I’ve acknowledged that some militia were armed with rifles, I was addressing your statement that the American regulars, the Continentals, used them.
Morgan’s genius was in giving the militia permission to run away after they’d fired a shot or two. He knew they were going to run anyway and knowing they could run away they were steady for a short time and having run before being terrified they hung around the edge of the battle and were able to rally and rejoin the fight—most of the time when militia broke they fled pell mell.
The British had great tactical success against us during the American War using bold, aggressive tactics. They put to use the lessons learned fighting the French and the Indians in the Seven Years War and Pontiac’s War and fought in a open order 2 ranks deep with a yard or even two between files. These open formations moved quickly and fluidly on the battlefield but had less firepower than tight formations of 3 ranks. Thus the British put an emphasis on the shock power of the bayonet. An American unit encountering a British one would receive fire from the British light infantry acting as skirmishers and then be immediately attacked by the British main line, moving at a jog, not stopping to fire but pressing in quickly and relentlessly to use the bayonet. These tactics usually saw the Americans off, indeed sometimes the skirmishing screen of “light Bobs”, men chosen for their intelligence and aggression, would see the Americans off before the main line was engaged. Note that British regulars in America often cut their coats down into shell jackets, cropped their hair short, wore their hats slouched and carried hatchets and tomahawks. They were skilled at skirmishing, fighting in broken and wooded country and at flanking and bushwhacking. Not at all like our national mythology of the clumsy, overburdened Redcoat.
This worked well for a long no time but the danger was that as the American regulars gained in discipline, skill and morale this aggression could be turned against them. And that’s just what Morgan did, using his militia to set the trap and “ambushing” the British with his regulars, regulars who were finally able to stand toe to toe against the British regulars. Morgan also used his cavalry well, something rare in our history as Americans throughout our history were usually pretty mediocre cavalry and not up to European standards. I think during the gun powder age the best cavalry in the world were the Poles.
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