Posted on 06/18/2018 9:35:52 AM PDT by rktman
“Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!” commanded Colonel William Prescott, repeating the order of General Israel Putnam, June 17, 1775.
Colonel William Prescott’s men were in the center redoubt located on Breed’s Hill, adjacent Bunker Hill, guarding the north entrance to Boston Harbor.
Samuel Swett wrote in his “History of Bunker Hill” that as the 2,300 British soldiers advanced: “The American marksmen are with difficulty restrained from firing. Putnam rode through the line, and ordered that no one should fire till they arrived within eight rods. … Powder was scarce and must not be wasted. They should ‘not fire at the enemy till they saw the whites of their eyes. …’ The same orders were reiterated by Prescott at the redoubt.”
When a stray musket ball from a British gun killed an American soldier, men began to run away. To stop the confusion, Colonel William Prescott climbed on top of the the wall of the fortification, stood upright and walked back and forth, rallying his men.
When British General Gage saw Prescott through his telescope, he asked a local loyalist if Prescott had enough courage to fight. The loyalist replied: “Prescott is an old soldier, he will fight as long as a drop of blood is in his veins.”
Historian George Bancroft wrote that at the redoubt in the center of battle: “No one appeared to have any command but Colonel Prescott. … His bravery could never be enough acknowledged and applauded.”
Providentially for Americans, the British brought the wrong size cannon balls – 12-pound cannon balls – which did not fit their 6- and 9-pound cannons! As a result, British artillery was not able to soften the resistance.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
“How could powder be in short supply? It’s charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter. ... The colonists should have been drowning in the stuff.” [IronJack, post 11]
There was no industrial infrastructure. 90 percent of the American colonists lived on farms; what few cities did exist would barely qualify as small towns today.
Resources may have been fairly common, but powder manufacture required specialized tools, and skilled labor. Both were expensive (local labor shortages became a problem each time the Americans attempted to do anything purely military or naval, like construct forts or build ships). The tendency of powder batches to explode while being mixed was not a secret, which caused reluctance among potential workers, driving up costs still further.
British mercantile policies hampered development of colonist industries in general: same was true in gunmaking. There were individual craftsmen about, but not in sufficient number to permit large-volume manufacture of muskets to start overnight. Rifles were even more labor-intensive (not that they played a big role). The fledgling American armed forces needed munitions and accouterments now; there was no time to organize and grow up an entire support structure.
How could powder be in short supply? It’s charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter. The first two are fairly abundant and the last easily manufactured. The colonists should have been drowning in the stuff.
Saltpeter is indeed the limiting factor. It is easily manufactured in small quantities. It is producing it in large quantities that is difficult.
All over Europe, governments attempted to organize every available resource to make saltpeter. It was still expensive. Most of the gunpowder used by the Americans in the revolutionary war came from France.
In 1800, a Frenchman, Dupont, immigrated to the United States. He had studied under Lavoisier, ‘the famous French chemist, who industrialized saltpeter production in France.
Dupont revolutionized gunpowder production in the United States, but it was after the Revolutionary war.
After the war of 1812, saltpeter in caves in the U.S. were found and utilized.
Finally, large quantities were discovered in caves in India, and on dry islands where bird guano had been deposited for thousands of years, off the coast of Chile.
They supplied much of the world for decades.
http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-history-of-saltpeter-v.html
I have not forgotten it nor have I forgotten the carnage of the American civil war from 1861 to 1865. I am sorry to say, though, that I believe the US is headed to another internal war.
JoMa
I walked up that slope at Fredrickburg. It’s covered with neighborhood now.
I walked up that slope at Fredrickburg. It’s covered with neighborhood now.
Potassium hydroxide plus nitric acid yields potassium nitrate — saltpeter. Potassium hydroxide can be made from wood ash. Nitric acid is a little trickier but could be synthesized from ammonia.
But that is looking at history through a modern lens ...
Yes it is. Been there myself
The Confederate powder manufacturers collected the contents of chamber pots to manufacture saltpeter with.
Mr. Dupont manufactured most of the gun powder used by the Union army and navy during the Civil War. His product always worked. This was not necessarily the case the stuff General Gorgas was making for the Confederacy at Augusta GA.
wow
The Scots at the 1746 Battle of Culloden were supposedly armed with three pounders, and four pound cannon balls, courtesy of O'Sullivan.
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