Why is that misuse? It certainly goes along with the French doctrine, taught in the French artillery schools as revamped by Gribeauval, of infantry/artillery cooperation.

As for range and hitting power, you want to get your guns as far forward as possible to hit deeper into the enemy formation (and remember that the maximum effective range of field pieces during the period was about 1,000 yards-and French artillery doctrine was not to fire farther than 1050 yards).

And it should also be noted that artillery worked in conjunction with French skirmishers in the attack.

Sincerely,
K