Project Appleseed

So given that it's two hundred years from our *second* war of Independence from Great Britain, I've started looking into that time period some.

I've been amazed at how much a conscious "rifle culture" had already grown up, just in the generation following the Revolutionary War. Aside from the whole Golden Era of crafting American longrifles after the war, you see the formation of dedicated Rifle Regiments.  There was even a Handbook for Riflemen printed in 1812!

Aisquith's Sharp Shooters and their place in the Battle of North Point looks like a direct result of that tradition - and maybe memories of Tim Murphy at Saratoga?

I know the War of 1812 is a little out of scope for Appleseed, but I find it fascinating how it reflects what Americans thought of *ourselves* at that time - who we told ourselves we were. And it seems to me that the self identity of Americans as rifle marksmen was incredibly strong then.

Has anyone else looked much at that period? What have you found?