According to another sample taken (in 1762) in Invalides; - 69 % of the wounded were wounded by musket balls - 14 % by sabers - 13 % by artillery - 2 % by bayonets
In 1807 during the war between France and Russia and Prussia, chirurg Dominique Jean Larrey studied wounded on one battlefield and found most were caused by artillery and muskets. Only 2 % of all wounds were caused by bayonets.
The damage inflicted during "bayonet assault" was most often executed by bullets. Larrey studied one particularly vicious close combat between the Russians and the French and found: - 119 wounds from musketballs - 5 wounds from bayonets
The wounds from bayonets were most often inflicted during pursuit or during attack on flank of enemy and not in frontal clash. Most men could more easily kill an enemy who was running away. Perhaps the sudden release of stress, when the enemy turned his back, so that he could be struck without risk, turned his emotion into elation and rage. But during pursuit the victorious troops became disorganized and vulnerable to counterattack.
Bayonet Attack. The French regulations from 1805 stated that bayonet attack is to be used against enemy that is disorganized by fire, physically and emotionally worn down. '...for its primary function - at least against infantry - was not to inflict casualties, but to inspire fear which would lead the enemy to break, thus resolving the conflict between two units quickly and relatively cheaply.' "The majority of bayonet attacks ended up with one side fleeing before any contact was made. Usually it was an attack, a charge, but there was no bayonet fighting."
~Rory Muir from his chapter about bayonets/Hand-To-Hand fighting in his book.
Downvotes is a piss-poor way of disagreeing, by the way.