By Aaron Carter

America’s early riflemen routintely operated from relatively concealed positions, moving often to avoid direct confrontation with better trained and often superior British forces. Here, Andrew Wofford reenacts a common tactic used by America’s riflemen during the fight for our nation’s independence.

The sound of gunfire signaled the beginning of the American Revolution, and the frontiersman’s long-range marksmanship and hit-and-run tactics played a huge role.

Some history classes are, shall we say, boring! Everybody has been there in school—memorizing long chains of seemingly unrelated facts that give history an unfair reputation for being bland. It’s the stories and information that teachers often don’t have time to share that can make the past come alive. The story of the American rifleman is one such example.

The rifleman’s story really began about 275 years before the American Revolution, when gunsmiths started experimenting with rifling—the spiral grooving in a firearm’s bore that provides the stabilizing spin to a projectile during its passage down the barrel.

It wasn’t always so. When rifling was first introduced it created a far superior and very accurate firearm that quickly gained favor, particularly among target shooters and hunters. But, loading the ball in a rifle’s tight-fitting bore required extra time, usually resulting in only two to three shots per minute. The musket could double that number of shots, so until the American Revolution the rifle wasn’t really considered for military use. American frontiersmen—or riflemen as they would become known—would change that.

The preeminent rifle of the frontiersman was the Kentucky long rifle, which coincidentally was misnamed, since its origins appear to be the Piedmont of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, where many German and Swiss emigrants settled. Their hunting rifles, aptly named jaegers—German for hunter—were short flintlocks of large .67 and .75 caliber, usually with octagonal barrels. Because powder and lead were costly and difficult to find in the New World, caliber size was reduced and barrel length was extended, which allowed the powder extra time to burn for maximum velocity. Rifles during the 18th century were hand built, one at a time, with the gunsmith adding any personalized features desired by the buyer, such as engravings and carvings. The Kentucky long rifle name first came into play during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. There, Kentucky military units shined with their long-barreled rifles.

Living by the rifle, frontiersmen became superb shots. Their rifles were used for hunting, protection, entertainment and prestige. These rifles were so valued that they were generally used for life, or longer, and after the barrels were shot smooth, they were either re-bored and re-rifled or used in shooting shot at small quarry. Most Atlantic Coast inhabitants had amenities nearly equaling the British. The frontiersman, on the other hand, had to hack his living out of the wilderness, most often using his rifle. These people were self-reliant, independent and tough. Because of this, frontiersmen shrugged off ailments and injuries that would put their counterparts out of commission. On Jun. 14, 1775, Congress voted to raise 10 rifle companies—six from Pennsylvania, two from Maryland and two from Virginia. This was the first American Army, and it was composed entirely of riflemen. The next day George Washington was chosen commander in chief. When the call went out for riflemen the response was so overwhelming that shooting competitions were held to pick the best applicants. Eyewitness John Harrower, cited in Colonial Riflemen in the American Revolution by Joe Huddleston, wrote:

“He took a board of a foot square and with chalk drew the shape of a moderate nose in the center and nailed it up to a tree at one hundred and fifty yards distance, and those who came nighest the mark with a single ball was to go. But by the first forty or fifty that fired, the nose was all blown out of the board, and by the time his company was up, the board shared the same fate.”

After the contest ended there were still too many to fill the positions, however, Washington thought it would be best to keep them anyway, as they would be needed. Smart move! The British, on the other hand, used the Brown Bess smoothbore musket extensively. The Brown Bess had a 42- or 46-inch, .75-caliber, bright steel barrel with a 17-inch-long bayonet attached. It was loaded using a paper cartridge with 100 grains of blackpowder and a one-ounce, .75-caliber round ball. Being a musket, the Brown Bess was not on par with the accuracy of the Kentucky long rifle.

British soldiers were less than confident in their Brown Bess. According to Major Hanger, as cited in Sniper, by Adrian Gilbert: “A soldier’s musket, if not exceedingly ill-bored (as many are), will strike the figure of a man at 80 yards: it may even at 100, but a soldier must be very unfortunate indeed who shall be wounded by the common musket at 150 yards, provided the antagonist aims at him; as to firing at a man at 200 yards, with a common musket, you may as well just fire at the moon.” For a short time the British used a newly designed breech-loading rifle, which was both accurate and fast to load. For some unknown reason they withdrew it from use shortly after the battle of Brandywine Creek.

The British, accustomed to line-to-line warfare, were unprepared for guerilla tactics. Although capable of standing face-to-face with the British, the majority of the riflemen’s time was spent sniping from long distance, skirmishing and ambushing. The frontiersmen wreaked havoc on British soldiers and officers, causing disorder and mayhem on the field while providing opportunities for the colonial militia. The frontiersmen were also too free-spirited to fight in closed ranks, and were at their best when attacking from afar. During the Battle of Saratoga one of Daniel Morgan’s riflemen brought down British Gen. Simon Fraser from a distance of between 300 and 500 yards. Historians can’t seem to agree on the exact figure.

Although the Revolutionary War was ultimately won by line-to-line fighting on open terrain using muskets, it was the actions of the frontiersmen with their Kentucky long rifles who made victory possible. Whether ambushing, sniping or holding the enemy at bay, the riflemen used well-placed shots to change the tide of war in favor of the colonials.

The rifling in the Kentucky rifle made reloading slow, so it didn’t see much traditional battle use. But, its renowned accuracy, particularly in the skilled hands of America’s frontiersmen, made it a formidable weapon from long range or sniping positions. For the purposes of accurately depicting our nation’s early riflemen—on the cover and in the story—our young shooter did not wear eye or hearing protection. Hearing and eye protection should be worn, however, any time you’re shooting.

The “Brown Bess” was the main rifle for British troops. This one, chambered in .78 caliber, could also be mounted with a triangular bayonet.

Dangerous Job

Being a musician wasn’t always a safe career choice. One of the primary functions of America’s riflemen during the Revolutionary War was to harass and confuse British troops. That meant identifying and taking out troops critical to the other army’s movements or decisions. While officers were routinely targeted, another critical element came into play. Without radios or loudspeakers, British commanders employed their bands to communicate to their troops and other commanders. While a sharpshooter might find the commanding officer out of range, taking out the drummers and fife players gave the Continental Army a decided tactical advantage.