Revolutionary War firearms?

[SodiumBenzoate]

What were some commonly used firearms in the revolution? I already know about the Brown Bess and Pennsylvania/Kentucky rifles, but what were some others?


I think this goes here.

 

[Alex]

There were probably relatively few rifles used during the Revolution, they were slow to reload, which made them impractical for the types of military manuvers used in that era. More commonly used would have been military muskets of both American make, as well as, foreign manufacture, basically whatever could be brought in was likely used. Rifles were used to be sure, but probably more families had fowling guns than rifles.

 

[Jim Watson]

The rebellious colonials used mostly French .69 muskets and local copies of same. US flintlocks follwed the Charleville pattern for years after indepencence. Rifles were pretty scarce but were effective when deployed from dishonorable concealment. One point of confusion is that there were good numbers of full stock fowlers and "smoothbore rifles" that looked like Pennsylvania rifles.

 

[smokemaker]

I remember reading about german (prussian more correctly I think) muskets used during the war, but I don't recall the caliber or anything else about them. The Americans used Commitee of Safety musket's if I recall, but they were basically copies of the Brown Bess, or short land service musket

 

[4v50 Gary]

New Englanders predominantly used smoothbores. While they had some Brown Bess (and especially some of the older ones), they had a lot of fowlers (much lighter and easier to carry than the Bess). I don't think any of them would have had an Indian Trade Gun as it was a lower grade firearm. As you surmised, the fowler's performance would be about equal to that of the Bess or Charleville but the latter two had one advantage: bayonet. There were a few rifles in New England, but smoothbores were the preferred arm (remember, they were there for hunting).

Rifles were also used and George Shumway's Rifles of Colonial America Vol 1 & Vol 2 are both excellent books. They were out of print for years and were going for the hundreds when available. Happily Mr. Shumway decided to reprint them and you can get them from him at http://www.shumwaypublisher.com He's highly regarded in the community (but has been fooled at least once by modern gun builders - hey, absent carbon dating/chemical analysis, you can't tell). Oh, getting back to the rifles, as one moved further south (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas & Georgia) rifles became more predominant. None of these were standardized and it all depends on what the gunsmith's skills were, his training (school) and the buyer's pocketbook.

The British fielded two types of rifles. The Pattern 1776 and temporarily the Ferguson. For info on both, DeWitt Bailey's book, The British Military Flintlock Rifle is well researched and deserves a place on the shelf of any Revolutionary War buff.

The various German principalities (Hesse, Ansbach, Brunswick, etc.) but collectively called "Hessians" whether they were from Hesse or not brought their own rifles so the patterns may vary. West Point has one or two in their collection.

A couple of more books worthwhile looking at (and you can probably get them through your inter-library loan service) is George Neuman's Battle Weapons of the American Revolution and his Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Both are good picture books.

So, are you taking the King's Shilling, joining the Sons of Liberty or going Dutch Quaker and sitting it out?

 

[Jim K]

The colonies generally used English muskets or (the few) American made copies of them. The colonial militias had the Brown Bess because that is what the government issued to them. Only the frontiersmen, coming in from western areas like Bedford, PA and Frederick, MD had rifles. It was not until fairly late in the war that any significant numbers of French weapons appeared.

Rifles were not much liked by the military leaders of the time because they were slow to load and could not use a bayonet. Both capabilities were important in the fire and charge tactics of the day. While rifles were accurate at (then) long range, and much has been written about the Americn riflemen, it was not until American and foreign officers had imposed the discipline necessary for Americans to stand up to the British army in the conventional musket duel that American victory became possible.

Jim

 

[kentucky bucky]

What I've read is that the rifle had more of an impact when the British started to try to break the will of the southern colonies. They awoke a sleeping giant when they rilied up the frontiersmen. It became personal to them when they saw some of their brethren being killed, burned out,etc. The rifle was their livelihood and they were proficient with them. When the pioneers of the western frontier (of that time) got involved the tide of the war turned against the British. There are contemporary accounts of British officers writing about different battles and skirmishes and mentioning the devastating effect of the rifles of the frontiersmen.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Why, those insolent backwater men! Little wonder Patrick Ferguson issued a challenge that if they should not desist from fighting the Crown, he would: "hang their leaders and lay waste their country with fire and sword."

Opps, he pissed them off and irked the blood of those Scotch-Irish in the hills. They assembled about 1,800 strong and prompted Ferguson's retreat towards Cornwallis and King's Mountain. He appealed to the loyalist militia for help: "If you choose to be pissed upon by a set of mongrels, say so at once, and let your women turn their backs upon you, and look out for real men to protect them."

Well, no one exactly rallied to him and 1,000 of the picked mongrels attacked and destroyed Ferguson at King's Mountain.

 

[Wildalaska]

My understanding from probate records is that there were no guns at all in America in 1776, all the guns were smuggled in by the NRA in the 1960s so that progressive leaders seeking to reclaim america from the military-industrial complex could be assasinated by the forces of rascism and repression.

WildMBAlaska

 

[HiWayMan]

I've heard that too WildAlaska. I think that was taught to me in Liberal History 101 when I was at college.

 

[4v50 Gary]

WildAlaska - that's why the British and their loyalist Tories lost. They had no guns with which to repel our pitchfork, tomahawk, kitchen knife armed patriots. Thank goodness for gun control and lack of interest in firearms in 1776.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

I do believe that is the shortest Wild-etc-Alaska I have seen