“Soldiers knew its shortcomings, but considered it a sturdy and reliable friend. One veteran corporal said as much to his mess mate on the rainy eve of Waterloo. ‘You can pray to Jesus all you like, but the only religion I need is my Brown Bess and my bayonet.’”

By John Danielski

IT WAS LONG, heavy and inaccurate. It has no sight with which to aim; only a bayonet nub. It took 18 separate motions to load and misfired one out of nine times the trigger was pulled. It lacked rifling, used powder that was susceptible to dampness and it required a new flint every 20 shots. Nevertheless, this rudimentary, single-shot weapon enabled Britain to build and defend an empire. Officially designated the Long Land Service Musket, history remembers it best by its nickname: the Brown Bess.

The forerunner of the Brown Bess made its first large scale appearance at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, though it wasn’t standardized until the 1730s. In various patterns, it served as the principal long arm of the British military until the introduction of the Enfield rifled musket in 1853. Even then, vast numbers were upgraded from flintlock to percussion cap firing systems during the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny of 1857. Even the shortest version of the musket was just a foot under the five-foot, seven-inch height of the average soldier of the era. Its recoil was so ferocious, rankers frequently suffered bruised shoulders during battles. Decades after it was officially retired, cast offs were still being traded to indigenous populations in Africa and Asia.

Despite its many shortcomings, the Brown Bess’ flintlock firing system represented a significant technological advance over matchlock, wheellock or snaplock muskets of the late 17^th Century; it added a “half-cock” feature for safety. It was also designed for a socket bayonet, which attached around the bore. Previously, bayonets were plugged into a weapon’s muzzle and had to be removed from the bore prior to firing. The Brown Bess was also sturdier than its predecessors and better withstood soldierly abuse.

There were three major patterns of the Brown Bess, though each model had a number of variants. All weighed between nine and 11 pounds.

The Long Land Pattern Musket was 62 inches in length with a 46-inch barrel. Production continued into 1790.

The Short Land Pattern, first introduced in 1768, was widely used during the American Revolution. With a length of 58 inches and a 42-inch barrel, it remained in service into the last years of the 18^th Century.

The India Pattern was 55 inches in length and had a 39-inch barrel. It was introduced in large numbers after 1793. A sea service variant featured simpler furniture and a 37-inch barrel.

A Short Land New Pattern version was introduced in 1812 for light infantry featured a reinforced hammer.

The India Pattern was originally an economy version produced for the British East India Company. It would end up becoming the most widely used British firearm in the Napoleonic Wars. More than a million were manufactured before production ended. In addition to being Britain’s principle infantry weapon, it was exported to the King’s allies on the Continent.

The term “Brown Bess” first appeared in print in 1785, though it was likely in general usage for a considerable time before. The origin of the name is unclear.

The Bess was theoretically a .75 caliber weapon, using a .67 ball. In reality, bores varied from .73 to .79 caliber; necessitating different sized rounds to accommodate them. (This author once owned an 1809 Brown Bess that was actually .77 caliber.) The musket pre-dates the era of standardized mass production; its barrels were manufactured in less-than-consistent cottage industry conditions.

The majority of the Brown Bess’ early lock plates were made in a small district of Birmingham by families that were interrelated. Curiously, two of the most prolific lockmakers, Farmer and Galton, were pacifist Quakers. Metal parts were mated to stocks and proofed at the Tower of London. The lockplates of the final products were stamped, “Tower” and “GR” above an etched symbol of the crown; GR being the initials for Georgius Rex, the Latin form of King George.

The Brown Bess was notoriously inaccurate; not surprising since the barrel was merely a hollow tube and balls not tightly wadded with cartridge paper simply bounced down the barrel. While the weapon could theoretically hit a target at 650 yards at a five-degree elevation, its actual effective range was far shorter.

“A musket that is not exceedingly ill-bored may strike the figure of a man at 80 yards, perhaps even a hundred,” wrote Colonel George Hanger in 1814. “But as to firing at a man at 200 yards with a common musket, you may as well fire at the moon with the same hope of hitting your target.”

