Weapons of the Years 1700 to 1770
The period in America from 1700 to 1770 was known as the English Colonial Era. This was the time when the British finally established their colonies all over America, marking the peak of British colonization that started in the late 16th century. This was also the period when politics, economics, religion and education were refined and thoroughly developed throughout the country through the initiatives of the British Parliament. Among the highlights of this era were the establishment of the militia system the introduction of the partisanship political system the beginning of postal services and land claims the spread of the Baptist and Methodist churches the building of colleges and their curriculums the growth of the fine arts and architecture and the gradual perfection of urban and rural family life. In the midst of such glorious developments, however, were various internal conflicts that resulted in skirmishes and battles, and in conjunction with these, the most noticeable developments in the art of warfare began. The 18th century marked the beginning of the so-called Age of Rifles, which was to continue further up to the first part of the 20th century.
Prior to 1700, weaponry was crude in that they were either made from anything other than metal or short-range and inaccurate. One of the main weapons at around this time was the arquebus, an early muzzle-loaded firearm of the 15th to 17th century. It was the standard weapon of the Chinese Ming army during the late 14th century. In order to compensate for the poor accuracy of the arquebus, which even the medieval bow and arrow coul surpass, the Chinese would employ the three-line method of engagement where two lines would reload while the other would fire. Aside from its poor accuracy, the arquebus also had several other disadvantages as proven by centuries of war. For one, the ammunition of the arquebus, once used, could not be reused. The arquebus was also sensitive to high humidity and it was dangerous to the user due to the large amount of gunpowder that it carried. Lastly, the thick cloud of smoke produced by the black powder of the arquebus would negatively affect targeting accuracy during the war. All these disadvantages were replaced by the fineness of the musket.
The musket was the one that replaced the arquebus and was very much like its older counterpart a long gun which was fired from the shoulder. However, it contained some new features a simple design that enabled the firing of a variety of ammunition from a round ball of lead to paper cartridges a heavy stock that could be used for hand to hand combat a ramrod where a variety of attachments was possible and a bayonet, or any knife-shaped weapon, underneath the muzzle. The musket proved to be one of the most efficient weapons during the wars of the English Colonial Era and it reached its most eventful use during the American War of Independence in 1775. The accuracy of the musket was not as good as the rifle when distance was considered but the ease and speed in which it should be loaded and fired as well as its lightness proved to be more superior to that of the arquebus and the rifle. This was also the reason why the arquebus was eventually replaced by the musket.
The English Colonial Era was also marked by the beginning of the gradual perfection of the gunpowder. Although gunpowder use in the United States reached its highest state of superior quality in the 17th century during the U.S. Civil War, the first known domestic production of gunpowder, or more popularly called Black Powder during that time, began in America in 1675, a few years before the English Colonial Era. The manufacture of Black Powder took place in mills similar to those used to crush wheat grains to produce flour. The first powder mill was in Milton, Massachusetts and throughout the next hundred years, several other mills mushroomed all over the colonies. However, during the 1770s, prior to the American War of Independence, the English regulated the production of gunpowder for the Americans for obvious reasons and even had John Adams and John Hancock arrested in 1775 for alleged unauthorized hoarding of gunpowder for the Continental Army.
Gunpowder, or Black Powder, created an enormous impact on warfare in a number of ways. First, because of the introduction of gunpowder in America, more and more weapons have been designed for tactical purposes. Primitive weaponry almost always depended on human muscular strength but everything changed when gunpowder was introduced. Secondly, the development of the gunpowder led to the production of cannons. The use of cannons as a novel form of military artillery at that time spread rapidly and what was needed to power them was gunpowder. Lastly, the increasing production of gunpowder during that time helped further the developments in the science of combustion, the technology of machines and steam power all of which led to the production of more and better types of weapons.
