The American Rifleman in the Revolutionary War

1 posted on 09/04/2010 5:07:22 PM PDT by Palter

I remember that Carl Furillo was called the “Reading Rifle” because of his great arm. That fits into the provided history...Thanks

2 posted on 09/04/2010 5:45:18 PM PDT by BatGuano (You don't think I'd go into combat with loose change in my pocket, do ya?)

Where were the mudslimes in this important story?

The teleprompter reader tole us dat de mudslimes played an impotent role in the founding of dis nation.

3 posted on 09/04/2010 5:47:21 PM PDT by rawcatslyentist (Jeremiah 50:31 Behold, I am against you, O you most proud, said the Lord God of hosts.)

Washington’s order,

“and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more.... But you will not by any means listen to any overture of peace before the total ruinment of their settlements is effected. Our future security will be in their inability to injure us and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire them.”

Leadership is what we lack today..

Our GIs never outfought
our Generals out thought at every turn.

4 posted on 09/04/2010 5:56:12 PM PDT by WLR (Remember 911 Remember 91 Iran delinda est.)

I never knew. I wished they taught this in the schools.

5 posted on 09/04/2010 5:56:45 PM PDT by PhiloBedo

6 posted on 09/04/2010 5:57:05 PM PDT by NonValueAdded ("Obama suffers from decision-deficit disorder." Oliver North 6/25/10)

7 posted on 09/04/2010 6:07:25 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (The Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery. The Sixteenth Amendment brought it back.)

To: rawcatslyentist

The Mudslimes contribution was to give us the Lyrics to the Marines Hymn.
In mentioning France’ contribution in the RW Spain also tried to help for the same reason. Cajuns and Texans also took part in the war. Galvez took his militia from Texas and joined with the Attackapas militia from LA, which was Spanish at the time, and fought in the battle of Mobile Bay, which the Rebels won. My ancestor in this action was 14 years old at the time.

8 posted on 09/04/2010 6:22:11 PM PDT by barb-tex (Nov. 2!(Election Day) Dia de los Muertas. ( Day of the Dead), Them or Us. Nov 5, Guy Falkes Day)

Thanks for the article. My ggggrandfather was recruited by Morgan from Virginia and served as a rifleman through the end of the war.

9 posted on 09/04/2010 6:37:05 PM PDT by Liberty Ship ("Lord, make me fast and accurate.")

To: NFHale; hiredhand; Squantos

But Murphy represented more than that. He was the quintessential American rifleman. He was reared believing that liberty and independence were his birthright and that his firearm was the instrument that guaranteed those God-given freedoms.

long but worth it...

10 posted on 09/04/2010 6:38:15 PM PDT by Gilbo_3 (Gov is not reason; not eloquent; its force.Like fire,a dangerous servant & master. George Washington)

"I never knew. I wished they taught this in the schools."

They taught it when I was in school.

11 posted on 09/04/2010 6:52:04 PM PDT by ronnyquest (There's a communist living in the White House! Now, what are you going to do about it?)

To: NonValueAdded

Thanks for the ping...this article has it right. The American Rifleman was always a factor, but extremely important at Saratoga. And Daniel Morgan was quite an individual...

12 posted on 09/04/2010 7:23:32 PM PDT by Pharmboy (What always made the state a hell has been that man tried to make it heaven-Hoelderlin)

The craftsmen who manufactured the rifle were the Pennsylvania Dutch — who are not Dutch but German. Dutch comes from Deutsch, meaning German. Historically in America, whenever anyone referred to the Dutchman down the road or the Dutch farmer across the creek, he meant German. The Germans had made the finest rifles in Europe, and the German immigrants to America, comprising about one-third of Pennsylvania's population, in turn produced the finest rifles in the colonies.

Actually, there is a complete and total absence of evidence to support this commonly made claim. To date, there are no studies into this subject (such as anthropologists conduct upon the matter of paleolithic spear point development) which conclude that the American long rifle is evolved from German practice. In fact, the whole body of evidence speaks loudly against the likelihood that the hunting arms of the colonial frontier were derived from Dutch/German forms. It is difficult to find two more nearly perfect polar opposite formal artifacts within the subject of tool-making than the short, fat "jaeger" and the long, slender "Kentucky" rifles. There exist no transitional forms which link the two, and where one might expect to find examples of such mean proportion there are only the common and prolific samples of preexisting French/British design which revisionists have yet to hijack.

