icon for Home page
icon for Kid's Home page
icon for Digital Collection
icon for Activities
icon for Turns Exhibit
icon for In the Classroom
icon for Chronologies
icon for My Collection

Online Collection

front
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
Contact us for information about using this image.

Detail 2
Detail 2


label levels:

The "Brown Bess" flintlock musket was the standard weapon of the British soldier for over one hundred years. Its official name was the Short Land Pattern. Most American gunsmiths during the American Revolution patterned their flintlock muskets after the Brown Bess. Muskets were notoriously inaccurate and military strategy of the period reflected this. Groups of men massed tightly together fired a shower of lead balls at the enemy. For charges and fighting at close quarters, soldiers fixed deadly, spear-like bayonets to the ends of their muskets. The original owner of this musket carved the initials "R.D." into the stock. John Fellows (1751-1831) of Shelburne added his own initials after he picked up the musket from the battlefield following the defeat of General John Burgoyne's army at Saratoga, New York in 1777.

 

top of page

Brown Bess flintlock musket

date   1768
location   England
bayonet   21.0"
stock   16.25"
barrel   42.0"
process/materials   wood, metal
item type   Weapons/Armament - Firearm
accession #   #1882.81


Look Closer icon My Collection icon Detailed info icon


ecard icon Send an e-Postcard of this object



See Also...

Flintlock Musket

Soapstone bullet mold


button for Side by Side Viewingbutton for Glossarybutton for Printing Helpbutton for How to Read Old Documents

 

Home | Online Collection | Things To Do | Turns Exhibit | Classroom | Chronologies | My Collection
About This Site | Site Index | Site Search | Feedback