North Carolina Newspapers

J ....'jiin. Page 10 THE WAYNESVILLE MOUNTAINEER r Sap bui n h 1 I! i Historian And Authority Tells Of Early Rifles "Regretted That Such A Useful Gun Should Be Dubbed Hog-Riflle", H. C. Wilburn Points Out. (By H. C. Welburn) It is not generally known, even among educated people, that Ben jamin Franklin, the wise old phil osopher that he was, recommended and strongly urged, on the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, that the continental forces be armed with the English long bow and arrows instead of guns that were stand ard equipment for European armies of that day. Nor is it generally known that, instead of following Franklin's recommendation, George Washington, the day after his ap pointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial armies, in June, 1775, advised the Congress to issue a call ior ten companies of expert mountain riflemen. ' Washington's recommendation was adopted. Six of these volun teer companies were raised in Pennsylvania, two in Virginia and two in Maryland. Sixty days after the call was issued, the ten com panies reported on the Boston Com mon, carrying their individual owned rifles, accoutrements and other equipment, and were duly incorporated with the forces al ready assembled. , Prior to this time the different colonies had raised armed forces, and they had co-operated in sev eral enterprises. The above men tioned call for volunteers, however, was the first effort by the newly federated states to ; raise armed : forces . for the common defense. And this action constituted the birth of the American armv which had as its nucleus the ten com panies of expert mountain rifle- men. The imDortant consideration. in so far as the purpose of this story is concerned, is the fact that the men of these volunteer compa nies were equipped with home made loner rifles forced out in hack. woods blacksmith shops throughout the Appalachian Mountains which, at tnat time, constituted the front ler of English sponsored settle ments. These guns were, therefore, tne birthright and characteristic -weapon of the first American army. And it was the effectiveness of these weapons, in the hands of men who knew how to use them, that made a reputation and created a respect for American infantry fire. The reason back of Franklin's recommendation regarding the bow and arrows was that he was an academic type of person, and had .gained his knowledge of warfare of that day from European his tory. Guns that were standard equipment for infantry of that day were, at best, a large, smooth bore flintlock, notable, mainly for the amount of smoke and noise it could make, thus creating panic ana contusion in the enemy, Gen erally, they were not '.'aimed" at any definite object, but were fired in volleys in the general direction of the approaching enemy. .. On. the other hand, Washington had had valuable experience on numerous scouting trips and war parties into the French territory m the Ohio valley. He had seen expert mountain riflemen,"1 from a vantage point behind a tree or rock, pick off a lurking enemy by a well aimed shot at a distance of one or two hundred yards, and sometimes up to four hundred yards. Washington owed his, suc cess on these trips and expeditions, in a very large degree, to his guide and assistant, Christopher Gist. It is laid that Gist seldom, if ever . missed a shot, whether aimed at an animal or a lurking enemy. On more than one occasion he saved his illustrious ward from drowning or freezing in the wilderness, or from an unexpected enemy. History records the fact that u a result of Braddock's defeat ( combined British and Colonial troops) by the French, at Fort Du- quesne, now Pittsburg, in 1755, five thousand, or more, families de serted their exposed position on the Virginia frontier and settled in tne neamont section of North Carolina and South Carolina Among these were the Gists, the Boones, the Walkers, and many others who becam famous in their new locations. It is interesting to note that Nathaniel Gist, son of Christopher Gist, soon after thin. in the lata 1750s. settled n trad. er among the Cherokees and became the lather ox hall-breed