I'm doing an extended redcoat discussion with some home-schooled kids this weekend, so I thought I'd dig deeper. Why have we chosen Morgan's shingle/bucket/board as opposed to Timothy Murphy's? From what I'm reading, they seem to have been equally devastating as commanders of riflemen companies.
Also, I'm not finding a specific reference to a Morgan's "test" anywhere. It seems to have been a pretty consistent one-shot test with the target sizes and distances varying a little bit from one company to the next. All ten, however, were to converge on Boston.
Thanks,
Tim
Murphy was a Sgt. Morgan was a Col.
Did Murphy raise the companies and command them?
Nope. But I thought the point of hitting the shingle was the marksmanship involved and not necessarily anything to do with rank. Rank is more important in the strikes.
Talking about Morgan raising the companies at that early point in the event plants the seed of doing something to raise companies once they leave the event. Every opportunity we have to put the message out there that we're trying to pass this stuff on to posterity should be taken.
It's not about the marksmanship.
I typically throw Murphy in during KD since he was more of a KD dude. "The shot that changed history" is a good story to tell about Murphy.
Now THAT'S the answer I was looking for :). Thanks, Slim!
While I LOVE the story of Murphy, there seems to be a fair amout of question over the facts of the story.
See here
http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/03/the-myth-of-rifleman-timothy-murphy-and-the-power-of-the-written-word/ (http://allthingsliberty.com/2013/03/the-myth-of-rifleman-timothy-murphy-and-the-power-of-the-written-word/)
Have you read this thread?
http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=19419.0
Real quotes from thee day..... who, what, where,
factual data....
Pvt Doyle
11th Virginia Regiment (Morgans Riflemen)
I knew you'd do a great job when I asked you to cover this.
:)
Murphy never wrote on his "kills"...*ending of another humans life*
for that matter NO ONE DID
It was against ALL christian doctrine.....he could not do it.....
(to you) you must drop thee 20th century mindset, think of thee morals, edicate, yada yada of THAT age!
His best friend wrote of thee encounters,.... (Murphy could read and write-was educated)
You reference a great story (modern though)......
It seams as if folks for several year now have been vainly attempting to discredit ALL of thee "hero's" from thee Revolution.
read from thee "written" accounts FROM THAT day ....... NOT someones "opinion".....
There ARE several more threads, with FACTUAL data, about this deed, and others.......
When I think of Morgan and Murphy, I go back to this story, particularly the part about the second battle of Saratoga:
The History of Timothy Murphy (http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=16934.msg138284#msg138284)
I just LOVE this part:
QuoteMorgan called for Sergeant Timothy Murphy, his finest sharpshooter, and said, "That gallant officer is General Fraser. I admire him, but it is necessary that he should die. Do your duty." Murphy climbed a tree that afforded him a good view of Fraser, mounted on a horse at a distance that was stated, depending on the source, to be either 300 or 500 yards. Even if the shorter distance is correct, it was still a distance that put Fraser, or so he thought, well beyond the range of even the greatly feared American riflemen. While Fraser rallied his troops, Murphy rested his rifle in a notch on a branch, reckoned the wind direction and velocity, the distance, and the number of feet his bullet would drop. Adjusting his aim accordingly, he fired. Fraser dropped to the ground. Mortally wounded, he would die the next day.
Like this?
I love the Murphy story, but my reading on the topic leads me to believe his name etc. wasn't added to the story until years later and is suspect at best. I live telling Murphy and Patrick Ferguson as examples of "What difference can one man or one shot make".