Tactics Questions - Line and Column, Stacked or Not Stacked

[phoenix]

A long time ago I asked almost the same question about line or column, in here, and received many answers. Sorry, but I can't find the thread. However, I do remember that the collective wisdom was pretty vague in some respects. My question was whether it was better to DEFEND a melee attack in line or column. It seemed pretty clear that as far as attacking goes, to attack in column was considered best, but to fire from line was best (obviously). Generally, as far as defending went, I was told, better to defend a melee in column, but - as you were told above - I was also told that with certain English units you were better staying in line. It didn't get any clearer than that and hence I have always attacked in column, fired in line, if possible, and I have always tried to defend against column melee attacks in column. This is always after being in line as along as possible prior to the melee attack, in order to bring line fire against the attacking column unit (which tactic has meant that often I don't get time to get into column before I'm meleed....) I haven't myself come across any units where this seemed manifestly wrong (including English units), but I'm not very experienced and so it remains pretty unclear for me under what circumstances, if any, it might be best to defend a column melee attack in line formation. If anyone wants to clarify that would be great.