American Rifle - Alexander Rose [0]
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
EPIGRAPH
Chapter 1: THE MYSTERY OF WASHINGTON’S RIFLE
Chapter 2: THE RIFLE AND THE REVOLUTION
Chapter 3: THE RISE OF THE MACHINES
Chapter 4: THE BIG BANG
Photo Inserts
Chapter 5: THE “GREWSOME GRAVEYARD”
Chapter 6: THE ARMY OF MARKSMEN AND THE SOLDIER’S FAITH
Chapter 7: THE SMOKELESS REVOLUTION
Chapter 8: ROOSEVELT’S RIFLE
Chapter 9: THE PATHS NOT TAKEN
Chapter 10: THE GREAT BLUNDERBUSS BUNGLE
Photo Inserts
Chapter 11: GUN OF THE SPACE AGE
Chapter 12: THE RIFLE OF THE FUTURE
NOTE ON SOURCES
NOTES
PHOTO CREDITS AND PERMISSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ALSO BY ALEXANDER ROSE
COPYRIGHT
TO REBECCA
“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
“Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.”
—Judges 20:16
“Without gunpowder there can be no freedom!”
—German-American proverb during the War of Independence
“Now then I’ll dwell upon the GUN.
When first this weapon was invented
It had no lock; men were contented,
Or rather were oblig’d, ’tis said,
To use a lighted match instead.
At length, the very things they needed,
Hammer, and flint, and steel succeeded;
Then, probably, the shooter thought
His piece was to perfection brought;
But ev’ry age improv’d it still,
And so, perhaps, the future will.”
—W. Watt, Remarks on shooting, 1835
“Each civilized nation is found to choose a rifle, and it is curious study to discover the reasons for the selection each of a different pattern.”
—Chief of Ordnance Stephen Vincent Benét, 1879
“The old musket was the arm of the masses, and the rifle is that of the individual.”
—J. Walter, The Volunteer Force, 1882
“You must not forget that the rifle is distinctly an American weapon. I want to see it employed.”
—General John Pershing, 1917
“The weapon had to be adapted to the man; measured to fit his intelligence and his training. A rifle suited to the use of a Russian peasant soldier would not efficiently serve the American infantryman. A rifle designed for an expert marksman would not efficiently serve an army put into the field with but little training.”
—S. Brown, The Story of Ordnance in the World War, 1920
“Augsburg, Germany, May 1 (AP)—Pvt. Wyatt Virgil Earp, a direct descendant of the legendary sharpshooting Earp brothers, has qualified as an expert with the M14 rifle, a U.S. Army spokesman announced. Earp, 17 is serving as a tracked vehicle mechanic with the 24th infantry division. He is a grandson of Virgil Earp, who, with his brother, Wyatt, tamed Tombstone.”
—Washington Post, 1965
AMERICAN
RIFLE
AMERICAN
RIFLE
Chapter 1
THE MYSTERY OF WASHINGTON’S RIFLE
George Washington, never exactly a cheerful or chipper soul, was today even more glum than usual.1It was May 21, 1772, and all day he had been posing for his portrait motionless, awkwardly dressed in an antique uniform originally tailored for a younger, slimmer man.2 The painter—an up-and-coming artist by the name of Charles Willson Peale—was certainly taking his time about it.3
And then, at last, Washington was allowed to see the result. There he was, looking suspiciously more youthful (Peale knew how to flatter his subjects) than his forty years might suggest, but otherwise the likeness was most accurate. There he stood, Colonel George Washington of the defunct Virginia Regiment, officer, gentleman, loyal servant of His Majesty, and veteran of the French and Indian War.
Peale’s portrait of Washington—the earliest authentic likeness of the man that is known to exist—is distinguished from hundreds of other pictures of eighteenth-century soldiers hanging in the world’s museums in one remarkable respect. It’s easy to overlook, but, subtly protruding from behind Washington’s left shoulder, is the muzzle of an American rifle.4
This particular arm had probably been commissioned two years before, in early 1770. In March of that year Washington was staying with his friend Robert Alexander, and according to his diary, they often “went