"Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Brandywine " Topic

"A slim captain dressed in a short green coat slipped through the forest. He looked quickly left and right, visually checking that his corps was in position. They had an important task: spearheading the advance of General Knyphausen across the Brandywine River. Captain Patrick Ferguson concealed himself in the brush and checked that his weapon was ready for action. This was no ordinary musket, but a highly-sophisticated breech-loading rifle. Ferguson held a patent for it and had even demonstrated it before King George III.

The British realized the importance of Ferguson's rifle, and ordered him to form a unit of riflemen to aid them in their war against the American rebels. 100 men were put into Ferguson's Riflemen, and since their guns could fire 6 shots a minute, they were a formidable asset to General Knyphausen's column.

As Ferguson watched the countryside, he noticed two riders come slowly toward his ambush. One was unusually dressed in a hussar uniform, while the other rode a bay horse and wore a large cocked hat. Ferguson ordered three of the best shots in his corps to come and shoot down these officers, but countermanded the order. To deliberately target officers like this was not civilized warfare…"
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By the way… who made this guys in 1/72?

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Amicalement
Armand

"they were a formidable asset to General Knyphausen's column." I bet they weren't…

Yeah, I was wondering about that statement too. My understanding is that the tests were a but of a lark and the fact that the rifle did not see a lot of orders meant that they did not really believe in the concept.

Having just finished a book on the history of the Winchester rifle, I can pretty much guess why: they thought that firing so fast – 6 rounds per minute – would cause men to become wasteful of ammunition. That was the argument used by US Army procurement officers to Winchester.

I think Fergusson's own account reads just a little bit better. No Pulitzers in the pipeline, I fear- and wasn't there a fairly large creek in between Fergusson and the recce party- (whoever it was). Did Washington recross the Brandywine on the day of the battle?

GW did not cross over as far as I'm aware (why would he?) I was under the impression that Ferguson's detachment did pretty well, but took some losses and with his wounding, "official" interest in fostering his project withered.

The corps Ferguson led was always intended to be experimental, and the men were always scheduled to be RTU'd. His wounding did hamper re-raising it the following year, but it should be remembered that a peace commission came out early in 1778 and Howe went home soon after; Clinton was not a fan of "detached corps" (see his treatment of the flank battalions).

The men were parcelled out to various light companies, either their own (ie original unit) or to whoever needed them; as such, they probably provided part of the rifle-armed establishment in each light company, and which in turn, was extracted and then concentrated into a "point platoon" that led the light battalion on the march.