With the trajectory of the .45-70, you just had to get the boolit halfway there and gravity does the rest. At the time the military was testing the round, warfare fought with guns was still relatively new. Shooting an individual soldier wasn’t always the goal. Volley Fire was still considered useful. With one hundred soldiers shooting repeatedly in the same direction, they figured they would eventually do damage to the enemy. Elevation for good distance calculations was more important than windage.