“The enemy had with their army great numbers of marksmen, armed with rifle-barrel pieces these, during an engagement, hovered upon the flanks in small detachments, and were very expert in securing themselves, and in shifting their ground. American marksmen, though, showed British troops exactly how well-trained and equipped shots could make a difference on the battlefield. The slow loading time of a rifle, combined with the training necessary to skillfully shoot such an arm, made it unfeasible for use in traditional pitched battles common up to the American Revolution. Combined with that, contemporary military doctrine in Europe prioritized speed of loading in order to fire massed volleys more quickly. Because of their smooth bores, muskets were cheaper and easier to manufacture. Eighteenth-century warfare primarily employed the smoothbore flintlock musket in conjunction with the bayonet. Next to the flintlock fowler, the American longrifle was a unique tool in the colonial arsenal, and it was used to great effect during the war. The smoothbore fowler wasn’t the only privately owned arm that played a pivotal role in the American Revolution. Image courtesy of the NRA National Firearms Museum. Parker carried with him on the green that fateful morning now hangs in the Massachusetts State House.Īn example of a circa-1770s American longrifle. Today, the smoothbore flintlock that Capt. However, the simple colonial fowler is the gun we used at the start of our fight for independence. The Declaration of Independence was still more than 14 months away, and as the war developed, standardized arms would start to show up in the ranks of American troops. Despite the bloodshed, the Revolution would still take months to gain steam. Loaded with buckshot or a round ball, it could be called upon to take game at short distances.
Loaded with shot, it could readily take game birds and waterfowl. These long, smoothbore guns were the workhorse arms of the colonial settler. Common among them was the archetypal flintlock fowler. Unlike the British infantry, who had a standardized small arm, the Americans who stood on the Lexington village green had a smattering of irregular guns. There’s no clear answer as to who fired the first shot, but it was fired, followed by snapping shots of musketry from the militia and ragged volleys fired from the King’s undisciplined troops. As six companies of British light infantry marched into the square, neither the officers nor the men on either side fathomed how the encounter would end. Despite being styled as “minutemen,” the group of men under Parker’s command was more of a town militia than a quick-reaction force. John Parker left Buckman Tavern and gathered on their village green to face an advance guard of British regulars under the command of Maj. On the brisk, clear morning of April 19, 1775, a group of Lexington militiamen under the command of Capt. This Dutch/English flintlock fowler is typical of the kind of firearms militiamen used at the start of the American Revolution. These are the arms with which we earned our independence. Without the guns they issued, the guns they themselves carried and the guns brought to bear by their allies, their dreams would never have been realized. The men who wrote it, signed it, issued it and fought for it backed up their stance through force of arms against one of the greatest military powers of the age.
Today marks a public declaration in which some of the greatest men of the age pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to the idea of a nation where liberty reigned. The Fourth of July marks one of the most amazing events not just in our history but in the history of the world. Americans celebrate something truly astonishing every year.
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