During the English Colonial Era, soldiers and artillerymen were considered an elite group of troops. Despite the widespread illiteracy in the American colonies at that time, soldiers knew how to do geometric calculations necessary for positioning a cannonball on target. The cannon even its early forms have been used with accuracy, not only because of the skills of artillerymen but with the ease with which the cannon could be adjusted to hit the target. The use of cannons originated in China even before the Mongols and Mamluks first used hand cannons in the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The cannons used in the wars in America between 1700 and 1770 were the same standard smooth-bore muzzle-loading guns of the previous two hundred years and which little did the British and Americans of that time know would remain as the principal artillery weapon of most armies of the world for another hundred years. The cannons of English Colonial America were cast of iron or bronze. A soldier would load it with a prepared cartridge of cloth or paper with gunpowder, quickly followed by a projectile. The prescribed way of firing it was by igniting a goose-quill tube loaded with gunpowder, called quickmatch, and inserted into a vent-hole that communicated with the charge inside the gun. When fired, the recoil would throw the cannon backward so that the gun crew would wrestle it back into the original firing position.
Mortars were another weapon used during the English Colonial Era. Mortars were of various types and sizes but only the large ones were used during the war. They were mostly made of bronze or iron. Unlike cannons, mortars were chambered, which means that there was a constant ratio of air space to the amount of gunpowder making shots automatic with mathematical accuracy. Mortars were also designed using a fixed elevation of 45 degrees.
Another weapon of the 1700s was the howitzer. Howitzers were originally developed to fire bombs, or explosive shells filled with powder. The difference between howitzers and cannons was that the former has evolved into a chambered large caliber gun with a short barrel and that howitzers normally had two ammunition boxes mounted on each side of the gun for continuous, uninterrupted firing. The elevation of a typical howitzer in the 18th century was twenty degrees and was even considered high. The only weakness of the howitzer, however, was that it could not achieve great shooting ranges.
During the 18th century, the two most commonly used metals in the manufacture of weaponry were bronze and iron. Iron industries were brought to America by the British in as early as the 1740s. In 1775, it was estimated that the United States has already become the producer of one-seventh of the worlds supply of iron. Although heavier, iron guns were stronger than those made of bronze. Iron guns should be loaded with approximately one-third the round shot weight for the gun while for bronze guns, loading was restricted to one-fourth of the shot weight. Thus, iron guns could fire greater charges of gunpowder at relatively greater ranges than their bronze counterparts. Iron six-pounders could fire a distance of 1500 yards while its bronze equivalent could do the same 1200 yards only. Perhaps the only advantage of bronze guns was that they were so much lighter than their counterparts in iron of the same caliber. Bronze guns could also be melted down and recast whereas iron guns could only be scrapped. One last advantage of bronze guns was that they were salvageable and reusable even after hours of contact with water if they were lost at sea. Iron guns, on the other hand, would deteriorate fast and its usefulness would be severely affected even if they were submerged in water only for a short time.
Another weapon of the English Colonial Era was the 1762 .75 Caliber Brown Bess of the British Redcoats, the first of which was designed in 1730. This was invented to replace the musket as the latter would not perform in the rain and would usually get too much gunpowder clogging its touchhole following each firing. The British Brown Bess standard musket had a design that allowed the delivery of a large bullet at low velocity. The Bess has also retained all the good features of a musket the sturdy stock for close fighting and an accessory bayonet. However, the Bess was somehow inaccurate.
The 1766 Charleville .69 Caliber was another weapon introduced by the French to the American colonies during the English Colonial Era. The Charlevilles firing characteristics, however, were also typical of muskets short-ranged and lacking in accuracy.
Another firearm of this period was the 1720 .50 Caliber Pennsylvania Rifle. This long rifle was successfully used as a sniper rifle in several wars of the Colonial Era due to its relatively long range and higher accuracy. This accuracy was attributed to its groves which would spin a tight fitting ball down the barrel a feature which was missing in muskets. The only problem, however, was the long loading time. Thus, the Pennsylvania Rifle was not used in combat.
The 1720 .78 Caliber Dutch Infantry musket and its 1750 model were also among the most efficient combat weapons introduced by the Netherlands to the colonies. These weapons were said to have been the most numerous type during the American Revolution with the Dutch selling to both the British and the Americans.
Other weapons were knives, tomahawks, axes, swords, pole arms and short-range flintlock pistols. The generals and other high ranking officers carried with them a saber which was mainly used to direct troops.
The American weapons of the years 1700 to 1770 were indeed the tools that not only exemplified the glory of the beginnings of the industrial revolution but also one of the most important means by which the American nation was able to achieve independence.
