of critical importance, especially to those of us trained in modern military drill. We puzzled over the instructions as to how to come to guard until we found a diagram that depicted the basic facing movments used by British units in the 1870s and a written description of the drill from before 1820. Making facing movements by pivoting on the heels of both feet is a different experience.