Seauah who was the inventor of the Cher. okee alphabet and written lang uage. Descendants of Gist, by a later white marriage, still live in the vicinity of the Cherokee Res ervation and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. History also records that as a result of the deadly "aim" of the American riflemen, there resulted the wildest consternation in Brit ish officialdoms A British states. man declared on the floor of Par liament that thev. the Americans. were the most Drolific widow and orphan producers in the annals of j history. Th riflemen were trained and encouraged to pick the bril liantly uniformed officers and make them the subjects of thir deadly aim. They were usually found with a small bullet hole in the cen ter of their forehead or some other well selected vital spot. Several of the crucial battles of the Revolution were won by rea son of the effectiveness of the ex pert mountain, riflemen. Saratoga which was fought in the fall of 1777, brought to a tragic close the British campaign in the North. It was successful to the American cause, mainly, on account of th pf fectiveness of Daniel Morgan and his Virginia riflemen. The defeat ed British then shifted their efforts to the South, and there follnwoH tha disastrous fall of Charleston and bavannah. and the almost, pom plete subjection of South Carolina and Georgia. The victorious Corn wallis then started, in the summer or iyu, across North Carolina with the purpose' of subduing this state, and rejoining recruited Brit- isn lorces on the Chesapeake Bay. He reached Charlotte, and had out oi. erguson and Co . Tarl- ton to scour the Piedmont back to the foot of the mountains. Ferguson was an able and dr. ing officer, and it was his threat to cross the mountains the back-settlements that the .vira of the leaders of these uuiu ironuersmen, and lead to the battle of Kings Mountain, Oct. 7, 1780. This battle was won enf.iro. ly by expert mountain rifltmen who carried their own guns and ammunition, rode their own Wano and gave their time without hope of pay or reward, except having done their duty. Ferguson and his army were comnletelv destrnvprt Cornwall is was forced to retreat I rom Charlotte. On January 17. 1781. Tarltnr, Coinwallis other flanking opera tor, was met at Cowpens by Daniel Morgan and his riflemtn and pletely : defeated. Cornwallis 'fin ally reached the Chesaneukfi t Yorktown, but hot through a de feated North Carolina. Washing ton, who had been watching the progress of the events from his post near New York, with the help of the French navy, closed in and soon brought the campaign to a successful close. In the battle of New Orleans on Jan. 8, 1815, twenty-six thousand British were killed in twenty-five minute by Andrew Jackson' long riflemen, with a lns nf hi. forces of but eight killed and thir teen wounded, If the frontier riflemen could have been keDt rnnfiniinnoi i- u -x--. ui wir Colonial army, the conflict would in an probability, have been term inated in a much shorter Hm thoese hardy pioneers had little nme and no patience with a slow moving army and a long drawn out camnaien. What thev done in a dash and .they were soon ";," "me clearing their fields, building their cabins, or driving ever troublesome Indians back. In less than three weeks they had assembled at Sycamore Shoals on tne Watauga River (near Eliza c.il to quantity iimnaeivaH k aw- " tlnns. lead. 1' I .cry W f . " ia an asset to rt.ebusbiessncutke,! , clerk, etenog-l salesman, ce " . ' . 1- , Your hand an vel togetuer u,, f erred ty vi foe 1 I II II 1 1 I No. 1. No. 2, iain tra " ' Tfio r.lonntainccr bethton, Tenn.,) ridden some hun- ArtA atiH Aftv nilA mAat.1v AVer wilderness trails; mopped up the enemy, and were back at their homes. Not. many days later, Sevier and nun fit the men that had participated at Kings Moun tain, were galloping down the TenneftfutA river in tha nnnoaitp direction, to fall uDon the Chero kees who had planned to massa- ce the settlers in their bnel absence.