British Military Flintlock Rifles 1740–1840

By DeWitt Bailey

264 pages, 8.5” X 11” hardcover: $47.95 plus s/h

Reviewed by Terry S. Todish for MUZZLELOADER. Published in July/August 2004 issue.

    For many years the popular image of the early American era portrayed hawk-eyed frontiersmen armed with longrifles either fighting alongside or against red-coated drones armed with Brown Bess muskets. Americans didn’t use smoothbores, and redcoats didn’t use rifles. Either that or every soldier was armed with a rifle. This misconception hasn’t only appeared in popular media, as DeWitt Bailey points out in his introduction:

The role of the rifle in combat prior to its general adoption by all of the line infantry regiments in the mid-19th century is perhaps one of the most under-researched, misunderstood, and misrepresented developments in the field of military history . . . There appear to be military historians still producing works who are unaware that the rifle was not generally adopted for infantry until the third quarter of the 19th century, who refer to any small arm in the hands of infantry as a “rifle” regardless of date.

In recent years, however, this image has begun to change. Bailey’s remarkable book may help this process along.

Bailey is uniquely qualified for the task. Long regarded as an authority on British military small arms, he has been associated with the Imperial War Museum in London, the Tower of London Museum and other museums in England and Europe. He is a shooter and collector as well as an author and has been called the most knowledgeable man on antique firearms in Europe today.

The purpose of Bailey’s latest effort is to present information both from original research and from printed sources that shows the introduction and use of the rifle by British forces and their allies from the 1740s to the end of the flintlock era in the 1840s. The most interesting information in the book for many MUZZLELOADER readers will probably be the early chapters on military rifles during the French and Indian War, the American War of Independence and Indian rifles in British service prior to 1783. Later chapters deal with the somewhat better known use of rifles during the Napoleon era and later, with a wealth of information on various models of the Baker rifle. At the end of the book is a fascinating chapter that points the way to follow-up work, “A Miscellany of Unexplained British Military Rifles.”

The text of the book includes many quotes from primary sources, which helps clarify the role of the rifle in 18th and early 19th century combat. For those of us raised on tales of Hawkeye, Revolutionary riflemen and the hunters of Kentucky, there may be some statements that will raise eyebrows. Bailey makes a strong case that the rifle was not necessarily the most practical or effective weapon in the military arsenal of the times. This is not necessarily a new insight, but he provides some interesting period comments to support this claim. He also offers fascinating information on some of the units that were armed with rifles and of officers and men who served with those units. He discusses the use of rifles by loyalist American and German units, emphasizing the composition of these units to clarify how the rifle was seen as an integral part of the overall British military effort, not a separate facet.

Among the fascinating details that Bailey presents is evidence of the use of rifles by both the Redcoats and the French and Indians at Braddock’s defeat. Maybe even more surprising, he documents rifles being supplied to British troops originally headed for Louisburg in 1746 (these troops were eventually rerouted to France). He includes information on breechloaders tested by the Board of Ordinance before the Ferguson rifle.

As can be expected, Bailey provides useful information on proof marks, different production models and other technical data. There is much detailed information on the Ferguson rifle, the 1776 pattern, Jaegers and Bakers. And there are over 300 photographs, with important details shown in large, clear close-ups.

British Military Flintlock Rifles 1740–1840 has the rare quality of being both an initial study and a “state of the art” document. It contains much information not presented before but also leaves the reader with many questions and a desire for more knowledge and research. It is an essential reference for gunmakers, collectors and anyone else interested in the development of the use of rifles in the British army and in Anglo-American settlements.

To order the book, write: Mowbray Publishing/Man at Arms, PO Box 460, Lincoln RI 02865-0460. You may also call (401) 726-8011 or 800-999-4697 (toll free in the U.S.A.) or visit their website at <www.manatarmsbooks.com>.

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