3. The Battle of Maida (12)
Aftermath and Statistical Analysis
The Maida campaign then had, as its sole good result, the confirming in the minds of the more intelligent British officers who had taken part in it, of the great truth of the superiority of line tactics over column tactics. It was of no small importance that a very appreciable number of the men who were to take an honourable part in the Peninsular War had their first experience of fighting on a considerable scale on the Calabrian shore. We have already noted the names of Cole, the celebrated leader of the 4th division all through the Spanish War; of Kempt and Oswald, who afterwards commanded brigades in Spain, the former at Waterloo also; especially of Colborne, who, as a brigadier, fought so desperately at Albuera, and made the final attack on the French Guard at Waterloo, also of Ross, a distinguished officer in the Peninsula, but better remembered as the captor of Washington. It was invaluable to the British army, two years later, to have many officers of high rank who had been eye-witnesses of this first typical clash of line with column, and who could foresee from experience what would be the result of the application of similar tactics on the battle-fields of Spain and Portugal.
To obtain a deluxe leatherbound edition of STUDIES ON THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, subscribe to Castalia History.