-. ' ' ; . It waa some time about the 1700 that some settlers from the Swiss Alns and from the. Palatinate area of Germany began to make then- appearance in what is now Lan caster County, Pennsylvania. Some ' of ' thesA mnnntnineers brought with them crude, grooved barrel puns which thev had fearn- - o -- ed to make and use effectively in their native land. By about 1725, a backs t woods blacksmith by the name of ."Roesser had an imnrnved these Pima t.haf thev were in mnrh B - v j . demand by the frontiersman in his efforts to keep meat in his cabin and the lurking Indians at a safe distance. The characteristics of the Roesser guns were, a long barrell, small bore, spiral grooves inside the barrel and a close fit ting bullet. Along about 1738 some clever blacksmith who was nnaaihlv an . .. - - i' - j even better marksman, discovered the idea of wrapping a piece of soft, - talloWed cloth or buckskin around his bullet. This insured a closer bond for the eXDlodini? Erases prevented "leading" of the grooves by the passing bullet, and cleared the barrel from the objectionable residue left by the explosion of mi bure nowder. By the end of the next decade lonowing tnis simple, but tremend ousiy valuable improvement, a number Of irrinrnvements and re finements had been worked out, and makers, one or more of which formed an essential part of every irontier settlement. Most lmnor tant of these improvements were correct length of barrel; the num ber of grooves to give the best results; correct degree or "pitch" ior tne grooves in the barrel; prop er form and Dlacement of. the sights: hair triccersr the mrreot amount of powder and weight of Dunet; and hnally, but not least. correct form and "hang" of the Stock. It was also nhnnt. this time that the settlements began to push soutnward and westward, and along with them the stun maker and his trade. : ' Thus, over a Deriod nf nhnnt a nan century, these scientifical v correct nrinciDles of fi re arms were worked out by the slow and tedious Drocess of trial and errrr The blacksmith who Could nrndupo the best gun had thn createst number of customers and got the most braise. The individual whn used the best eun. toirether with his own personal prowess and skill, brOUCht in the most, o-nme ond wnc most effective in defending his home and that of his neighbor against the ever lurking redskin.. Many times the marksman and the black smith argued over, and tried out proposed change and improvement. it speaks much for the American pioneer that he was able to start almost from "scratch" and pro duce a weapon ideally suitable for tne purpose at hand. That is to supply his familv with moot - - . uv. tend it from enemies, and fin. any to win his independence from a mercenary and . imneriniioti. motner country.: - Followine the niirfh Louisiana country in 1803 and other important events in the next thir ty to forty years, the western frontier erupted, and there arose a need for a different tvrw. f The long, cumbersome small bore oi tne mountaineer was not the weapon for the hard-riding plains man srallonincr after th Kflri and chasing down the Indian war parties. Saint Louis became the center of much activity and a point Ior outfitting westward moving settlers, every party of wnich needed arms. A man by the name of Hnken length, enlarged the bore and made uu-er necessary changes in the mountaineer' rifle, and thus lead m the development of the famous nwen itine which also had its roie to play in American settle ment and develnnment Tk. r-... v. xucoc Bic the guns that were carried by the western Kangers such as Jim Bridirer. Kit rr.,n . Him many Others ennall v.. - t ""ujiis, out Consideration, of the foregoing facts misrht lead to tha nnni.,o;. that the name, "American Rifle." wouia De appropriate for these guns. But it must be remembered that the modern Winchester devel oped directly from the old Henry Gunworks of Pennsylvania, which had fts beeinninor blacksmith shop. So, that name would include th Winhe.t. . . . .v, C0 well as other modern weapons. The consensus of omninn- mnrr.t writers on American arms is that xne name, "Kentucky Rifle," is the most aCCeDtablo and annrnnnot. This grows out of the fact that at tne time the. Kentucky country was iiirurinv n larerelv in A can frontier activities, these guns were at tne height of their devel opment ana use. The