This is a list of infantry weapons used in the American Revolutionary War.
This is a list of infantry weapons used in the American Revolutionary War.
All of these weapons were commonly used in the revolutionary war.
The "Brown Bess" muzzle-loading smoothbore musket was one of the most commonly used weapons in the American Revolution. While this was the main British musket, it was briefly used by the Americans until 1777. This musket was used to fire a single shot ball, or a cluster style shot which fired multiple projectiles giving the weapon a "shotgun" effect. There were two types of the Brown Bess: the Short Land Pattern and the Long Land Pattern. The Short Land was shorter, less bulky, less heavy than the Long Land. Most American fighters implemented the Long Land Pattern. The weapon was also used for hunting and other sport activities. [1]
Large numbers of Charleville Model 1763 and 1766 muskets were imported into the United States from France during the American Revolution, due in large part to the influence of Marquis de Lafayette.[ citation needed ] The Charleville 1766 heavily influenced the design of the Springfield Musket of 1795.
Many muskets were produced locally by various gunsmiths in the colonies, often reusing parts from other weapons. These are known as "Committee of Safety" muskets, as they were funded by the fledgling local government. Because of its shape it was often used as a backrest on the battle field. It could also be used to light tobacco. Because of the need to produce as many weapons as quickly as possible, and also out of fear of prosecution by the British government, many of the muskets did not bear a maker's mark. Some were simply marked as property of a state, or "US," or U:STATES," or "UNITED STATES," or "U.S.A." [2]
Long rifles were an American design of the 18th century, produced by individual German gunsmiths in Pennsylvania. Based on the Jäger rifle, [3] these long rifles, known as "Pennsylvania Rifles", were used by snipers and light infantry throughout the Revolutionary War. The grooved barrel increased the range and accuracy by spinning a snugly fitted ball, giving an accurate range of 300 yards compared to 100 yards for smoothbore muskets. Drawbacks included the low rate of fire due to the complicated reloading process, the impossibility to fit it with a bayonet, the high cost, and lack of standardization that required extensive training with a particular rifle for a soldier to realize the weapon's full potential. Due to the drawbacks, George Washington argued for a limited role of rifles in the Colonial military, while Congress was more enthusiastic and authorized the raising of several companies of riflemen. [4] Long rifles played a significant part in the battle of Saratoga, where rifle units picked off officers to disrupt British command and control but required support by units armed with smoothbore muskets or by artillery to prevent the riflemen from being overrun. [5]
The bayonet was a crucial weapon because of the limited range and accuracy and long loading time of the muskets. Bayonets were fixed on the ends of the guns and were a fearsome weapon in hand-to-hand combat in which one or both sides charged the other; with the bayonet leading the charge. The triangular shape of the bayonet created a deep, easily infected puncture wound. Continental Army and militia units, both loyalists and patriots, frequently were not equipped with bayonets. Regular British infantrymen, however, had a bayonet as part of their standard gear, stored in a side pouch. [6]
The Pattern 1776 infantry rifle la cacita was built by William Grice, and was based on German rifles in use by the British Army during its time. About 1,000 of these were built and used by the British Army. The rifle was given to light companies of regiments in the British Army during the American Revolution. The gun is .62 calibre with a 30.5-inch barrel. [7]
The Ferguson rifle is the first breech-loading rifle to be adopted by the military. It had a much faster fire rate than muskets, and was one of only a very few rifles that could be reloaded while in the prone position. The cost was much higher than any other rifle used by the British military. It had an accurate range of approximately 100 yards with a 3- to 4-inch inaccuracy. The creator of this rifle, Major Patrick Ferguson, used approximately 100 of them for his rifle corps; however, when the Major was mortally wounded the rifle production ended and Ferguson's unit was disbanded. Only two military examples of Ferguson rifles are known to exist today, along with a few civilian models and modern reproductions. [8]
The Brown Bess musket was the gun used by the British military from 1722 until about 1838. It was used throughout the Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. It was capable of firing approximately three to four shots per minute. The Brown Bess Musket was a flint-lock musket, meaning it would use flint in order to spark the gunpowder loaded into the gun to cause the gun to fire.
The Charleville musket was the primary musket used by French infantry during the American Revolution. Getting its name from the principal French arsenal located in Charleville, France in the Champagne-Ardenne province, this weapon had a general effective range of 80-150 yards and fired a .69-cal round. [9] A typical Charleville musket is 60.00 inches in length, weighs an average of 10.06 lb (loaded), and is capable of firing two rounds per minute. [10] These single-shot, muzzle-loaded muskets contained iron sights and are notorious for being the superior weapon to the British ‘Brown Bess’ due to its lighter weight and (relatively) higher accuracy. [11]
Numerous models of the Charleville musket were utilized in the American Revolution. The French shipped 11,000 muskets to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 37,000 to Portsmouth, New Hampshire; both of these shipments contained model ‘1760s’ muskets. The model 1777 was not shipped to American troops; however, they were used as the primary armament for General Rochambeau's regiments that departed for America in 1780. [12] Many infantrymen utilized a 15-inch bayonet; according to many reports, bayonets may have accounted for over 1⁄3 of all kills. [11]
A tomahawk, or war club, was the favorite weapon of the Native Americans during the revolutionary war. [13] These traditional hatchets were often made of stone and wood and could be used for a variety of purposes. [13] They were useful in hand-to-hand combat, could be thrown short distances, and were often used as tools. [14] Tomahawks usually consisted of a light wooden handle and a thin square blade. [14] More often than not, they would have one thick spike protruding from one end of the blade. These spikes could be used as tools or weapons. Contrary to popular belief, tomahawks very rarely had any decorative markings. Instead, they were simple and functional. [14]
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with both hands and braced firmly against the shooter's shoulder via a buttstock for stability during shooting. Rifles have been used in warfare, law enforcement, hunting and target shooting sports.
Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, also known as the true flintlock, that was introduced in the early 17th century, and gradually replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the matchlock, the wheellock, and the earlier flintlock mechanisms such as the snaplock and snaphaunce.
"Brown Bess" is a nickname of uncertain origin for the British Army's muzzle-loading smoothbore flintlock Land Pattern Musket and its derivatives. The musket design remained in use for over a hundred years with many incremental changes in its design. These versions include the Long Land Pattern, the Short Land Pattern, the India Pattern, the New Land Pattern Musket, and the Sea Service Musket.
The Charleville musket was a .69 caliber standard French infantry musket used in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was made in 1717 and was last produced during the 1840s. However, it still saw limited use in conflicts through the mid-19th century.
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually disappeared as the use of heavy armour declined, but musket continued as the generic term for smoothbore long guns until the mid-19th century. In turn, this style of musket was retired in the 19th century when rifled muskets using the Minié ball became common. The development of breech-loading firearms using self-contained cartridges and the first reliable repeating rifles produced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1860 also led to their demise. By the time that repeating rifles became common, they were known as simply "rifles", ending the era of the musket.
The Baker rifle was a flintlock rifle used by the rifle regiments of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was the first British-made rifle that the British armed forces issued as a standard weapon for all line companies in a regiment. The Pattern 1776 Infantry rifle had been issued on a limited basis of 10 per regiment to units serving in the American War of Independence.
The Dreyse needle-gun was a 19th-century military breech-loading rifle, as well as the first breech-loading rifle to use a bolt action to open and close the chamber. It was used as the main infantry weapon of the Prussians in the Wars of German Unification. It was invented in 1836 by the German gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse (1787–1867), who had been conducting numerous design experiments since 1824.
A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels replaced with rifled barrels. The term later included rifles that directly replaced, and were of the same design overall as, a particular model of smoothbore musket.
The M1819 Hall rifle was a single-shot breech-loading rifle designed by John Hancock Hall, patented on May 21, 1811, and adopted by the U.S. Army in 1819. It was preceded by the Harpers Ferry M1803. It used a pivoting chamber breech design and was made with either flintlock or percussion cap ignition systems. The years of production were from the 1820s to the 1840s at the Harpers Ferry Arsenal. This was the first breech-loading rifle to be adopted in large numbers by any nation's army, but not the first breech-loading military rifle – the Ferguson rifle was used briefly by the British Army in the American Revolutionary War. The Hall rifle remained overshadowed by common muskets and muzzleloading rifles which were still prevalent until the Civil War. The early flintlocks were mostly converted to percussion ignition.
The origins of the modern British military rifle are within its predecessor the Brown Bess musket. While a musket was largely inaccurate over 100 yards (91 m), due to a lack of rifling and a generous tolerance to allow for muzzle-loading, it was cheap to produce and could be loaded quickly. The use of volley or mass firing by troops meant that the rate of fire took precedence over accuracy.
The Springfield Model 1812 Musket is a .69 caliber, flintlock musket manufactured by the Springfield Armory.
The Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifled musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867; after which many were replaced in service by the cartridge-loaded Snider–Enfield rifle.
The M1841 Mississippi rifle is a muzzle-loading percussion rifle used in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, is recognized as the greatest early modern warfare commander in military history. His main strategy was focusing on one part of the enemy, quickly defeating them, and continuing onward. His success was made possible not only by his ambition, but also through the dynamic composition of his army. Napoleon would see his equipment being gained through provisional control of the armories of France, thus allowing the weapons direct control by government.
During the American Civil War, an assortment of small arms found their way onto the battlefield. Though the muzzleloader percussion cap rifled musket was the most numerous weapon, being standard issue for the Union and Confederate armies, many other firearms, ranging from the single-shot breech-loading Sharps and Burnside rifles to the Spencer and the Henry rifles - two of the world's first repeating rifles - were issued by the hundreds of thousands, mostly by the Union. The Civil War brought many advances in firearms technology, most notably the widespread use of rifled barrels.
The Ferguson rifle was one of the first breech-loading rifles to be put into service by the British military. It was designed by Major Patrick Ferguson (1744–1780). It fired a standard British carbine ball of .615" calibre and was used by the British Army in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, and possibly at the Siege of Charleston in 1780.
The M1752 Musket was a muzzle-loading firearm invented in 1752 and used by the Spanish Army from then until it was widely replaced by the much more effective Minié rifles during the mid-19th century. The M1752 was the first standardized long gun utilized by the Spanish military and was deployed in Spain's American colonies, where it saw action during the Battle of Havana. Spain also provided around 10,000 up to 12,000 muskets to the American rebels during the Revolutionary War.
The Potzdam musket was the standard infantry weapon of the Royal Prussian Army from the 18th century until the military reforms of the 1840s. Four models were produced—in 1723, 1740, 1809 and 1831.
The French-made Tulle musket or Fusil de chasse, originally meaning "gun of the hunt", was a light smoothbore flintlock musket designed for hunting. A later military variant known as the Fusil marine ordinaire, or "common naval musket" was issued to the French marines during the French and Indian War and American War of Independence. French Common Muskets were typically lighter and shorter than the later Charleville muskets also manufactured at Tulle.