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Interesting - they are expressed in such a way as they aren't tied down too much to the specific weapons available at a point in time. I wonder if they have been rephrased to be more universal.

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It seems that the version linked here has been edited from the original (which makes sense, since the language doesn't sound very 18th-century).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rogers%27_28_%22Rules_o...

I'd say the mention of "hatchets" certainly fits with Rogers' era rules, and the lack of reference to a specific firearm I suspect is due partially to the fact that American forces of Rogers' time often had an ensemble of firearms that were both personal as well as issued by an authority.

That and the fact that he was intentionally setting rules for tactical and operational behaviors that are necessarily abstract.

Yes, I thought about hatchets, but the words are in relatively modern language. Nothing about muskets, powder, preparing to shoot. There must have been a lot of military training and discipline about the multiple lines of soldiers not only having continuous lines of fire like this describes, but also taking the right amount of time to prepare (load musket, powder and paper (what do they call that?) and fire. Keeping your powder dry, etc.

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