Tests by the Board of Ordnance in 1846 confirmed Hanger’s verdict. To even come close to hitting an 11-foot, six-inch by six-foot target at 200 yards, the shooter had to aim five-and-a-half-feet above the mark.

During the 18-mile retreat from Concord to Boston on April 19, 1775, a British column was continuously sniped at by colonial militiamen typically firing at ranges of 30 yards or less. Despite the minutemen being able to steady their weapons atop stone walls and shooting downward into a slight gully, only one ball in 400 connected with a target. Such results typified many battles of the era.

While a poor weapon for an individual marksman, the Brown Bess was deadly when used at close range in massed volley fire against a thick body of enemy infantry. In such situations, accuracy was far less important than rate of fire. Three rounds a minute was the standard, though as a battle progressed, two became more common. Soldiers were given almost no training in marksmanship. Many never even bothered to aim; they simply levelled their weapons in the general direction of the enemy and pulled the trigger. Most shut their eyes when firing to avoid being burned or blinded by the powder flash in the priming pan.

The Duke of Wellington typically deployed his men in two rank lines during battles. His redcoats typically often held their fire until the enemy was within100 yards, sometimes as close as 30. Officers commonly admonished rankers “don’t fire until you can see the warts on their noses.”

Two British volleys usually shattered a French attack column. The British would then give three thunderous “huzzahs” and charge with the bayonet to finish the business. While sometimes whole ranks were knocked over by musket volleys, the vast majority of balls fired by Brown Besses flew wide.

The Battle of Waterloo was typical a typical bloodbath of the era. The fighting started at 11:30 a.m. and ended before dusk with 55,000 men killed, wounded, or declared missing. Yet only an estimated .75 of 1 per cent of all the bullets fired over that long, terrible day hit a target. This figure is consistent with other 18^th and early 19^th Century battles.

Sheer terror, failure to compensate for recoil, and soldiers simply not understanding the parabola flight path of a musket ball too frequently caused men to shoot high. “Aim low!” was the refrain of sergeants and officers. Often whole stands of trees immediately behind battle lines were reduced to stumps.

Individual Brown Besses made a popping noise when fired; volleys made a rattling sound. Bullets in flight whizzed like bees, while rounds impacting targets were likened to hailstones hitting a tin roof.

Musket fire generated thick clouds of foul-smelling smoke. After a few volleys, visibility was often cut down to a few paces. Soldiers typically shot at muzzle flashes in the fog rather than any discernible line of opponents.

The black powder was dirty and quickly fouled the weapons. Only 55 per cent of it ignited with each shot leaving and multiple volleys left the inside of the barrels coated with a sticky residue that accumulated and constricting the diameter of the bore. Soldiers compensated for this by switching to smaller rounds or urinating down the barrel to clear the fouling; a risky maneuver when barrels became hot to the touch.

Modern-day bullets, like the 5.56 mm NATO round, generally pass intact through their targets. Conversely, musket balls often remained in their victims. The soft lead in a Brown Bess ball acted like a dum-dum bullet and sometimes flattened to the diameter of a small lemon before splintering into several pieces. It tended to crush bones. A surgeon could never be certain if he had extracted all of the fragments unless they were near the surface.

The Brown Bess was a rough-and-tumble weapon that played an important role in creating an empire that eventually encompassed over a quarter of the Earth’s population. Soldiers knew its shortcomings, but considered it a sturdy and reliable friend. One veteran corporal said as much to his mess mate on the rainy eve of Waterloo. “You can pray to Jesus all you like, but the only religion I need is my Brown Bess and my bayonet.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Danielski is the author of the Tom Pennywhistle series of novels about a Royal Marine officer in the Napoleonic Wars. Book five of the series, Bellerophon’s Champion: Pennywhistle at Trafalgar is due from Penmore Press in May. For more, visit: www.tompennywhistle.com or check him out on Amazon.