Many people, perhaps, will be surprised to learn that the Mexican war was fought mainly with the antiquated flintlock muskets. When the trigger was pulled the flint came down hard upon a piece of steel, and the resulting spark was thrown into the "pan," igniting a pinch of powder. The fire ran into the powder charge and the gun went off. Round balls were used, and the loading was done with the help of a ramrod.
There were already percussion rifles in those days, but General Winfield Scott, who bossed the Mexican war, declared that he would have nothing to do with those new-fangled weapons. The old smooth-bore flintlock was good enough for him. In truth, the percussion gun of that period was not as reliable as might have been wished. The cap was liable to get wet and to fail to go off, whereas a good flint could be counted upon to yield a spark every time.
It was not until 1858 that the percussion rifle, still a muzzle-loader, was generally used by the United States army. The Springfield, which was the first breech-loader (one cartridge inserted at a time) came along in 1870. In 1892 it was replaced by the first of our magazine rifles, the Krag, and simultaneously we adopted smokeless powder, a European invention.
The regulation United States service rifle is a great improvement on the Krag. It is loaded with "clips," holding five cartridges each. The velocity of the bullet is greater, and the accuracy and rapidity of fire are superior.
FIGHTING RANGE 800 YARDS.
In the Mexican war the ordinary fighting range, with the smooth-bore flintlock, was about 250 yards. In the Civil War, with the percussion muzzle-loader, it was 350 to 400 yards. With the new service rifle, the fighting range is 700 to 800 yards, and the infantryman is able to fire at least twenty times as many shots in a given number of minutes as was possible fifty years ago.
The field artilleryman carries no rifle, but is provided with a 45-caliber automatic pistol and twenty-one cartridges. The men who compose the machine-gun platoons have no rifles, but each one of them is armed with the same sort of service pistol and a bolo. The latter is a weapon new to our army, adopted as a result of military experience in the Philippines. It is in effect a machete (a sugar cane chopping knife), shortened and made heavier. At close quarters it is a formidable weapon.
The bolo embodies the best principles of the various razor-edged fighting blades of the Filipinos, and was first adopted as a side arm of the Marine Corps officers. The bolo, which is much heavier than an ordinary sword, measures 24 inches from tip of handle to tip of blade, and is forged from a piece of file steel.
For many years the Marine Corps, except upon dress occasions, has had no cutting weapon. It is not strange, therefore, that many of the officers of the corps, while on duty in the Philippines, adopted for use in the field that weapon of the Moro tribesmen.
The introduction of the bolo as the field arm of the Marine Corps—the sword having given place to the pistol several years ago in this branch of the service—robs the time-tried and traditional Mameluke saber of the corps of the distinction of being the only cutting weapon in the equipment of this division of the Government's sea fighters.