most attacks would succeed or fail in 6 volleys or less, ranges were much too short for more, tho one at short range just before bayonet contact were deadly. napoleon's old guard veterans all, broke with 6 at waterloo and retreated.
even after the issuance of rifles and cartridge weapons, most battles ended after a few volleys, not extended firefights. the famous battle of rourke's drift, most zulu were killed at a range of a few hundred yards & very few made it to hand to hand range. unlike the movie. (and they were not yet a welsh regiment). the zulu king had told his brother not to attack fixed positions or he wpuld be defeated. he ignored that and was. the impis that attacked the mobile and split forces at islandlhwana listened and won. also after just a few volleys as they overan the unprepared british and their unfortified camp.
up till the beginning of the american civil war uniforms and flags signalled to units who was who as there were no radios, telephones and as noted, lots of smoke. union and confederate troops at the beginning both wore an assortment of colours, the southern officers, many ex-union, continued wearing blue, especially their hats long after they changed to grey coats. the fog of war still caused many blue on blue casualties. lees' loss of stonewall jackson to 'friendly fire' being one of the most telling. the south changed their national flag a couple of times to avoid confusion with the yankee one in battle.
an aside, polish cavalry with long (14ft. +/-) lances defeated a large swedish army with pikes and halberds. they also slaughtered the turks outside wien (vienna) at the latter part of the 17th c.
edited:somehow swede turned into swiss, fixed now.
