By providing an unexpected American victory on the South Carolina border, Kings Mountain prevented the immediate subjugation of the Carolinas and temporarily deranged the British campaign to establish a completely conquered southern base of operation. By producing a feeling of patriotic success at the inception of the final major British campaign, Kings Mountain contributed to the renewing of American resistance which resulted in the British disasters of 1781.
The American Rifle
At the Battle of Kings Mountain[2]
By C. P. Russell, Chief Naturalist
Branch of Natural History
Progress made on the new museum at Kings Mountain National Military Park, South Carolina, is worthy of record, and the fact that the Service possesses a Ferguson rifle to put into that museum constitutes special note within the record. To the average park visitor “Ferguson rifle” means little or nothing, but to the student of military history mention of that British weapon kindles a flame of interest. The story of how the Ferguson rifle was pitted against the Kentucky rifle at Kings Mountain is significant in this day of rearmament.
Maj. Patrick Ferguson was born in 1744, the son of a Scottish jurist, James Ferguson of Pitfour. At an early age he became an officer in the Royal North British Dragoons, and by the time the American colonists revolted against British rule he had distinguished himself in service with the Scotch militia and as an expeditionist during the Carib insurrection in the West Indies. In 1776 he demonstrated to British Government officials a weapon of his own invention, “a rifle gun on a new construction which astonished all beholders.”
BREECH MECHANISM OF THE FERGUSON RIFLE
Breech plug lowered by one turn of the trigger guard
The remarkable feature of the gun is its perpendicular breech plug equipped with a screw device so as to make it possible to lower it by a revolution of the trigger guard which serves as a handle. When the breech plug is lowered, an opening is left in the top of the barrel at the breech. A spherical bullet dropped into this opening with the muzzle of the gun held downward rolls forward through the chamber where it is stopped by the lands of the rifling. A charge of powder then poured into the opening fills the chamber behind the bullet, whereupon one revolution of the trigger guard closes the breech and the weapon is ready for priming and firing. Major Ferguson demonstrated that six aimed shots per minute could be fired with an accuracy creditable to any rifle. Advancing riflemen could fire four aimed shots per minute; reloading being possible while the marksman was running. Another great advantage of the Ferguson rifle was found in the fact that it could be loaded while the marksman was reclining—something quite impossible with the American rifle. A patent was granted for the Ferguson invention on December 2, 1776, and the weapon became the first breechloader used by organized troops of any country.
On September 11, 1777, Major Ferguson commanded the small unit of picked riflemen of the British Army who covered the advance of Knyphauser and his German mercenaries at Brandywine. An American who knew nothing of breechloading rifles, but who was possessed of the old dependable Kentucky rifle, put a bullet into Ferguson’s right arm, shattering the elbow. The major’s arm was useless thereafter and while he was recuperating Sir William Howe jealously took advantage of his disability, disbanded Ferguson’s riflemen, and put into storage the superior rifles which they had carried. This did not terminate the service of Ferguson, nor did it relegate his rifle to the discard. His command was restored, and he again took the field with his handful of riflemen. At Stony Point, N. Y., and Little Egg Harbor, N. J., he came out on top in the fighting with American privateers and the famous Pulaski Legion. Had Great Britain manufactured more of the Ferguson rifles, perhaps he would have gained further victories.