I once made drawings of soldiers from the Napoleonic Era, usually marching in double columns to a battle. I often overdrew the bayonets such that it was about 1.5 cubits long. I liked sketching the columns from behind as faces were hard to draw, but knapsacks weren't. I do recall that skirmishes in the distance would be drawn somewhat like this:
(I know this is MS Paint but uploading hand drawn pictures is a pain)
It was meant to resemble a small section right after firing. Occasionally, a flag or a few "dead" figures would be drawn.