Evidence aside, there are no reasoned arguments to logically support the claim of German ancestry beyond the rough train that, because some "Kentucky" rifles were made in Pennsylvania, and that because many German immigrants settled (at some time) in Pennsylvania, that this form of rifle was therefore of German derivation. This line of thought fails totally to accommodate the actual proliferation of the form beyond the geographic, or even temporal, domain of the influence. The weapon form in no way corresponds to the settlement pattern of Dutch/German immigration, and is found all along the colonial East over a period of time which excludes the likelihood (or even possibility) of such a causal influence. The American long arms tradition was already quite well developed and tending toward the "Kentucky" model well before there was any significant Germanic influence.

The worst of it is that the claim that the American long rifle is derived from a Germain tradition is also unsupported by any chain of scholarship such that anyone can locate any original attribution for the discovery of this knowledge. The train of citation never extends beyond the authority of some so-and-so who will finally pitch the ball back into the murky mist of "everyone else says so". The history of the claim does not extend back to the period itself and it seems to have only been within my own lifetime that people (almost never historians) have begun to assert this little 'factoid'.

Neither did contemporaries ever utter the words "Pennsylvania rifle" to express recognition of any discrete form. Kentucky was not on Pennsylvania's frontier. It was carved out of Virginia and, along with Tennessee and the Ohio, was almost wholly blazed by settlers from that state. Pennsylvania isn't even on the way. In fact, the exact histories of many surviving examples of the "Kentucky" rifle are known and often place their manufacture in either Virginia or Kentucky itself.

Americans already knew how to make rifles and those features which serve to distinguish them from the British norm serve to even further distance them from any suggestion of Germanic influence.

13 posted on 09/04/2010 7:49:16 PM PDT by Brass Lamp

There is a book series that came out in the late 70’s, early eighties by an author named Allan W. Eckert. with all the papers, footnotes, diagrams possible, He wove what wasn’t written together, as a storyline history of the French and Indian Wars, and the Revolutionary War. Good books to read, if you can find them. The man was the same stock as Tom Clancy writes of things today.

14 posted on 09/04/2010 7:57:28 PM PDT by Prussianone

This is for “Palter”, followed by the book list of that author:

The Pennsylvania Rifle (Lancaster County During the American Revolution) [Paperback]
Samuel E. Dyke

The Bedford County rifle and its makers [Unknown Binding]
Calvin Hetrick

The Longrifles of Western Pennsylvania: Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties [Hardcover]
Richard F. Rosenberger (Author),
Charles Kaufman (Author),
Bill Owen (Photographer)
Product Description
The American longrifle, also known as the Kentucky rifle, was the finest rifle in the world for over a century. As this illustrated book aims to show, the gunmakers of Western Pennsylvania were second to none in their skill and artistry. From the first settling of the land west of the Alleghenies, local gunsmiths produced the rifles that enabled the frontier family to survive in the wilderness. Richard F. Rosenberger and Charles Kaufmann write about the guns and gunsmiths of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties from the mid-18th century to about 1870, with an emphasis on the “golden age” - 1785-1815. They present a brief history of the longrifle, an introduction to its manufacture and use in Western Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, biographies of all major gunmakers, and detailed descriptions of known guns. They include 58 longrifles and pistols, each one photographed in three views. Several are shown in full colour. Close-ups reveal the exceptionally fine detail on some of the rifles. The American longrifle evolved slowly from its European ancestor, beginning about 1725. In order to survive on the frontier, settlers required a weapon of greater accuracy, lighter weight, increased efficiency in the use of powder and ball, and longer range. Over time, these requirements stimulated the development of a new rifle, which became the finest firearm of its day. The longrifle may have been a necessity, but it was often a work of art as well, with a finely carved and inlaid stock, and an intricately designed patch box. This book should establish Western Pennsylvania as an important site in the manufacture of the American longrifle. It will be of interest to collectors and people interested in the history of the area.

Allan Eckert Book List

Allan Eckert is the master storyteller of our age. If you are interested in stories that read like adventure novels, yet are historically researched to be as accurate as possible, Eckert is the author.

My personal favorite is the story of Simon Kenton The Frontiersmen. If ever an amazing man’s story needed to be told, it was Kenton’s. Into the wilderness at age 16, he led such an incredible life you’ll swear it was fiction. Kenton was respected and feared by frontiersmen and indians alike. Captured by the Shawnee, almost burned at the stake, ran the gauntlet more times than recorded for any man and even saved Daniel Boone’s life with a feat of great courage and strength. These are just a couple of the many stories of the frontier. If you only read one Kentucky Frontier book, you’ve found it!

Each of the listings has reviews by readers and books can be ordered online through Amazon Books.

The Frontiersmen; Allan W. Eckert; Mass Market Paperback; $6.75; Descriptive information available.

