American Arms - 1775 (Adapted from - The Great Guns, Harold L. Peterson and Robert Elman, 1971, Gr & Dlp, inc. 74-143184)
Flint Musket
Few icons are as reminiscent of the American Revolution as is a musket over the hearth. Two crossed muskets are still emblematic of American infantry units. The Brown Bess flint musket was the mainstay of American arms in 1775. The "brown" refers to the unpainted walnut gunstock, and not the browned barrel. Later, the alliance with France brought many Charleville-style muskets into the Continental Army. The Charleville had a caliber of 69, versus the American/English 75 caliber musket.
Technically a musket is any full length, smooth bore, large caliber shoulder arm. It first appeared in the 16th century in Spain and France. The smooth bore was designed to speed reloading, at the expense of long distance accuracy. Traditionally, the gun is said to have been developed by the Duke of Alva, for use against the Dutch.
Later, in the early 1600's, the bayonet was produced specifically for the musket, in the city of Bayonne, France. Until about 1675 when ring bayonets appeared, bayonets were inserted as plugs into the musket muzzles. The bayonet elegantly replaced the lines of pikemen, who's job had been to protect reloading musketeers from the inevitable charge by the troops they had just attacked. Sportsmen also liked bayonets because they protected hunters from a charging wounded animal.
Baron von Steuben's Regulations for the Discipline of the Troops of the United States, published in 1779 listed eight steps to load up. They were,"half-cock firelock, handle cartridge, prime, shut pan, charge with cartridge, draw rammer, ram down catridge, return rammer." Exactly ten separate motions were allowed in the field drill.
Typical cartridges used a 100 to 200 grain charge. Gun-makers were required to personally fire a ball with a monstrous 4 1/2 inch long charge to prove a newly-made weapon's worthiness.
The first large scale musket battle of the American Revolution was the Battle of Bunker Hill, where a smaller fortified American force inflicted 1,054 casualties on a British force of 2,300 of the World's most disciplined and well-trained troops. In the past, whole armies had fled in panic from Britain's massed regulars. No one had ever seen an untrained civilian force hold their ground when attacked by these, the most intimidating military units in the British Army. Certainly none had failed to flee when approached at a distance of only one hundred feet by an entire line. The lines at Bunker Hill had stood no more than fifty feet apart when the Americans held and fired instead of retreating.
Shocked, the British regrouped and made two more attempts to subdue the Americans by grandly (and bravely) marching up the Hill. The American's finally fled when they ran out of ammunition. While technically the battle was a British victory, it was a far too costly one to be repeated.
Blunderbuss
This firearm was used for field defense at close range. It was a weapon of choice for homeowners, pirates and highwaymen - primarily because of the dramatic phsychological impact of staring at a two inch wide gun barrel. The width of the barrel was as much for display as anything. Once a gun barrel flares more widely than the shot pattern, it is as if the barrel had ended entirely. Such a weapon thrust in someone's face however, made them quick to state their business. Charles Pickfatt, a London Gunsmith made this explicit by engraving, "Happy is he that escapeth me." in a ring around the muzzle.
The blunderbuss had an effective range of somewhat less than one hundred feet, and would spread a pattern of shot over four feet wide at a range of sixty feet. The weapons were prized by postal and stagecoach workers, who normally would wait until a highwayman was within a few feet before firing. The weapon was also easy to load because of the large barrel size, and it could be armed with buckshot, or multiple pistol balls. Considering the utter lack of accuracy of smoothbore pistols, the ability to simultaneously fire multiple shots was a distinct advantage.
It is a myth that glass, stones, dirt, and rusty nails were routinely fired in a blunderbuss. One can imagine the damage this would do to a brass gun barrel. One can also imagine the result of a nail getting stuck crosswise in the barrel with the rest of the charge coming up at almost the speed of sound behind it.
The name, "Blunderbuss" comes from the Dutch, "Donderbus" meaning thunder gun. The British adapted "thunder" (perhaps humorously) to "blunder." The earliest known example of a blunderbuss comes from The Netherlands in 1598. These guns came late to the English Colonies. As late as 1694 only two blunderbusses are recorded to have existed in the Maryland Colony, and one of these was broken! Thus our modern but quaint pictures of Pilgrims headed for Thanksgiving feasting protected by blunderbusses are fanciful. Very few if any such guns were available in that era.
Even in the years between 1720 and 1820, blunderbusses were far more popular in England than in America. After April 19, 1775 British Gen. Thomas Gage allowed thousands of Boston's Patriots to evacuate the city, under the condition that they leave behind their weapons. Bostonians turned in 1778 flintlock muskets, 634 pistols, but only 38 blunderbusses. This accounting of abandoned weapons shows that that popularity of the blunderbuss was limited, even as late as 1775.
The photograph above is of a flint and a percussion blunderbus from the 18th century. Many more photos are available from the J. M. Davis Museum, in Claremore, Oklahoma.
The Natick Minutemen can be reached at kaltofen@aol.com.
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