How did American forces reload in battle?

[springfield art]

Very interesting thread! Someone always comes up with an interesting topic here!

 

[springfield art]

Yeah, In battle with the adrenaline, noise, smoke, confusion and blood it would be easy to overlook a plugged nipple vent or a dry-ball load. Continuing to load, cap and “fire” never aware that no lead is going down-range. It’s really easy to see how weapons would wind up with multiple loads.

I think the record, after Gettysburg, was they found a musket with like 11 or 12 charges jammed into it....recorded at the time as the army was recovering and cleaning up fallen muskets.

 

[Fitzhugh Williams]

Just from my own personal experience. For years I have been part of various groups that do demos for the public at historic sites. A few let you load from a powder horn, but most require the use of pre-rolled cartridges. When it is allowed I always load from a horn with a powder measure. I find that once you become accustomed to the drill it is just as fast as loading from the cartridge box. This is using a smoothbore of from .62 to .66 caliber. When I did load from a cartridge, I preferred to roll my own as those provided by the site or the unit were of varying quality and could be hard to handle. Lately I have started using theirs to save my own powder for the shooting range and I have noticed that my loading has slowed down some. It really comes down to training and I am sure the people of the 18th century were better trained in loading from a horn than I am.

 

[springfield art]

Just from my own personal experience. For years I have been part of various groups that do demos for the public at historic sites. A few let you load from a powder horn, but most require the use of pre-rolled cartridges. When it is allowed I always load from a horn with a powder measure. I find that once you become accustomed to the drill it is just as fast as loading from the cartridge box. This is using a smoothbore of from .62 to .66 caliber. When I did load from a cartridge, I preferred to roll my own as those provided by the site or the unit were of varying quality and could be hard to handle. Lately I have started using theirs to save my own powder for the shooting range and I have noticed that my loading has slowed down some. It really comes down to training and I am sure the people of the 18th century were better trained in loading from a horn than I am.

I recall once during the Bi-Cen, getting some blank cartridges at/from the site we were appearing at. The paper they were made of was so tough, and rolled so thick, you could barely get them open, let alone "tearing with the teeth"! I usually rolled my own and don't recall why or how I had to use "hand-outs"!

 

[Snydly]

I guess the bottom line here is...... Not much in agreement on anyones post. So many versions .... maybe someone would find actual books on the subject that explains the soldiers method.

 

[Fitzhugh Williams]

I recall once during the Bi-Cen, getting some blank cartridges at/from the site we were appearing at. The paper they were made of was so tough, and rolled so thick, you could barely get them open, let alone "tearing with the teeth"! I usually rolled my own and don't recall why or how I had to use "hand-outs"!

At one of the 225th Rev War battles we were provided with cartridges which had been rolled then dipped in paraffin wax. The wax flaked off in the holes of the wooden cartridge box and created a real mess. I have never heard of this being done in the 18th century. I can't imagine what a cartridge box would have looked like if this had been done on a regular basis. I had to spend quite a while getting all the wax out. When you use some else's cartridges you never know what you are going to get.

By the way, the NPS sites near here require you to use their hand outs.

 

[DCAN]

The 'paper" cartridge allowed a trained soldier(Civil War era) to load and fire approx three shots in a min or so, provided he was not hit during the process! I read several account where they have found four and five loads in a rifle where the soldier had obviously loaded but never capped the rifle, fired and loaded again!! Imagine when he finally did cap it?!! OMG!

I remember reading something about the multiple loads. It was a discussion about what was found in rifles recovered from battlefields. Some having many loads stacked on top of each other.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Could work but sounds like a lot of steps to go through with balls going by your head. Saw another post this morning where a guy wrapped the ball in a patch and tied the end of the patch around the ball for a quick load. That with something that holds a premeasured load of powder would make more sense. If you look at illustrations of even the earliest matchlocks they were carrying premeasured powder.

Wrapping the ball with a patch is fine for rifles, Germans were known to do that, but there is no documentation of 18th century folks patching for smoothbores. YES the matchlocks were carrying premeasured powder, and that evolved into the paper cartridge in a box. The method I described is also mentioned in older text by people that used it. Steps? pretty mush the same steps one takes when using cartridge, and hundreds of thousands used that method through time....

LD

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I remember reading something about the multiple loads. It was a discussion about what was found in rifles recovered from battlefields. Some having many loads stacked on top of each other.

