Lexington needs Stronger Gun Laws

Orders to Lieut. Colonel Smith, 10th Regiment ’Foot - Teaching American History


Lieut. Colonel Smith, 10th Regiment ’Foot,

Sir,

Having received intelligence, that a quantity of Ammunition, Provisions, Artillery, Tents and small Arms, have been collected at Concord, for the Avowed Purpose of raising and supporting a Rebellion against His Majesty, you will March with a Corps of Grenadiers and Light Infantry, put under your Command, with the utmost expedition and Secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and distroy all Artillery, Ammunition, Provisions, Tents, Small Arms, and all Military Stores whatever. But you will take care that the Soldiers do not plunder the Inhabitants, or hurt private property.

You have a Draught of Concord, on which is marked the Houses, Barns, &c, which contain the above military Stores. You will order a Trunion to be knocked off each Gun, but if its found impracticable on any, they must be spiked, and the Carriages destroyed. The Powder and flower must be shook out of the Barrels into the River, the Tents burnt, Pork or Beef destroyed in the best way you can devise. And the Men may put Balls of lead in their pockets, throwing them by degrees into Ponds, Ditches &c., but no Quantity together, so that they may be recovered afterwards. If you meet any Brass Artillery, you will order their muzzles to be beat in so as to render them useless.

You will observe by the Draught that it will be necessary to secure the two Bridges as soon as possible, you will therefore Order a party of the best Marchers, to go on with expedition for the purpose.

A small party of Horseback is ordered out to stop all advice of your March getting to Concord before you, and a small number of Artillery go out in Chaises to wait for you on the road, with Sledge Hammers, Spikes, &c.

You will open your business and return with the Troops, as soon as possible, with I must leave to your own Judgment and Discretion.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant
Thos. Gage
 
The interesting thing is that the British mission that day was quite literally enforcing an assault weapons ban.
I dont know if they used the word "assult " but they went to Barretts farm to Sieze the Cannon(s) and the weapons arsenal. Where the patriots buried the weapons in the Dirt 😊

History feels like its repeating itself. Whenever I see morons driving around by themselves wearing a face diaper, all I think about is how they would be first in line to ride the Cattle Cars
 
I dont know if they used the word "assult " but they went to Barretts farm to Sieze the Cannon(s) and the weapons arsenal. Where the patriots buried the weapons in the Dirt 😊

History feels like its repeating itself. Whenever I see morons driving around by themselves wearing a face diaper, all I think about is how they would be first in line to ride the Cattle Cars
Didn't the British throw ammo, equipment and food into the river? They just fished it out and saved everything after the British left.
 
Wasn't there a British soldier who went by the name of Lt Healey, known for his arbitrary brutality. Apparently, his fellow Brits amd German mercenaries weren't entirely sure of his gender.😜
I don't believe people with mental disease were allowed to hold office or powerful positions. But nowadays anything is possible 😜
 
Its amazing that 246 years ago, some of the most Based Patriots lived in Concord and Lexington.. now in 2021. These towns make up some of the biggest f***ing pussies in our country. Its amazing how things have changed. Look at the f***ing morons in Newton protesting a legal law abiding Gun Store. How pathetic, none of those non-binary transgender politically correct freaks would ever serve our country and stand up for the American Flag
 
Your comment made no sense and was off topic
Actually, I thought it was on-point. Your picture showed British Regulars, defending the Crown, discharging their arms. Why would GRIII want to control that? If George was promoting stricter gun control, he'd have posted pix of the Colonials.

My jest was in reference to the image, not the sentiment. Kind of like a local .gov posting a picture of the PD at a riot with M4s, saying, "Nobody needs a gun, we're here to take care of you." [rolleyes]

Oh, and if my comment was off-base, why did you remove YOUR reply to me? [rofl]
 
Its amazing that 246 years ago, some of the most Based Patriots lived in Concord and Lexington.. now in 2021. These towns make up some of the biggest f***ing pussies in our country. Its amazing how things have changed. Look at the f***ing morons in Newton protesting a legal law abiding Gun Store. How pathetic, none of those non-binary transgender politically correct freaks would ever serve our country and stand up for the American Flag

I have pretty much lived in Bedford for the last 50 years except for a few odd years here and there. I have always been proud that Bedford sent a contingency of men that day. Now I hate to say but the general populace of Bedford is almost just as bad as Concord and Lexington.
 
Didn't the British throw ammo, equipment and food into the river? They just fished it out and saved everything after the British left.

Smith‘s orders are quoted in post #6. He was to have disabled the guns more or less permanently, destroyed the provisions as best he could, and dispersed the small arms ammo on the march back.

As it was, his men were too exhausted and vengeful to keep their heads, and once Barrett engaged them it was only Percy’s arrival that prevented hi from being routed. Chucking everything into the river was the best he could manage, and it guaranteed mission failure.

Of course, if you read post #6, he really didn’t fulfill any of his orders. If he’d followed them WRT the guns, they’d never have been functional again.
 
