during the american civil war, infantry manuals paid a good deal of attention to skirmishing. the tactics were based on napoleon's heavy dependence on skirmishing during the napoleonic wars. paintings and images of civil war battles show two lines of soldiers, standing shoulder to shoulder, firing at the enemy lines at short distances. but massed formations were not frequently used during the civil war. skirmishes and skirmish lines were the more common tactic. the terrain in many cases did not allow mass formations of armies but did allow skirmishers to fight in open order. the increased accuracy of rifles and rifled muskets at longer ranges made battles fought at close range unnecessary. battles fought before at could now be fought at . pre-war training had also changed skirmisher tactics. instead of one company out of ten now entire regiments were taught how to fight as skirmishers. they fought in small formations called “comrades in battle”. this called for four men to move and fight supporting each other. the confederate army actually made more effective use of skirmishers. in each brigade there was an elite battalion of sharpshooters who were used as skirmishers.