WEAPONS AND MUNITIONS OF WAR: PART I
Abstract
The use in war of crude hand fire arms such as the arquebuse and match-lock began during the latter part of the 14th century. They gradually increased in importance and in the last years of the 17th century, gave place to the flint lock musket. The latter was the infantry small arm for about a century and a half. Brought into England about 1690 during the reign of William III, it had been developed on the continent and was thereafter used in the wars of the Spanish Succession, of Charles XII; of Sweden, of Frederick the Great, the wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic period. Officially the British regulations permitted its use at 200 yards, but 150 yards was a long range for it, and only within 75 yards was was it an accurate weapon, Battles were fought with soldiers massed in dense formations, yet in the great battles the weight ofammunition expended amounted to one or two times the weight of all the killed. Battles were fought at very close range. During our Revolutionary War we hear of the Americans advancing until they could "see the whites of their enemies' eyes" before they fired. This must have been between 50 and 70 yards. Americans have always favored rifles. Our use of them in the Revolution and in the war of 1812 gained for us in Europe the enviable reputation of being with the Swiss, the most dangerous of enemies. However our rifles did not prevent our being beaten by the "Brown Bess" in the hands of British regulars on nearly every fair field on which we met. The difficulty of loading the rifle after it was fouled prevented its adoption generally, until the advent of the Minie bullet.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1907
- Accession Number
- AD1133059
Entities
People
- Charles Crawford
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College