Pike & Shotte Infantry Regiment

Pike & Shotte Infantry Regiment

In the 17th century, large regular armies were for the first time equipped and supplied by the state. Many units, though not all, were for the first time uniformly dressed and formed into regiments, brigades and battalions. The tactical norm was to position two equal "wings" of musketeers on the flanks of a central block of pikemen armed with 16-foot pikes. While the "slow-firing" musketeers held down the enemy, the main task of the pikemen was to hold the centre and provide protection from cavalry.