Weapons

INFANTRY Most infantry soldiers, British or American carried a Brown Bess musket. These muskets were quick to reload (for that time) and could take a bayonet. A bayonet is a knife like piece of sharp piece of metal that could be attached to the end of the musket.

//A flintlock musket Picture came from// http://www.militaryheritage.commusket6.htm

FLINTLOCKS A flintlock was a firing michanism put near the butt of the gun. It had two moving metal pieces. The piece closest to the trigger held a piece of flint. The piece farthest from the trigger moved when it was pushed, exposing a small pan of gun powder. When the trigger was pulled it pushed the piece with the flint in it forward. The flint scraped against the second piece of metal, pushing it forward and making sparks. The sparks then ignited the gun powder in the pan and caused a small explosion. This explosion ignited a larger measure of gunpowder in the barrel of the gun and caused a bigger explosion which propeled the ball forward out the end of the gun. If your lucky. If your not, the sparks from the flint scraping the metal might fail to ignite the small measure of gun powder. Or if the powder is wet the sparks may just cause a puff of smoke called a flash in the pan, or as we call it, a misfire.

OFFICERS Officers usually didn't carry muskets or rifles. Since officers were usually on horseback it was hard for them to shoot muskets. They did usually have a sword and Pistols. Cavalrymen usually had sabers. Sabers were big, long, curved swords that could really pack a punch. High officers usually carried smaller and lighter swords. Pistols weren't very good unless you were fighting an enemy that was less than three feet away. Pistols were basicly shorter muskets with rounded butts and they were held in the hand, not mounted on the shoulder. Pistols had a flinlock on them were hardly accurate at all. Officers weren't usually as close to the action as infantrymen so they didn't need the same weapons.

GALLERY OF ARTILLERY //Cannons like these were used in forts and on ships.//

//Cannons like this were used throughout the revolutionary war// //Pictures came from// [|http://xeno][|phongroup.com/mcjoynt/yr][|tnar][][|ty.htm]

//Howitzers like this were used to shoot balls and shells over the walls of forts.// Mortars like these were used to shoot balls high and short

//Tools like this were used to clean and load the cannons.//