Wow, thanks for the warm, informative welcome everyone! The easiest question to answer is that I am located in central IL, just a few miles from Peoria.
As to the era/focus of my interest, I have basically two: First, I'm interested in the longarm my ancestor would have carried in the Revolution. Second, as a gun-guy (I'm kind-of backing into flint-locks, as I've been a cartridge gun shooter all my life, mostly handguns, although I really like rifles and shotguns too), I'm kind of liking those Pennsylvania long-rifles... I could see this turning into a more-than-one thing already...
My family came to the new world in 1643, through Massachusetts, but settling in central Connecticut. The fourth generation later, my revolutionary war ancestor, moved to Granville, Massachusetts around 1760 and married a descendent of one of the Mayflower pilgrims.
He joined the 3rd Hampshire County Regiment (Col. John Moseley) of Massachusetts Militia and served in the 9th Company (Capt. William Cooley), which was raised in Granville. He was not a minuteman, as far as I can tell. (Each regiment had to raise one company of Minutemen, who were usually young, single and available to respond to a call at a moment's notice. - The rest of the Regt. would be all the other "able bodied men" of the proper age, and I think this is the proper position my ancestor falls into.)
He did not serve with the Continental Army (regulars), but his Militia Regt. was called out three times, and his service included:
October, 1776: Battle of White Plains (New York). (This militia unit was called out to reinforce the Northern Army and subsequent to the battle, they returned to Massachusetts and mustered out with: "73 men with 73 guns, 2 bayonets, 4 swords, 680 flints, and 5 1/2 lbs of powder. The strength and flower of the town were under enlistment.")
From December 1776 through March 1777: Ft. Ticonderoga (One half the Regt. was sent under the command of the Lt. Col. to help garrison Ft. Ticonderoga through the Winter. My ancestor was made a Sergeant during this period of service.)
From August 17 to August 21, 1777: Battle of Bennington (Vermont). (The regiment was called up and began marching towards Bennington, but apparently arrived after the victory, or were notified of the victory and their services were no longer needed, as they returned soon thereafter. I'm guessing the harvest soon approaching also made this period of call-up necessarily short.)
From July - Sept., 1779: My ancestor had joined a different unit, back in Connecticut, and they were called out for coastal protection service against raids being conducted by loyalist ship captain ferrying British troops in raids along the CT coastline.
From what research I've done so far, it seems colonists up to the early 1700s had just as much of a chance of having matchlocks with smooth bores as they did smoothbore flintlocks. Also, these were very British or German guns with shorter barrels than the long-rifles. I've also read that flintlock rifles with bores of 45 to 50-cal. were the "typical" long-arms of the militia. I'm presuming these are not the long-rifles of Pennsylvania-style, as there is also mention of the "western" (Appalachian) frontiersmen being utilized with their long-rifles along the flanks of the main army (which would include both continentals - regulars - and militia units). I also noted that, later in the war, the French rifles were desirable by the men in the army, because they were lighter than the Brown Bess muskets which they had been using from captured stores...
So, from what little I've read, it seems my ancestor would most-likely be carrying a British-pattern musket or rifle of about 45-50 caliber, but with a shorter barrel than the Pennsylvania Long-Rifle. Does this sound logical?
Unfortunately, no family information is available and nothing was handed down through my line of descendants, so I have nothing evidentiary to go off of...
Now, the good news is that over the winter of 1792/3 the family moved to the Wyoming Valley of NE Pennsylvania and stayed there until about 1850. They were in the Huntington, Shickshinney, Luzerne County area, just west and northwest of Wilkes-Barra. That puts them right dead-center of Pennsylvania long-rifle territory and timing. I've already ran across a couple schools which the family's territory would be right in-between geographically. Again, no rifles handed down through my branch of the family, but I would think it would be logical that if they used Pennsylvania long-rifles, it would have been from the schools closest to them, wouldn't it?
