The Last Charleville Infantry Musket — The Model 1777,

The Charleville pattern musket served as the primary arm of France beginning in the early 18th century.  In 1777 the Charleville Model 1777 was introduced which was an improvement on all other previous models.  One of the biggest improvements of the Model 1777 was a slanted brass flashplan, angled in such a way that gravity would force the priming powder towards the flash hole.  Brass was also thought to encourage better ignition of the priming powder, which increased the chance of a successful discharge.  In addition a cheek rest was carved on the left hand side of the stock.  Various other modifications were made to the stock, barrel, and barrel bands which made the musket stronger and lighter.

The Model 1777 first saw action during the American Revolution when 4,000 French troops landed in New England and took part in the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778.  Later the French played a pivotal role in the siege of Yorktown in 1781.  In the meantime French troops clashed with the British in the Caribbean, Europe, and in India.  It is a common myth that the French supplied the Continental Army with Model 1777’s, however the new muskets were reserved exclusively for French troops.  Instead older model Charleville muskets were sent to America.

The Model 1777 would again play a major role during the French Revolution and subsequent Napoleonic Wars.  In 1800 First Consul and future Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte personally ordered a set of specific modifications to the Model 1777.  This included minor modifications to the lock, stock, and bayonet mount.  The new model was called the M1777 Corrige (corrected or improved).  The Model 1777 Corrige would serve as the mainstay of Napoleon’s armies as he conquered Europe, then was eventually defeated.  Because of the demand for arms during the Napoleonic Wars, the vast majority of the 7 million M1777’s were the Corrige model.  Further improvements would be made in 1816 and 1822.

The Model 1777 Charleville  would served the French Army up to the 1830’s. Dragoon, artillery, and naval versions were also produced.  Eventually production was moved the the St. Etienne Armory, and Charlevilles were eventually replaced with percussion muskets, and later rifled muskets. While the M1777 is famous for it’s use during the French Revolution and by Napoleon’s armies, it’s greatest legacy lies in the fact that it was such a good musket that almost all other nations copied it or adopted patterns based on it’s design principles.  This included the American Springfield, the Russian Tula models, many Austrian models, Dutch models, and 19th century Prussian Potsdam models. 

January 25, 1776: John Adams witnesses Henry Knox’s “Noble Train of Artillery” pass through Framingham, Massachusetts, on the way from Fort Ticonderoga, New York, to the siege of Boston.

1776. Jany. 25. Thursday. Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-02-02-0006-0001 [last update: 2014-12-01]). Source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 2, 1771–1781, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, pp. 226–228.

The Magna Carta is almost here! 800 years after being issued in England, it is making it’s way to the New-York Historical Society. 

Our collections are full of documents relating to the American Revolution and the drafting of the United States Constitution, but for one week they’ll be joined by the document that helped inspire those many treatises on liberty and the rights of the individual.

This is the Hereford Cathedral Magna Carta, a 1217 revision of the 1215 original document. It is the text of this version that actually entered into English law. 

Come see it while you can! It will be on display from Wednesday, September 23 through Wednesday, September 30 (ONLY!) 

All images copyright The Dean and Chapter of Hereford Cathedral from the Library and Archive collections.

Hessian Private, Erb Prinz Fusilier Regiment of Hesse-Cassel, during the American Revolution. 1910 illustration by Charles MacKubin Lefferts. Watercolor, gouache, black ink, graphite on board. (New York Historical Society)

“Harvard Finds Evidence of a Colonial Boycott Hiding in Plain Sight," the first proof of who exactly signed boycotts because of the Townshend Acts.

It’s probably because I’m from Boston - where you grow up going to every single American Revolution-related historical site for school field trips - but I love old colonial papers like this.

235 years ago on June 28, 1778, Molly Pitcher, the legendary heroine of the American Revolution, is said to have participated in the Battle of Monmouth.  This is a copy of the engraving by J.C. Armytage after Alonzo Chappel.  

But who was Molly Pitcher?  See Will the Real Molly Pitcher Please Stand Up?  via the National Archives’ Prologue Magazine.

Archaeologists plan surveys for stretch of Hudson River near site of 1777 Saratoga battles

STILLWATER, N.Y. — Archaeologists will be hitting the water this summer to survey a stretch of the Hudson River near the site of the Battles of Saratoga.

The National Park Service says underwater surveys of the river will be conducted early next month between the village of Schuylerville and Saratoga National Historical Park in nearby Stillwater, site of the 1777 battles that many historians consider the turning point of the American Revolution.

The archaeology team will be using side-scan sonar and other techniques to search for artifacts left behind by the thousands of soldiers who passed through the area during the 17th and 18th centuries.

An invading British army was defeated by American forces in October 1777 after losing the second of two battles fought at Saratoga.

Archaeologists excavated land sites at the battlefield last year. (source)

Sacred and Holy Relics —- George Washington’s Set of Pistols

Made in France in the middle 1700’s these flintlock pistols were a gift from the Marquis de Lafeyette to George Washington during the American Revolution.  The Marquis de Lafeyette was a young French nobleman and army officer who volunteered for service in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, with the rank of major general.  The Marquis presented these pistols as well as a letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin before receiving his officer’s commision.  Washington would carry them in his saddle throughout the war and later during the Whiskey Rebellion.

The pistols remained a possession of the Washington family until in 1824 they were presented to Andrew Jackson. 7th President of the United States, who called them “sacred and holy relics”.  Later Jackson would return them to the Lafeyette Family, where they remained in private hands for two centuries.

In 2002 the pistols were sold by Christies for the sum of $1.9 million, setting a sales record for weapons.  The buyer, The Richard King Mellon Foundation, donated them to the Fort Ligonier Association, a historical society celebrating the colonial history of Ligonier, Pennsylvania. 

Currently George Wasington’s pistols are on display at the Fort Ligonier Museum, Lingonier, PA  

Mrs General Washington Bestowing Thirteen Stripes on Britannia by Unknown, 1783

Continental Army by Unknown

Found this book at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh!! IT LOOKS AWESOME AND IT’S FROM 1898. Ffffffffffff <3