Smith‘s orders are quoted in post #6. He was to have disabled the guns more or less permanently, destroyed the provisions as best he could, and dispersed the small arms ammo on the march back.

As it was, his men were too exhausted and vengeful to keep their heads, and once Barrett engaged them it was only Percy’s arrival that prevented hi from being routed. Chucking everything into the river was the best he could manage, and it guaranteed mission failure.

Of course, if you read post #6, he really didn’t fulfill any of his orders. If he’d followed them WRT the guns, they’d never have been functional again.
Do you know if the cannons were ever used again against the British? They destroyed the trunions so they couldn't be mounted but it sounds like the cannons themselves were serviceable. I can't seem to find any source on it.
 
Do you know if the cannons were ever used again against the British? They destroyed the trunions so they couldn't be mounted but it sounds like the cannons themselves were serviceable. I can't seem to find any source on it.

No trunnions meant no firing in those days. It was permanent damage. My understanding is that Smith had no time or security to do that, and that he merely spiked them; that was a battlefield trick that took them out of action for tedious hours. If so, the colonials definitely put them back into action.
 
Correction: Smith apparently did knock the trunnions off three iron 24-pounders, which would have been big naval or fortress guns. Who knew? This happened during Lowry's famous engagement at the bridge, the shot heard 'round the world and all that.

No idea the total guns there. I'm curious now. I might have a book I can dig up tomorrow.
 
... my family on my paternal side were Loyalists..... [rofl]
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No trunnions meant no firing in those days. It was permanent damage. My understanding is that Smith had no time or security to do that, and that he merely spiked them; that was a battlefield trick that took them out of action for tedious hours. If so, the colonials definitely put them back into action.
Amazing you know so much detail about our local.history. I'm fascinated
 
Amazing you know so much detail about our local.history. I'm fascinated
Nah. It’s not local. Military history is a passion of mine, and anyone studying the Napoleonic Wars needs to learn about how cannon were disabled. Knocking off trunnions was usually the work of sailors or marines raiding batteries, while spiking guns was the kind of thing cavalrymen did when they only had a few minutes between the artillerymen running for cover and the enemy cavalry counterattacking.

Regardless, both were common techniques back then. I was a kid when I read the Hornblower stories; it’s all in there. CS Forester’s description about how to recover from a spiked gun was lucid enough for me to grasp even when I was thirteen.
 
I don’t understand what spiking a cannon is?? A wooden spike in the bore?? Or a steel spike through the fire hole?
 
Pounding a long spike or two into the touch hole

It was filed flush with the barrel so it could only be driven out from inside, which wasn't easy. If you were really unlucky, the touchhole would be too enlarged for the gun to fire, which meant a long touchhole repair involving an augur and a beveled hole.

Again, CS Forester describes it all. Lol. Here it is, from 1952, the same repair described:




At the eighth round something screamed through the air like a banshee two yards over Bush's head, a whirling irregular scream which died away abruptly behind his back.

"What the hell was that?" demanded Bush.

"The gun's unbushed, sir" said Berry.

"God----" Bush poured out a torrent of blasphemy, uncontrolled, almost hysterical. This was the climax of days and nights of strain and labour, the bitterest blow that could be imagined, with success almost within their grasp and now snatched away. He swore frightfully, and then came back to his senses; it would not be good for the men to know that their officer was as disappointed as Bush knew himself to be. His curses died away when he restrained himself, and he walked forward to look at the gun.

The damage was plain. The touchhole in the breech of a gun, especially a bronze gun, was always a weak point. At each round some small part of the explosion vented itself through the hole, the blast of hot gas and unconsumed powder grains eroding the edges of the hole, enlarging it until the loss of force became severe enough to impair the efficiency of the gun. Then the gun had to be "bushed"; a tapering plug, with a hole pierced through its length and a flange round its base, had to be forced into the touchhole from the inside the gun, small end first. The hole in the plug served as the new touchhole, and the explosions of the gun served to drive the plug more and more thoroughly home, until the plug itself began to erode and to weaken, forcing itself up through the touchhole while the flange burned away in the fierce heat of the explosions until at last it would blow itself clean out, as it had done now.

Bush looked at the huge hole in the breech, a full inch wide; if the gun were to be fired in that condition half the powder charge would blow out through it. The range would be halved at best, and every subsequent round would enlarge the hole further.

"D'ye have a new vent-fitting?" he demanded.

"Well, sir----" Berry began to go slowly through his pockets, rummaging through their manifold contents while gazing absently at the sky and while Bush fumed with impatience. "Yes, sir."

Berry produced, seemingly at the eleventh hour, the cast-iron plug that meant so much.

"Lucky for you" said Bush, grimly. "Get it fitted and don't waste any more time."

"Aye aye, sir. I'll have to file it to size, sir. Then I'll have to put it in place."

"Start work and stop talking."




There's a lot more in there. It's a good read.
 
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