"Loading and Firing a French Musket in the Age of" Topic

…f Napoleon 1791-1815.

"Success or failure of Napoleon rested in the hands of his soldiers. Soldiers being properly trained in the handling of their flintlocks was fundamental for victory and the French army placed great emphasis on updating and perfecting its drill. Numerous drills were published from the army with the last "Ordonnance du Roi", prior to the French Revolution, being published in 1779. After the French Revolution had begun, the necessity of a updated drill was realized. In August 1791, Règlement Concernant Exercise Et Les Manoeuvres De Infanterie was published. This new drill manual became the bible of exercises and maneuvres for the French Army until the after the end of Napoleon's reign in 1815. The musket used throughout this time was the 1777 pattern French Infantry musket.

The success of Napoleon's army drew attention to the French 1791 regulations from English speaking military scholars. In 1803, John MacDonald published a complete translation of the 1791 manual entitled Rules and Regulations for the Field Exercise and Manoeuvres of the French Infantry. The loading and firing information reproduced here is taken from that work. With war on the horizon, Colonel Alexander Smyth published in 1812 a new drill for the United States Infantry entitled Regulations for the Field Exercise, Manoeuvers, and Conduct of Infantry of the United States; Drawn and Adapted to the Organization of the Militia and the Regular Troops. This manual was virtually the same as the 1791 French drill. Smyth went as far as to copy the exact same drill illustrations…"
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Amicalement
Armand

the author forgets to mention the

1788 regulations as well as

the M 1777 wasn't used till 1815, it was re placed when necessary by the

M an un – or M République

and later the

M 1777 corrigé an 9

Thanks.

Amicalement
Armand

The artillery was in charge of small arms production. The Revolutionary governments had fouled up weapons production and it wasn't until 1796-1799 that the Directory reinstated the artillery as the overall supervisor of weapons production.

The last Royal Army model of musket was that of 1777. Napoleon ordered a commission of artillery officers 'to establish the necessary new models of individual weapons. The 'new' musket of the 'System of the Year Nine (1800-1801) was a simplified version of the model 1777. More improvements in musket design were made in the 'Year Thirteen' (1804-1805).

In 1804 the army took over production of individual weapons for the Navy and in 1803 there were some 800,000 muskets and carbines either with the troops or in the arsenals. These were classed in three groups-the first were regulation models which were issued to regular units. The second group of old and discontinued models were issued to the National Guard and irregular units. The third class were 'everything else,' which included captured weapons.

An excellent reference for the French models of muskets and their production is Engineering the Revolution by Ken Alder.

The French regulation musket, older models as well as the model 1777, were sent to North America during the War of the Revolution. They were known by the US troops as the Charleville because that was one of the armories that produced the excellent French muskets. These became the issue musket for the Continental Army and was believed to be superior to the British Brown Bess. The excellent US Springfield musket model 1795 was copied from the French Charleville.

Another excellent reference for the French musket models that were sent to the Continental Army is The Book of the Continental Soldier by Harold Peterson.

The official models of French muskets were those of 1763, 1766, 1768 (possible), 1770-1771, 1773, 1774, and 1777. Probably few if any of the model 1777 were sent to the new United States as they were being issued to the French army as they were produced. There were some differences between models, but all were of a general pattern. All were excellent muskets and all were known by the Continental Army as Charlevilles no matter where they were manufactured.

Interesting stuff. It should be noted that loading by word of command was strictly for training the men. In battle the men simply went through all 12 steps as quickly as they could on their own.

The earliest example for the abbreviation of the French commands which I found, dates from 1784:

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(Very amusing Aubineau-Duplessis' remark (p. 22) that one could habituate a soldier, or any other man, to stop marching on the command "marche", as the word of command used for a certain action is just a convention.)

The first to point out these abbreviations to re-enactors, was Bernard Coppens:

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Thanks also…

Amicalement
Armand