Military Use of Rifles in the Revolutionary War

[Bob Smalser]

... but have yall talked about the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment aka Rawlings Regiment?  Longest serving Rifle regiment of the war.  Decimated at Ft Washington, but reconstitued and sent west to garrison Ft Pitt and the western posts.

Was this one of the 1775 or 1776 regiments?

Pennsylvania raised nine companies of true frontier riflemen in 1775; Maryland two, and Virginia two, with strengths ranging from 60 to 90 men each.  These included Thompson's Regiment from Pennsylvania and Morgan's Riflemen from Virginia.  Then in early 1776, Pennsylvania raised an additional 12 companies of 72 or more riflemen each under Colonel Samuel Miles, and Virginia and Maryland six more under Colonel Hugh Stevenson.

[Luke MacGillie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_and_Virginia_Rifle_Regiment

This is Stevenson's unit, renamed Rawling's Regiment, but sometimes still called Stevenson's as that is how the members of the unit involved around Ft Laurens are recorded.  Confusing as all get out.....

[Bob Smalser]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_and_Virginia_Rifle_Regiment

This is Stevenson's unit, renamed Rawling's Regiment, but sometimes still called Stevenson's as that is how the members of the unit involved around Ft Laurens are recorded.  Confusing as all get out.....

Got it.

William Nester's 2004 book,  The Frontier War for American Independence, covers the western department under Brodhead and Hand quite well.

http://www.amazon.com/Frontier-Amer-Independ-William-Nester/dp/0811700771

[wvcruffler]

Digging up an old topic I found doing research.

A friends father is a historian and was telling me a of one of their relatives who was part of Morgan’s Riflemen (Francis Triplett). I think he’d get a kick out of it if I build a period correct rifle like they would have used. I don’t have a lot of background on revolutionary war weaponry and I’ll a can find is they were rifled “Virginia long rifles”.

Would Kibler’s Colonial Kit bet a good place to start?
What caliber would likely have been used in Cowpens (as an example where Francis Triplett was part of the engagement)
Can someone point me north to where there might be images of rifles from that era? Just looking for inspiration for the project. We talked a long time one day about this and he’s 87 now but still hunts every fall.

Thanks for any help.
Phil

[smart dog]

Hi,
A Kibler colonial or woodsrunner would likely fit the bill.  Chambers Mark Silver Virginia rifle would also work.  Any Dickert, Oerter, Albrecht, or early Reading gun would be fine.  Get a copy of Shumway's Rifles in Colonial America Vol 1 and 2 to see many rifles that could overlap the Rev War.  If Triplett was at Cowpens, it was not as part of Morgan's rifle corps.  They were already disbanded.  Maybe he was in the Virginia militia at the time. 

dave

[wvcruffler]

Dave
TY for the info! I may have misunderstood the order (and I haven’t read Judge Tripletts book if I must be honest). I’ll read up. Thank you for the answer! I’ll check out the kits and go from there.

Phil