In the 1750s Militia Acts in Virginia, they don’t use the terms “musket” or “Fowler” at all. Rather, the 1757 Act states “Every soldier shall be furnished with a firelock well fixed, a bayonet fitted to the same, a double cartouch-box. . . .” Though, as the Act specifically calls for bayonets fitted to the guns, it basically means “not rifles.” Though they did, some little while later, raise rifle companies in the western counties, and the riflemen were permitted to carry tomahawks instead of bayonets. The 1777 Militia Act says “Every officer and soldier shall appear at his respective muster-field by eleven o’clock in the forenoon, armed or accoutred as follows: The county lieutenant, colonels, lieutenant colonels, and major, with a sword; every captain and lieutenant with a firelock and bayonet, a cartouch box, a sword, and three charges of powder and ball; every ensign with a sword; every non-commissioned officer and private with a rifle and tomahawk, or good firelock and bayonet, with a pouch and horn, or a cartouch or cartridge box, and with three charges of powder and ball; and, moreover, each of the said officers and soldiers shall constantly keep one pound of powder and four pounds of ball, to be produced whenever called for by his commanding officer. If any soldier be certified to the court martial to be so poor that he cannot purchase such arms, the said court shall cause them to be procured at the expense of the publick, to be reimbursed out of the fines on the delinquents of the county, which arms shall be delivered to such poor person to be used at musters, but shall continue the property of the county…”
In the vast majority of cases, generic terms like “arms” and “firelocks” seem to have been used, except in probate.
Jay
In the vast majority of cases, generic terms like “arms” and “firelocks” seem to have been used, except in probate.
Jay
