I didn't mean the brown bess, I meant the black one.
The brown bess is the black one, silly huh?

k. i would have thought that if you were fighting a large amount of infantry it would have made sense to fight in that way. it would mean you would be firing more often.strange. anyway ty.
You can bring more guns to bear in two lines without reducing your manoeuvrability, I.e. to fire in three ranks one rank would have to kneel, meaning that if a regiment of dragoons popped out of the woods to your right you'd be a lot more pressed to form square.
Also in double rank a battalion can hold a longer stretch of ground which is handy to create longer battle lines if your army isn't that big.