RevWar-era repeaters

[Willociraptor]

(Preface: I don't know which board this would technically get posted on, so it's going in my home state's board for now.)

There is an article titled "Belton's War" written by T. Logan Metesh on pages 77-79 of the Spring 2018 issue of Guns of the Old West. I enjoy reading this magazine purely from a curiosity/novelty standpoint, but this article does something that few articles do to me -- it makes me want to dig deeper. Thought I'd share, on the hunch that it might spark a similar curiosity in others and eventually result in shared learning for us all.

The article details the correspondence between the Continental Congress and Joseph Belton, a Philadelphia gunsmith who had invented a new flintlock design. He said his new design allowed up to 16 shots in as little as 20 seconds, after which it would function as a normal single-shot musket.

His first letter to Congress was dated April 11, 1777, and Congress secured 100 of these guns. (Mind you that this was fourteen years before the Bill of Rights was ratified.) He wanted to sell his guns to Congress, but wanted way too much money and they never bought from him. (Imagine if they had, though!)

The article doesn't go into details of the actual design, it only states that the design existed and that there was correspondence between the inventor and Congress. I think this is a fascinating revelation, and would love to learn more. I don't know how to research patents, but I'd wager that the US Patent Office didn't exist yet. Would that make it a British patent? If anybody has research skills that could shed further light on any details of how this design worked, I'm sure we would all love to learn more about it.

Regardless of whether or not anybody can manage to dig up further details, it's nice to have this additional piece of incontrovertible evidence that the founding fathers were entirely aware of "modern firearm technologies" when they wrote and ratified the 2nd amendment.

[B.C.]

By T. Logan Metesh

Gun control advocates often claim that the Founding Fathers couldn't have conceived of repeating rifles when they drafted the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights. The history of Joseph Belton, an inventor and gunsmith from Philadelphia, and his correspondence with the Continental Congress proves otherwise.

Belton claimed to have devised a new form of flintlock musket that was capable of firing as many as sixteen consecutive shots in as little as twenty seconds. After the gun had fired its consecutive loads, it could then be reloaded individually like all other traditional weapons of that time.

Bolton wrote to Congress about his new invention on April 11, 1777, letting them know he could be available to demonstrate it to them at any time.

Intrigued by Belton's claim, Congress ordered 100 examples of his "new improved gun." They authorized him to oversee the construction of new guns, or alteration of existing guns, so that they were capable of discharging eight rounds with one loading and that he "receive a reasonable compensation for his trouble, and be allowed all just and necessary expences [sic]."

On May 7, Belton replied to Congress with his terms regarding what he felt to be reasonable compensation. He wanted to arm 100 men with his invention, demonstrate the capabilities to top military officers, and see how many men the officers felt his 100 men were equivalent to.

For example, 100 specially-armed men were equivalent to 200 regularly-armed men, or more. For his ability to double the manpower, he felt that he was entitled to £1,000 from each state that he armed 100 of their men.

Belton justified his price by claiming that a state could not raise, equip, and clothe 100 men for £1,000, making his 100 men armed as though they were 200 men a bargain. For reference, £1,000 in 1777 is the equivalent of £116,500 in 2016. If all 13 states outfitted 100 men, Belton would receive £13,000 - or a cool £1.5 million today.

Belton argued that arming 3,000 men or more with his invention created enumerable advantages beyond description on the battlefield and that, as such, his compensation was "vastly reasonable" and that if the Congress refused his terms, he wouldn't do it. (For those doing the math, 3,000 men armed with Belton's repeater would mean that he'd collect almost £3.5 million if adjusted to 2016.)

Belton must have realized immediately that his demands were more than outlandish because the next day, on May 8, he wrote a letter to John Hancock lowering his fee to £500 for doubling, £1,500 for tripling, £2,000 for quadrupling, and so forth.

On May 15, Congress read Belton's letter to the body. They quickly dismissed it because of his "extraordinary allowance." (No one saw that coming, right?) Congress considered the matter dropped and didn't reply to Belton, likely assuming he would take their lack of reply as a refusal.

Having heard nothing from Congress, Belton wrote them again on June 14. This time, he claimed he could make the shots accurately out to 100 yards and then, obviously feeling that wasn't impressive enough, said he could make the shots out to 200 yards and would be available to demonstrate this to the body on the State House Yard.

Again, he heard nothing for almost a month.

Still undeterred, Belton wrote Congress again on July 10. This time, he tried to rile members of the body by claiming that Great Britain regularly pays £500 for such services. He also enclosed a letter signed by General Horatio Gates, Major General Benedict Arnold (before he became a turncoat), well-known scientist David Rittenhouse, and others, all claiming that his invention would be of "great Service" and that Belton is entitled to "a hansome [sic] reward from the Publick [sic]."

Having received the letter immediately, Congress resolved that same day to refer Belton's petition to the Board of War, made up of five delegates. Among these five delegates were future 2nd President of the United States, John Adams, and Benjamin Harrison V, father and great-grandfather of the 9th and 23rd Presidents of the United States, respectively.

Nine days later on July 19, Congress got word from the Board of War. They dismissed Belton's petition altogether. At this point, he must have finally gotten the hint that Congress wasn't going to authorize such exorbitant payment for his services because the historic record turns up no more correspondence between Belton and Congress.

Despite the fact that Joseph Belton failed to convince the Continental Congress to outfit colonial soldiers with his repeating rifle, it's still a very important story. Belton invented his gun in 1777. The Bill of Rights wasn't ratified until 1791.

I'm no math whiz, but even I know that means our Founding Fathers not only knew about repeating rifles 14 years before the creation of the Second Amendment, but that they thought highly enough of the design to pursue further development and implementation of such technology.

[Nashville Stage]

Doing a word search for "belton" on the Forgotten Weapons YouTube channel doesn't bring up Belton's gun, but it does show some videos of repeating firearms that existed from that period.

[stoneknives]

I can't remember the source, but I remember reading that this multi barreled flintlock had been demonstrated to some of the politico's in the Northeast. Lot's of Torries were still up there.

Subsequently, descriptions (or drawings?) of the firearms made it's way to a British engineer by the name of James Wilson. In 1779, Mr. Wilson went to Henry Nocks Armory to have "his" design made. Mr Wilson then tried to sell it to the British Army. The Army decided they didnt want it, but several hundred were later bought by the Royal Navy for the Napoleonic Wars.