to-hand

Updated: August 22, 2026

But the commander, thinking he could not spare a sufficient number to do this work, or that the soldiers, cumbered with their muskets, which, after the first discharge, would have to be clubbed, could make no headway in such a hand- to-hand fight, made no effort to dislodge the wretches, who loaded and fired with the most imperturbable coolness.

Joel Tyler Headley - The Great Riots of New York, 1712 to 1873