Gateway to Empire; Allan W. Eckert; Mass Market Paperback; $6.75; Descriptive information available.

A Sorrow in Our Heart : The Life of Tecumseh; Allan W. Eckert; Mass Market Paperback; $6.75; Descriptive information available.

That Dark and Bloody River : Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover; $25.16; Descriptive information available.

That Dark and Bloody River : Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback; $11.65; Descriptive information available.

Twilight of Empire; Allan W. Eckert; Mass Market Paperback; $6.75; Descriptive information available.

Wilderness Empire; Allan W. Eckert; Mass Market Paperback; $6.75; Descriptive information available.

The Wilderness War (Narratives of America) Vol 4; Allan W. Eckert; Mass Market Paperback; $6.75; Descriptive information available.

Blue Jacket : War Chief of the Shawnees; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback; $8.80 (Back Ordered)

The Conquerors; Allan W. Eckert; Mass Market Paperback; $9.34 (Back Ordered); Descriptive information available.

Incident at Hawk’s Hill; Allan W. Eckert; Unknown Binding; $12.30 (Back Ordered); Descriptive information available.

Incident at Hawk’s Hill; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover; $19.00 (Back Ordered); Descriptive information available.

Opals; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Not Yet Published)

The Wading Birds of North America (North of Mexico); Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Publisher Out Of Stock)

Allan W. Eckert’s Tecumseh!; Allan W. Eckert, Timothy Truman (Illustrator); Paperback (Hard to Find)

Blue Jacket, War Chief of the Shawnees; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Conquerors; A Narrative,; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Court-Martial of Daniel Boone;; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Crossbreed; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Dark Green Tunnel; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Earth Treasures : The Northeastern Quadrant, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hempshire, New J Vol 1; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

Earth Treasures : The Southeastern Quadrant, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, an Vol 2; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

The Frontiersmen : A Narrative; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Gateway to Empire; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Great Auk; A. W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Great Auk; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

The Hab Theory : A Novel; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

In Search of a Whale; Allan W. Eckert; Library Binding (Hard to Find)

Incident at Hawk’s Hill; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Incident at Hawk’s Hill; Allan W. Eckert; Unknown Binding (Hard to Find)

Incident at Hawk’s Hill; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

Johnny Logan : Shawnee Spy : A Novel; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

King Snake; A.W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

King Snake; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

Northwestern Quadrant : Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming) Vol 3; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

Savage Journey : A Novel; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Scarlet Mansion; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Scarlet Mansion; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

Song of the Wild; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

A Sorrow in Our Heart : The Life of Tecumseh; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Sorrow in Our Heart : The Life of Tecumseh/Limited Edition; Allan Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Southwestern Quadrant : Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah Vol 4; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

Tecumseh! a Play,; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

A Time of Terror; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Twilight of Empire; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Wading Birds of North America (North of Mexico); Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

The Wand; Allan Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Wild Season; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Wilderness Empire : A Narrative; Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

Wilderness Empire No. 2; Allan W. Eckert; Paperback (Hard to Find)

The Wilderness War : A Narrative (His the Winning of America Series); Allan W. Eckert; Hardcover (Hard to Find)

15 posted on 09/04/2010 8:21:27 PM PDT by Prussianone

Thank you. I will try to find the books.

16 posted on 09/04/2010 9:43:07 PM PDT by PhiloBedo

To: GOP_Party_Animal

17 posted on 09/04/2010 9:43:59 PM PDT by Last Dakotan

To: Gilbo_3; hiredhand; Squantos; mkjessup; sickoflibs; DoughtyOne; stephenjohnbanker

"..It has been readily confessed … by old soldiers, that when they understood they were opposed by riflemen, they felt a degree of terror never inspired by general action, from the idea that a rifleman always singled out an individual, who was almost certain of being killed or wounded.”

THIS is my rifle; there are many like it, but THIS one is MINE...

Feel-good story of the day! GREAT article!!!

LFOD

18 posted on 09/05/2010 10:31:10 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)

I’d never heard this particular story until now. It will soon be repeated often. Thanks!!!

19 posted on 09/05/2010 10:53:10 AM PDT by WVNight (We havn't played Cowboys and Muslims yet....)

commies and tyrants are evil, NOT stoopit...

they know full well that the 'resistance' in every oppressed country has been a brutal foe that, even when unarmed/poorly armed were a hindrance and threat to their individual survival...

now lets just factor in 1-9 million heavily armed and highly motivated and pissed off citizens...

i hope they have regular nightmares often...

20 posted on 09/05/2010 11:45:00 AM PDT by Gilbo_3 (Gov is not reason; not eloquent; its force.Like fire,a dangerous servant & master. George Washington)

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