Artillery

This page is on the artillery of the American Revolution.

Muskets- Muskets were generally innaccurate. After 100 feet it was unlikely that you would get hit with a musket ball unless you were really unlucky. To make up for the inaccuracy armies would often fire //volleys// which meant that a line of troops would fire their muskets all at the same time. Rifles- Rifles were much more accurate than muskets. They were like snipers. But they took around 15 seconds longer than muskets to load, which is a long time on the battlefield. Most of the army would have a musket to keep most of the army alive because at close range the rifle is usless. Bayonets- Bayonets were one of the most useful pieces of artillery when fighting in close combat. The original bayonets were plug bayonets which were pluged into the musket. Then the socket bayonet was invented. They went below the musket so you could fire the gun and use the bayonet at the same time. In charges there was almost no gunfire. If you fired your gun it was likely that you would kill your own comrade. So only bayonets were used in charges. Cannons- If you didn't have one and your enemy did you would probably lose your battle. In the beginning of the Revolution the Americans often lost because they didn't have cannons and the British did. Cannons could fire multiple kinds of shots. Grape shots were a bunch of shots in one fire. Shells were just empty shells with gunpowder inside. If getting hit by the cannonball didn't kill you then the explosion would. If you got hit with a ball and hit by the explosion and lived you would be really, really, really, really lucky.