Note to Writers.ph I have edited this paper thoroughly with all my effort as a teacher of English and Spanish grammar. I would also like to suggest to Mr. Kevin Brown or the History editor that, in the event that numerous mistakes are found in this paper after proofreading, the specific errors be made known to me through email. The purpose of which is for me to improve on specific points in grammar and to produce better works for Writers.ph in the future. Thank you very much. From writer 42808.
Prior to 1700, weaponry was crude in that they were either made from anything other than metal or short-range and inaccurate. One of the main weapons at around this time was the arquebus, an early muzzle-loaded firearm of the 15th to 17th century. It was the standard weapon of the Chinese Ming army during the late 14th century. In order to compensate for the poor accuracy of the arquebus, which even the medieval bow and arrow coul surpass, the Chinese would employ the three-line method of engagement where two lines would reload while the other would fire. Aside from its poor accuracy, the arquebus also had several other disadvantages as proven by centuries of war. For one, the ammunition of the arquebus, once used, could not be reused. The arquebus was also sensitive to high humidity and it was dangerous to the user due to the large amount of gunpowder that it carried. Lastly, the thick cloud of smoke produced by the black powder of the arquebus would negatively affect targeting accuracy during the war. All these disadvantages were replaced by the fineness of the musket.
The musket was the one that replaced the arquebus and was very much like its older counterpart a long gun which was fired from the shoulder. However, it contained some new features a simple design that enabled the firing of a variety of ammunition from a round ball of lead to paper cartridges a heavy stock that could be used for hand to hand combat a ramrod where a variety of attachments was possible and a bayonet, or any knife-shaped weapon, underneath the muzzle. The musket proved to be one of the most efficient weapons during the wars of the English Colonial Era and it reached its most eventful use during the American War of Independence in 1775. The accuracy of the musket was not as good as the rifle when distance was considered but the ease and speed in which it should be loaded and fired as well as its lightness proved to be more superior to that of the arquebus and the rifle. This was also the reason why the arquebus was eventually replaced by the musket.
The English Colonial Era was also marked by the beginning of the gradual perfection of the gunpowder. Although gunpowder use in the United States reached its highest state of superior quality in the 17th century during the U.S. Civil War, the first known domestic production of gunpowder, or more popularly called Black Powder during that time, began in America in 1675, a few years before the English Colonial Era. The manufacture of Black Powder took place in mills similar to those used to crush wheat grains to produce flour. The first powder mill was in Milton, Massachusetts and throughout the next hundred years, several other mills mushroomed all over the colonies. However, during the 1770s, prior to the American War of Independence, the English regulated the production of gunpowder for the Americans for obvious reasons and even had John Adams and John Hancock arrested in 1775 for alleged unauthorized hoarding of gunpowder for the Continental Army.
Gunpowder, or Black Powder, created an enormous impact on warfare in a number of ways. First, because of the introduction of gunpowder in America, more and more weapons have been designed for tactical purposes. Primitive weaponry almost always depended on human muscular strength but everything changed when gunpowder was introduced. Secondly, the development of the gunpowder led to the production of cannons. The use of cannons as a novel form of military artillery at that time spread rapidly and what was needed to power them was gunpowder. Lastly, the increasing production of gunpowder during that time helped further the developments in the science of combustion, the technology of machines and steam power all of which led to the production of more and better types of weapons.
During the English Colonial Era, soldiers and artillerymen were considered an elite group of troops. Despite the widespread illiteracy in the American colonies at that time, soldiers knew how to do geometric calculations necessary for positioning a cannonball on target. The cannon even its early forms have been used with accuracy, not only because of the skills of artillerymen but with the ease with which the cannon could be adjusted to hit the target. The use of cannons originated in China even before the Mongols and Mamluks first used hand cannons in the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The cannons used in the wars in America between 1700 and 1770 were the same standard smooth-bore muzzle-loading guns of the previous two hundred years and which little did the British and Americans of that time know would remain as the principal artillery weapon of most armies of the world for another hundred years. The cannons of English Colonial America were cast of iron or bronze. A soldier would load it with a prepared cartridge of cloth or paper with gunpowder, quickly followed by a projectile. The prescribed way of firing it was by igniting a goose-quill tube loaded with gunpowder, called quickmatch, and inserted into a vent-hole that communicated with the charge inside the gun. When fired, the recoil would throw the cannon backward so that the gun crew would wrestle it back into the original firing position.
