The Perfection of Military Discipline: The Plug Bayonet and the English Army 1660-1705

The book re-evaluates both the plug bayonet as a weapon and its implementation which fundamentally changed how it impacted both the formation and tactics of all armies of the long seventeen century. The plug bayonets reputation was marred by General Hugh Mackay following his defeat at the Battle of Killiekrankie on the 27th July 1689 when he supposedly stated: ‘his men were defeated by an unforeseen technical flaw in their weaponry (plug bayonet)’. This view of the plug bayonet has been re-iterated constantly over the following 300 years, with military historian’s sideling the plug bayonet as a dead-end technology with little to commend it. AUTHOR: Mark Shearwood has had a lifelong interest in military history and wargaming. He is now in the second year of his Ph.D. at the University of Leeds. Following a brief career in the Royal Engineers he spent most of his working life with the courier industry, returning to complete his master’s degree at Leeds in 2018. The plug bayonet and its public perception has always been of interest and was the subject of his master’s dissertation. His primary research focus is on the military of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century from the Monmouth Rebellion to the end of the Great Northern War. His current Ph.D. research is looking into issues of religion and loyalty within the armies of James II and William III. He is married with four children and lives in Chesterfield on the edge of the Peak District.