first ex piorers and lonr-huntera in area, such as Dr Jnhn xxrii. winsiopner uist, Daniel Boone, and many others, were dependent 5COTTS SCRAP BOOK ByHJLSCOn LAM. ,N CJC ARK. -fitt. CSJWfeR. IANE. rVH.rASf,-(ROUqK TRAWIC? MARK 'ii te ft vt? ' ; ML UHPU ( Hnmi,li,lPiills il 7: .r i A UidV TPOX-f - but rf is wurfftK ih rtUORESCEMf IKK, AHt SOW$ ULfPA-VIOlif HKf I a.mt.u. MilUMERY WOW B-Kt KAfiVt PJE $1fctt, UNttf or ititfU ArneA, IS A CoMBlKA-fiort CRAP1E amp HAY upon the use of the long rifle in ground." . their exploration and subjection of It is to be regretted that in this "dark and bloody hunting the days of its degeneracy, that is, after it had served its period of major usefulness, it should be dubbed, "hog-rifle." There is no known explanation of this name. It is assumed that it grew out of the fact that in its later days and its local use, it served only as a meat getter, including hogs. This name is only local, and has never ap peared in literature. As a result of newspaper nuhlir. ity given to the activities of some gun smiths in Haywood countv about a year ago, some twenty-five to thirty letters oi inquiry from persons in nearly every state east of the Mississippi River, exoont New England, were received. Every one oi inese inquirers wished to have one or more aruns repaired, or a new one made outright by the oia patterns ana the methods. This reveals the fact that there is still vide spread and much interest in Jiese funs. ' In all worthwhile i - " - ' 1 v. vur lections of American arms, atten- lon is given to the "Kentuckv Rifle." V . A reasonablv renresjntat.ive and complete set of specimens of these uns, together with the tools and ppuances usea by the blacksmiths il the nark region: has heen made t . i:id are now stored in several differ ;:it government buildings, It is .0 be hoped that provision will be made for an adequate museum - -j Frests Should Best For CoW This Week-End For two weeks now V J re has , JobofC0l0rin't-H . Thla week-end .k-uTl forests at their beT 3 to forestry ei Jj thev are tU,; , n"l """B aoout ! Some of the best fan J leaves rip-ht k . . M - -o-ii IVUttQ l.9t I uap cove Creek Gap Q area and up the Spring well building in whih !,.. may be worked into a , ized set of exhihit n,.. quately portray the me8n1 oiKiiiiicance nt tw.. .. , valuable relics of 8. no. iorgotten, stage of AmeriJ "ijf anu civilization. Note: This ic largely from nwinrv .' 1. .. wnere tnere is nM Q,.,... iacuiLies; otnerwise more statements might have bet in a number of instance!. IV I 1 Your Ipfifficfe To Support In Haywood A Growing Farm Effort 4-H Clubs Baby Beeves N This Week-End Premium Beef-Premium Price; Connection- Teabone Steak . $j Tl-e County Agent Says- Sirloin Steak a, 68, The stores and cafe who bought these JT J rf I Cfi beeves at auction in Hendersonville paying MXOUtKjL jjICflfC lb a premium price did so as boosters. ' - - ' ;;' ' - ' The prices paid went way beyond regular PvilYl Rtb jROflStlb. 4ft market values, and in placing the beef on .. " ' " " ' ' ' '-: ; -j sale, the stores must charge premium prices PiK Pin4 to avoid a considerable loss. JXLU XVOCioI lb. 0 The prices asked simply distribute the cost Tfilx CfJ.,.. )E of producing these prize beeves. LlfiU Q LtslJV lb. mM I The Prize Winners- THE BOYS AND THEIR BEEVES White , faced Hereford raised bv Reeves Ferguson, son of Sam Fergu son, oh Fines Creek. Bought bv the First Natinal Bank at 16 Vi e with weieht of 1047 lbs. 9 White faced Hereford raised by Rob- ert Buchanan on the Jack Hipps farm in Cecil Township. Bought by Ray's at 13c with weight of 874 lbs. Black Pole Angus raised bv Wavne Stamey on Pigeon. Bought by Ray's at 13c with weight of 1044 lbs. All of these calves graded "Choice" quality. CAFE Will Serve You A Dinner Of Prize Baby Beef Haywood Booster ' Rnvnn. o niuu nf this nrize winning beef, puts you in the position of being a Haywood booster. It puts you on record as beHeving that the farm boys and girls of a-v wood are the biggest assets w "V hpine behind ii puis you on i etui u an - the County Agent's Office. ENJOY EATING WHILE BOOSTIG . AY . The J I Supeir astot $10 ' St018 Buit By Service To Haywood County-