Mortars were another weapon used during the English Colonial Era. Mortars were of various types and sizes but only the large ones were used during the war. They were mostly made of bronze or iron. Unlike cannons, mortars were chambered, which means that there was a constant ratio of air space to the amount of gunpowder making shots automatic with mathematical accuracy. Mortars were also designed using a fixed elevation of 45 degrees.
Another weapon of the 1700s was the howitzer. Howitzers were originally developed to fire bombs, or explosive shells filled with powder. The difference between howitzers and cannons was that the former has evolved into a chambered large caliber gun with a short barrel and that howitzers normally had two ammunition boxes mounted on each side of the gun for continuous, uninterrupted firing. The elevation of a typical howitzer in the 18th century was twenty degrees and was even considered high. The only weakness of the howitzer, however, was that it could not achieve great shooting ranges.
During the 18th century, the two most commonly used metals in the manufacture of weaponry were bronze and iron. Iron industries were brought to America by the British in as early as the 1740s. In 1775, it was estimated that the United States has already become the producer of one-seventh of the worlds supply of iron. Although heavier, iron guns were stronger than those made of bronze. Iron guns should be loaded with approximately one-third the round shot weight for the gun while for bronze guns, loading was restricted to one-fourth of the shot weight. Thus, iron guns could fire greater charges of gunpowder at relatively greater ranges than their bronze counterparts. Iron six-pounders could fire a distance of 1500 yards while its bronze equivalent could do the same 1200 yards only. Perhaps the only advantage of bronze guns was that they were so much lighter than their counterparts in iron of the same caliber. Bronze guns could also be melted down and recast whereas iron guns could only be scrapped. One last advantage of bronze guns was that they were salvageable and reusable even after hours of contact with water if they were lost at sea. Iron guns, on the other hand, would deteriorate fast and its usefulness would be severely affected even if they were submerged in water only for a short time.
Another weapon of the English Colonial Era was the 1762 .75 Caliber Brown Bess of the British Redcoats, the first of which was designed in 1730. This was invented to replace the musket as the latter would not perform in the rain and would usually get too much gunpowder clogging its touchhole following each firing. The British Brown Bess standard musket had a design that allowed the delivery of a large bullet at low velocity. The Bess has also retained all the good features of a musket the sturdy stock for close fighting and an accessory bayonet. However, the Bess was somehow inaccurate.
The 1766 Charleville .69 Caliber was another weapon introduced by the French to the American colonies during the English Colonial Era. The Charlevilles firing characteristics, however, were also typical of muskets short-ranged and lacking in accuracy.
Another firearm of this period was the 1720 .50 Caliber Pennsylvania Rifle. This long rifle was successfully used as a sniper rifle in several wars of the Colonial Era due to its relatively long range and higher accuracy. This accuracy was attributed to its groves which would spin a tight fitting ball down the barrel a feature which was missing in muskets. The only problem, however, was the long loading time. Thus, the Pennsylvania Rifle was not used in combat.
The 1720 .78 Caliber Dutch Infantry musket and its 1750 model were also among the most efficient combat weapons introduced by the Netherlands to the colonies. These weapons were said to have been the most numerous type during the American Revolution with the Dutch selling to both the British and the Americans.
Other weapons were knives, tomahawks, axes, swords, pole arms and short-range flintlock pistols. The generals and other high ranking officers carried with them a saber which was mainly used to direct troops.
The American weapons of the years 1700 to 1770 were indeed the tools that not only exemplified the glory of the beginnings of the industrial revolution but also one of the most important means by which the American nation was able to achieve independence.
Note to Writers.ph I have edited this paper thoroughly with all my effort as a teacher of English and Spanish grammar. I would also like to suggest to Mr. Kevin Brown or the History editor that, in the event that numerous mistakes are found in this paper after proofreading, the specific errors be made known to me through email. The purpose of which is for me to improve on specific points in grammar and to produce better works for Writers.ph in the future. Thank you very much. From writer 42808.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment