Luke E.


Colonial Weaponry


Introduction
“Did you know that pikes were between 12 and 16 feet long?” That's half the length of an average school bus! Have you ever wondered where the colonists even got the materials to build their weapons? Flintlock muskets were invented in France in the early 17th century by Marin Le Bourgeoys. So you can probably tell that it had some flaws. Or who has better weapons for a fight, Native Americans or the colonists? Or possibly who used what weapons more, pirates or the colonists? Imagine that you are in a war firing a musket and once you shoot it, you have to take 10 seconds to reload it, and while you are doing that you risk getting shot. There is much to learn about about colonial weapons.

Chapter 1
Blacksmithing
To create their muskets the barrel would need to be made out of steel or iron. Iron melts at around 2880 degrees(f) or 1538 degrees(c). So you might be thinking why not use fire, fire burns at 1100 degrees(f) or 593 degrees (c). Now you might be thinking use lava from a nearby volcano, but there are 2 problems, 1 there are not any nearby volcanoes, and on top of that even if there was a nearby volcano, lava burns at around 1600 degrees(f) and even the hottest volcanoes still burn at “only” 2120. Which means it is still 760 degrees(f) too cold. So that will remain a mystery.

The Shooting Mechanism
 Now for the shooting mechanism of the flintlock musket. So you may have guessed from the name that it requires flint, so the question is how did they acquire flint. You get it from mining chalk and limestone. That has some pros and cons, a pro is when you mine the limestone and bring a chunk of it home(limestone is a very soft mineral, so it will dissolve in water)
 and splash water over it to get the flint. A con is when they are mining and hit the flint with their iron pick axe. It will create sparks, therefore, setting them on fire. Today it's known as flint and steel, but today it's actually mostly titanium and a magnesium rod.

The Weapon Itself

When it comes to the weapon itself, they obviously didn't bring over tons of guns, because if they died then all of those guns would be wasted. So maybe they brought over only a few muskets and then they took one apart and created more. But then that brings us back to the first 2 problems. Is it possible though, that they brought around ten guns and traded all of them or at least around 7 to the tribes and got around 5 bows for each? Then when British troops came for the Revolutionary war they brought over all of the guns. So maybe historians have been wrong this whole time and they found guns by the British coming over.

Chapter 2
Offense weapons
When it comes to the offense weapons of the colonists and the weapons of the Indians, it depends on what you mean by offense weapons. By offense weapons,  bows and guns. Bows were more accurate, easier to reload, and more effective, but you had to retrieve your arrows. Guns on the other hand, you didn't need to retrieve your ammo but were not as effective. Even though the Indians had better offense weapons, bows were easy to make so the colonists could have made their own. Also since the colonists had armor, 
the arrows were basically useless unless they hit the head or joints.

Armour
When it comes to armour, the colonists had strong, resistant armour. Except it could weigh up to 24lbs! With the Native Americans they didn't have any armour they barely even had clothes! But Native Americans could have stacked tough leather on themselves for armour but it was nothing compared to the colonists armour. But Native Americans had the skills, they could climb trees and take the settlers by surprise. With the colonists, you think they would learn to do the same which they most-likely did, but, having the extra weighted armour they couldn't climb, they could barely run with it on! So probably the colonists went head on, well the Indian did stealth.

Defense Weapons
          Now we did offense weapons, but what about defense weapons? The colonists had knives but so did the Indians, they also had bayonets for their muskets for jabbing their enemy. The Indians had tomahawks and hunting swords. But the thing with a hunting sword is that they were smaller than normal swords. A cutlass was also another sword but it was used by pirates. Colonists used throwing knives and daggers. Native Americans used scalpers and skinners, usually for hunting. They both could have also used pole arms, which include, pikes, spears, halberds, partisans, and spontoons. All of those in a simplified version is a close-combat weapon with a blade attached to end of a long wooden stick. Also colonial officers carried a saber by their side, which they could only stab with, but it was light straight and slender. Plus the fact that it was light meant that the officers could run with it easily. Unfortunately it was usually only for directing troops. It could be easily retrieved out of the stash from which it was stored.

