Trade Musket
Steel
This warrior carries a “trade musket” topped by an enemy’s scalp. These weapons, manufactured specifically for exchange with Native Americans, had smaller bores than most European muskets, so they required less lead and powder per shot. They also had shorter barrels made with thinner walls. This made them lighter to carry, handy for use in the woods, and less expensive, but also somewhat prone to burst and significantly less effective at long ranges.
Formed in early 1777, the 5th Regiment of New York recruited predominantly from the Hudson Highlands area near West Point. The regiment’s first major duty was to garrison Forts Montgomery and Clinton, located fifty miles north of New York City.
In October 1777, British forces under Sir Henry Clinton assaulted the forts on their way north to relieve the pressure on Sir John Burgoyne’s embattled army near Saratoga. The outnumbered 5th held off the British and Hessian troops for a number of hours before retreating north under the cover of darkness.
Metal Thickness
The weight of armor increases in linear proportion with its thickness, but the effective protection it offers rises geometrically (about t1.6). To balance the needs of protection with those of mobility, armorers used thinner metal in areas where injuries were less likely to be lethal (such as the greaves protecting the legs or the vambraces protecting the arms), and also in areas where full-force blows were less likely to land. For example, backplates and the sides of breastplates were thinner than the centers of breastplates or the tops of helmets. Thanks to its sophisticated design, this entire suit (including the mail) weighs only 18.6 well-distributed kilograms.
Charleville Musket
Cross Belts
Initially the colonial rebels had to get by with their own personal weapons, firearms purchased for militia use, and supplies captured from the British.
By 1777, the French government increasingly supplied the Americans with war material. This soldier carries a French Charleville musket. Due to its smaller bore (.69 vs. .75 caliber), it threw a ball around 18 percent lighter than its British equivalent, but it could be cleaned and cared for more easily. Like any smoothbore flintlock, it had an effective range of about seventy-five yards and a rate of fire of around three rounds per minute.
A shortage of leather throughout the colonies required the Americans to devise a number of methods to carry their ammunition. This 5th New Yorker has managed to acquire a fairly standard arrangement holding his cartridge box and bayonet, but others had to get by with nothing more than a wooden block affixed to a waist belt.
The British mercantile system discouraged manufacturing in the colonies and the rebels scrambled to rectify their production deficiencies and to import goods from France.
Brigandine
Coat
In the early fifteenth century, most plate armor was still made with relatively low-carbon, air-cooled steel. The very best Milanese armor, however, was quenched high-carbon steel with a much greater Vickers hardness, which required roughly twice as much kinetic energy to penetrate as cheap steel. By the late fifteenth century the increasing availability of high-quality plate armor greatly reduced the effectiveness of English longbowmen—or any other soldiers employing muscle-powered weapons—and encouraged the shift towards gunpowder weapons, which could generate the kinetic energy needed to defeat even the best armor.
5th New York Regiment
Though the United States Army has been known for traditionally wearing blue uniforms, its coats were originally brown. The commander in chief of the Continental Army, however, preferred blue uniforms, which he believed gave the soldiers a more professional appearance. An order of 1779 made blue coats the standard for his forces.
The red velvet covers a torso defense composed of several large plates riveted together. In later plate armor, the breastplate was usually a single piece of bare, polished metal, which presented a better glancing surface to an enemy’s weapons.
Initially the colonial rebels had to get by with their own personal weapons, firearms purchased for militia use, and supplies captured from the British.
By 1777, the French government increasingly supplied the Americans with war material. This soldier carries a French Charleville musket. Due to its smaller bore (.69 vs. .75 caliber), it threw a ball around 18 percent lighter than its British equivalent, but it could be cleaned and cared for more easily. Like any smoothbore flintlock, it had an effective range of about seventy-five yards and a rate of fire of around three rounds per minute.