Erik S.

The Weapons of Colonial America

“Boom!” The sound of a gun in colonial times, one of the few weapons that were in colonial times. Just what I’ll be teaching you. The weapons I’ll be teaching about are bows, arrows, muskets, swords, and tomahawks (tomahawks are another word for an axe with a thin blade attached to a handle. AKA mini axe.)

CHAPTER #1: BOWS + ARROWS

Bows and arrows were almost the best weapon out there in colonial times, in fact, they were better than early guns, this is true because muskets took 1 whole minute to reload! (Muskets are the most popular guns back in colonial times.) guns also weren’t as accurate as bows. These reasons make bows be the 1st priority for the American Indians, this is also why they train them for use of them at a young age. I'm guessing that they had trained them around 6 or 7 years old, because they are very good weapons.

Here's a fun fact, arrows weren’t just used for bows, but they were
also used on something called an atlatl. The atlatl was something
were you put the arrow head on the atlatl and fling it, the atlatl was
a faster, yet inaccurate way of shooting arrows.

CHAPTER #2 EARlY GUNS AND CANNONS

Guns used to be the most advances things back then in colonial times,

even though they were most deadly (other than cannons), they were

very inaccurate and took way too long to reload. I feel like that you

were trained to use a gun at the age 16, like driving, because it has

the responsibilities of someone that age.

Cannons on the other hand, were very powerful and very strong. They used
cannons to defend their colony from attack because it could hit many
attackers at once. Did you know that early cannons took 14 men to operate!
I think that you have at least a minute reload time on those cannons, maybe
even 2 minutes, they still used them though.

lil' fun fact: Blacksmiths used to make guns along with steel and iron tools
in those days, but now they only make steel and iron tools.

CHAPTER #3 TOMAHAWKS AND SWORDS

Tomahawks are types of single handed axes with thin blades, these
originated from the American Indians in colonial times. These were
also pretty effective weapons used in colonial times they are about
as sharp as the swords. Tomahawks were also made in many different
sizes. I'm guessing, probably sizes like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. An 1 would be
the smallest and maybe 7 the biggest but they would maybe be like
1 centimeter apart, each size.

Swords were the most common weapon used in colonial times, this is
true because they are very sharp and could slice right through an
enemy, swords were very heavy and only used in close range combat,  
I guess that this made tomahawks able to be thrown weapons.

CONCLUSION

You may have learned that a arrow wasn’t used for just bows. Also
that muskets were the most advanced thing ever in colonial times.
And of course that a tomahawk was something from the American
Indians that was a popular weapon. I, ever since I started, wondered
what came first, the tomahawk or the sword and now, you shall
wonder too.

QUIZ

1. How long did it take to reload a musket in colonial times?

A: 40 seconds

B: 20 seconds

C: 1 minute

2. How many men did it take to operate a cannon in colonial times?

A: 12

B: 14

C: 16

3. What was the most common weapon used in colonial times?

A: Swords

B: Tomahawks

C: Bows and Arrows

Thanks to the book, The Real Story on the Weapons and Battles of
Colonial America.