Category: Military History

  • A Confederate Whitworth

    Auctioneer James D. Julia has a rare Confederate Whitworth up on the block. This one even has the four power Davidson telescope. The brass tube Davidson scope was adjusted for elevation by turning the knurled knob on the right side of the forearm. This loosened the clamp on the left side so the 1-1/2″ bar […]

  • Ft. Stedman Anniversary

    Today, March 25th, is the anniversary of the battle of Ft. Stedman, the last offensive of Lee’s Army. Civil War Trust is featuring an article I wrote a while back for America’s Civil War on the battle. By this time, of course, the battle—one of the shortest of the war—was long since over. Near Petersburg, […]

  • Wheellocks, Fergusons, and Sharps

    As part of our continuing look at old weapons, we go back some 500 years to the beginning of the modern era and the first really practical firearms. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons does the honors, and first up is the wheellock, which dates back at least to the early 1500s and probably before then. […]

  • More on the Origins of “Sharpshooter”

    As part of the continuing quest to find the origins of the term “sharpshooter,” I directed a query to the Museum of Military History (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum) in Vienna, Austria. The Austrians, after all, were the first to employ rifle units and true light infantry in the 18th Century, and Central Europe (the Tirol, southern Germany, […]

  • Berry Benson, How Much Shooting, and The Sniper’s War

    Joe Bilby has another excellent article in American Rifleman on Confederate sharpshooter Berry Benson. I first saw the monument in downtown Augusta, Ga., in 1966, as a young second lieutenant at nearby Fort Gordon. It was an impressive sight, and even though I was a Yankee from New Jersey, I was drawn to it. Statues […]

  • New Whitworth, Buck & Ball vs. Minié

    Cap and Ball tries out the new Pedersoli Whitworth rifle reproduction. Unfortunately this rifle remains vaporware here in the US. It was supposed to become available in mid-2016 but no one has actually seen one for sale. Too bad, since I think there’s a ready market for them out there. Suggested retail was to have […]

  • More on the Origins of “Sharpshooter”

    I’ve addressed the origins of the term “sharpshooter” several times, and it seems to be a popular one for commenters. Lately I’ve dug up a few more comments on its origin and first use in America. One of the more intriguing units in the Revolutionary War is the Althouse Sharp-Shooters, which was a spin-off of […]