Chapter 3
The Cannon
Colonist and pirates rarely if ever met. Even though 1 tried to conquer land and the other tried to conquer sea they both had weapons that the other one could of used more. Such as the famously known cannon. This huge 8 ft long weapon that took 14 men to operate was invented in the late 13th century and has been used ever since. Pirates typically used it for shooting at the enemy's ship, therefore putting a hole in the ship, sinking it. When the colonists used this they could only take out 1 person if they were lucky. Sense a giant, solid, ball of complete iron isn't that light it moved slow, so an enemy could easily dodge it. And if it did hit them that was probably because they were smoking tobacco. Were as a ship moves slower so it could hit it easier. If it did hit a colonist though, it would blow one heck of a hole in them! So pirates probably used cannons more.

The Flintlock Musket
Now for the well known flintlock musket. Muskets were the most advanced weapon of that time. Muskets usually had a bayonet attached to the barrel for stabbing the enemy. Based on the distance between 2 pirate ships, a musket just didn't have the range or accuracy. So instead they used cannons and if they wanted to raid the ship they used pistols. They used pistols which have even less range than a musket because in order to raid a ship they had to be on the ship where fights were close. Well on the land, battles happened pretty close. Muskets were not accurate but it was close enough to hit someone 1 in every 5 shots which isn't actually that many. So the point goes to the colonists.

The Bowie Knife
Now for the classic bowie knife, This was a knife that was always at a soldiers side. Its cousin was invented 4000 years ago in the bronze age! It had a 7in blade, and it could be used for many purposes. On ships it was used to cut ropes and cut wood planks to patch holes if there wasn't enough time. Plus they used it to jab enemies who snuck on the ship. They would also use it to threaten to stab traitors who had to walk the plank. And for the colonists  it was used to cut weeds, tend the gardens and slice open enemies who dared to break into their camp or town, they also used it to slaughter livestock for food. So pirates are the victors. But over the time they would have to sharpen their blades to keep them in tack. Otherwise the colonists would win because plants don't need as much sharpness to cut were as ropes are made to be tough and wood is naturally. But when it comes to enemies they could still stab but not slash because usually when people cut things it's with middle of a knife not the tip.

Conclusion
Clearly colonial weaponry was very important to the success of America. In this book, hopefully you've learned about the resources they had back then based on what we have now, who could have survived longer, the colonists, or the Native Americans, and whose weapons could have been used more by the colonists and the pirates. Even though pirates and colonists had other weapons they both still survived. Did you you learn about a couple of facts? The colonial time period was such a long time period with lots of important and well remembered historical events. Now you might think that a cannon can do a ton of damage, which it can but it's nothing compared to what we have today. Possibly history was a whole other way due to the ideas they had to come up with. So there is still much to learn.





GLOSSARY

PIKE-A 12-16ft long spear that originated in Ancient Greece     

NATIVE AMERICAN-The original people who colonized America approximately 
10,000 years ago                        

COLONIST-The Englishmen who came to America to have a better life                                               

PIRATE-A mercenary who sailed the world                                     

MUSKET-An old in-accurate rifle

 ACCURACY-How close something is to hitting another thing

CHALK-A mineral that contains flint that can be used to draw with  

LIMESTONE-A soft mineral containing flint that dissolves in water 

FLINT-A combustible material found   

PICK AXE-A tool used for mining
                                                                  
MAGNESIUM-It is chemical element number 12. Used for being striked with a piece of metal and then makes a white spark

OFFENSE-To fight pushing forward              

 LEATHER-Tough skin usually from horses and cows

BAYONET- A dagger attached to the muzzle of a gun for stabbing

CUTLASS-A straight sword, with a ring around the handle to protect the hand used by pirates

 THROWING KNIFE-A knife specially made to be thrown at an opponent

DAGGER-A knife with a 7in blade

SCALPER-A type of hunting knife

SKINNER-A knife used to skin animals

BOWIE KNIFE-A popular knife usually by a soldiers side

THE COLONIAL TIME PERIOD-A wide range time period were life was like                                                                                         this book, ranging from the 1600s-1800s

TOMAHAWK-A small throwing axe invented by the Indians

RESISTANT-To not let get in or through

DEFENSE-To fight staying back

SABER-A straight, flimsy sword now used in fencing


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