American Rifle - Alexander Rose [24]
By the end of August, some fourteen hundred frontiersmen, described as “remarkably stout and hardy men; many of them exceeding six feet in height,” had congregated outside Boston.21 They were soon busy showing off to their gawping comrades, and morale within the American camp, hitherto sagging, soared. “They are the most accurate marksmen in the world,” boasted John Adams to his wife, Abigail, while Dr. Thacher opined that “their shot have frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers, who expose themselves to view, even at more than double the distance of common musket shot.”22 The Bradford brothers of Philadelphia, publishers both, went so far as to tell the London Chronicle that “this province has raised 1,000 riflemen, the worst of whom will put a ball into a man’s head at a distance of 150 or 200 yards, therefore advise your officers who shall hereafter come out to America, to settle their affairs in England before their departure.”23 A particularly patriotic Church of England minister played his part in the Revolution by writing directly to the Earl of Dartmouth (then the colonial secretary) about the breed of men whom British troops were going to face.
Rifles . . . are daily made in many places in Pennsylvania, and all the gun-smiths everywhere constantly employed. In this country, my lord, the boys, as soon as they can discharge a gun, frequently exercise themselves therewith, some a fowling and others a hunting. The great quantities of game, the many kinds and the great privileges of killing, making the Americans the best marksmen in the world, and thousands support their families principally by the same, particularly riflemen on the frontiers, whose objects are deer and turkeys. In marching through woods, one thousand of these riflemen would cut to pieces ten thousand of your best troops.
This same minister bragged that the American fortifications at Roxbury and Cambridge were “17 feet in thickness,” that their forts were “bomb proof,” and that of “provisions and money there are very plenty, and the soldiers faithfully paid.” Indeed, “if your lordship knew but one half what I know of America, your lordship would not persist, but be instantly for peace, or resign.”24 The clergyman’s efforts were commendable, but his claims were either patently exaggerated or blatantly false. Not for the last time would the exploits and talents of American riflemen be employed as a morale-booster.
Following the minister’s lead, the papers were soon printing stories of feats, most embellished, some impossible. On August 5 the Pennsylvania Gazette reported that “a party of these men at a late review on a quick advance, placed their balls in poles of 7 inches diameter, fixed for that purpose, at the distance of 250 yards.” The feat was difficult but not beyond the realm of possibility.25 Eleven days later, on August 16, the same paper commented that “we are also told that the riflemen had in one day killed ten of a reconnoitering party; and it is added likewise, that they have killed three field officers. A sentry was killed at 250 yards distance.”26 Again, such a performance was possible, though a rival newspaper upped the ante by claiming that the unfortunate sentry had been assassinated “when only half his head was seen”—at 250 yards.27Within a week the exaggerations had spun out of control. The normally sober Pennsylvania Gazette of August 21 reported that “a gentleman from the American camp says—Last Wednesday, some riflemen, on Charlestown side, shot an officer of note in the ministerial service, supposed to be Major Small, or Bruce, and killed three men on board a ship at Charlestown ferry, at the distance of full half a mile.” Half a mile is 880 yards,