In the ACW yes. Not so much in the AWI. A firefight was a LOT slower back then.
LD

 

[waarp8nt]

I'm no rocket surgeon, however I believe they would have loaded hastily as if their lives depended on it?!?

 

[SPQR70AD]

I'm always reminded, when discussing reloading on the move, of the scene in TLOTM where Mr Lewis is reloading his long rifle whilst running up a mountainside....it's worth another look, IMO.

Lewis Wetzel the greatest indian fighter there ever was would go after a group of raiding indians alone. shoot one reload on the run they could not catch him shoot another and a few more until they stopped chasing him. I would think he had a mold made where he didnt need a patch for the ball. google his name read his story you will not believe it

 

[jefair1]

THe militias in the revolution did have issues reloading and were kniwn for breaking and running. Washington issued an order that all rifle and militia companies would have a musket company to support them. The fact that militia companies was used with great success in the battle of Cowpens. Morgan had the militia men fire 2 shots and then run. Tarleton thought he had won the field and pursued and got his butt kicked.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

Lewis Wetzel the greatest indian fighter there ever was would go after a group of raiding indians alone. shoot one reload on the run they could not catch him shoot another and a few more until they stopped chasing him. I would think he had a mold made where he didnt need a patch for the ball. google his name read his story you will not believe it

Love the part about you will not believe his story. The question is how much of any of the stories these guys told can we believe? Many of them were tellers of tall tales.

 

[Fitzhugh Williams]

In Wetzel's case he proved what he could do in front of witnesses. For others, who knows.

 

[smokepolehall]

Things i learned from my Pa. My 5th G'Pa back fought in the Revolutionary War. My Pa showed me small wooden containers with a wood plug in them. There were 1 dz. of them, my Pa said they were pre-measured loads of powder ready for use in the fights. He also showed me an old loading block with the prb's that had patches most rotted in it. I am sure other methods were used. Our ForeFathers in that War knew enough to certainly help their odds of staying alive. I am positive it was those stupid Generals that made our Troops stand in front of Volley Battles that caused the most death n wounded

 

[Artificer]

I think the record, after Gettysburg, was they found a musket with like 11 or 12 charges jammed into it....recorded at the time as the army was recovering and cleaning up fallen muskets.

After the Battle of Fredericksburg, VA in the UnCivil War, one rifle musket picked up in the Confederate occupied position of the sunken road had over 20 loads in it. You would have thought just from not having to run the rammer down so far would have told the soldier his rifle musket had a problem.....?

I've actually tried to research this event locally in my then "second" home town of Fredericksburg, because I thought the cone (Nipple) was bad or clogged, but could never find out more information on it.

Gus

 

[SPQR70AD]

Love the part about you will not believe his story. The question is how much of any of the stories these guys told can we believe? Many of them were tellers of tall tales.

his feats were known and documented by the English, homesteaders, other frontiersmen including Simon Kenton one of the best frontiersman of the era. Wetzel got arrested for killing 2 indian chiefs coming for peace talks. he was arrested and over 200 frontiersmen showed up armed and told the english release him or we open fire. this happened twice. all those men would have not stood up for wetzel if he was not so important to the fight against the indians. being surrounded by so many gelded men who cant even stand up to their wives I can see maybe why you would fing his story hard to believe. google his name and read the article by frontier partisans .com

 

[Carnavore Phil]

Practice, practice, practice....and still it would be harried. My take, a column would shoot while the column behind reloaded.

 

[SPQR70AD]

Practice, practice, practice....and still it would be harried. My take, a column would shoot while the column behind reloaded.

Lewis Wetzel the greatest indian fighter reloaded his flintlock on a full run after shooting on indian he would drop the powder and a smaller ball with no patch tapping the butt on the ground so the powder would get into the pan turn and fire point blank being there would not be much accuracy. he did this until they gave up. in fact in the last of the mohicans daniel day lewis at the end when he was chasing the indians on the rock cliff paths he reloaded while running and they said it was based on what Wetzel did with danny lewis practicing it over and over

 

[Fitzhugh Williams]

Lewis Wetzel the greatest indian fighter reloaded his flintlock on a full run after shooting on indian he would drop the powder and a smaller ball with no patch tapping the butt on the ground so the powder would get into the pan turn and fire point blank being there would not be much accuracy. he did this until they gave up. in fact in the last of the mohicans daniel day lewis at the end when he was chasing the indians on the rock cliff paths he reloaded while running and they said it was based on what Wetzel did with danny lewis practicing it over and over

With some training by Mark Baker.