18th Century Officer's Fusils

[smart dog]

Hi Folks,
I am building a so called rifled British officer's fusil and posted the project in the gun building section.   As part of my research here and other places, I remembered this thread from some years ago.   
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=46406.msg456207#msg456207

It contains a lot of useful information and opinions about officer's fusils.  I am calling my project a rifled officer's fusil based on an example by John Twigg shown in Bailey's "British Military Flintlock Rifles".  It is a very fowler-like gun with rifled barrel, take-down stock, and short knife bladed bayonet stored in a butt trap.  The gun that I am building is not a fantasy given there is at least one known example.  However, calling it an officer's fusil may be a fantasy.  I have no real preference about calling it a military piece for an officer or an unusual sporting gun.  Bailey identifies it as an officer's fusil and that may be based on the opinion of the late Kit Ravenshear who apparently supplied the photo and description to Bailey.  I find the designation "officer fusil" to be vague and perhaps spurious in many cases. In this case the gun does not have sling swivels and I cannot imagine the 7" bayonet being taken seriously as a fighting tool along side the standard 17" bayonets and perhaps it was not meant to be serious because officers fighting with bayonets might have been strongly discouraged. My inclination is that it was a private purchase sporting gun owned by an officer serving in North America.

I am curious about what others think.

dave     

[Robert Wolfe]

That's a great thread. Lots of energy there!

[JV Puleo]

Probably 90% of the guns identified as "officer's fuzees" aren't. I'd say that goes especially for the gun the late Kit Ravershear had. As just one observation, I've been cataloging portraits of officers with fuzees for 30 years. They ALL predate 1785 and have slings as well as full-size bayonets. The little bayonets (often housed in the stock) were for sporting arms. There are several period references to bayonets fitted to fowlers or other sporting guns for the simple purpose of dispatching small game without having to shoot it.

Look for a Gainsborough portrait titled "An officer of the 4th foot" (it is on the internet)...that is a real fuzee.

[smart dog]

Hi Joe,
Thank you.  I know that portrait.  It actually may be a post-mortem portrait.  In addition, Joe, the take down feature of the stock would be inherently weak.  I think I am inclined to consider the gun as a sporting piece owned by an officer serving in NA. 

dave

[JV Puleo]

I don't have it at hand right now but shortly before he died Herb Houze sent me some information from an auction catalog of the early 18th century that made reference to "fowler's with bayonets." I think it might be in a fairly recent Man at Arms article.

Fuzee's were banned for use by British officers about 1784 (I don't have the exact date at hand. I only just learned this from someone who is researching carbine bore British arms.). They are virtually all about .65 caliber while the later, Volunteer muskets which can be of the same quality are all musket bore. I suspect that some fuzees may have been used by older officers in the Volunteer units raised between 1794 and 1804 but that is just a guess. I have a real one by David Blair which may be as early as 1780 although, based purely on appearance, it looks a bit later. The problem is that we really don't know precisely when newer styles came in...it's all a guess unless we have something firm like the death of a particular maker.

[backsplash75]

New York 1748

I don't have it at hand right now but shortly before he died Herb Houze sent me some information from an auction catalog of the early 18th century that made reference to "fowler's with bayonets." I think it might be in a fairly recent Man at Arms article.

Fuzee's were banned for use by British officers about 1784 (I don't have the exact date at hand. I only just learned this from someone who is researching carbine bore British arms.). They are virtually all about .65 caliber while the later, Volunteer muskets which can be of the same quality are all musket bore. I suspect that some fuzees may have been used by older officers in the Volunteer units raised between 1794 and 1804 but that is just a guess. I have a real one by David Blair which may be as early as 1780 although, based purely on appearance, it looks a bit later. The problem is that we really don't know precisely when newer styles came in...it's all a guess unless we have something firm like the death of a particular maker.

Fusils and carbines can be fuzzy things in the 18th century vernacular usage.

[Bob McBride]

That little ad is a treasure trove of information.....

[Steve Collward]

Dave,
  Interesting thread and information that thus far has been provided.
  Those that have a copy of Jim Mullins' book "Of Sorts For Provincials..." pages 57-60 illustrate a Barbar marked gun, and pages 89-94 show an E. North marked piece, both referred to as an "Officer's Fusil".
   I gather these are accurate examples of an officer's fusil?
Thanks,
Steve

[smart dog]

Hi Steve and thank you for the note.  I have that book and know the guns.  I agree they may be officer's fusils but I cannot be sure.  DeWitt Bailey, one of the most respected scholars concerning British military flintlock arms, calls the gun I am making an officer's fusil.  I am inclined to accept Joe Puleo's identifying characteristics, of which the guns in Mullin's book are consistent. I think there may always be some confusion between personal guns brought by officers on campaign and those they may actually have carried in battle.

dave   

[JV Puleo]

That is an interesting observation. I've always felt the real fuzee may have been, in some cases at least, a "dual-purpose" gun. That would be consistent with the smaller bore size which would have been appropriate for carbine-size balls and consistent with the usual bore size we see in contemporary fowlers. I do think the miniature bayonets we sometimes see were for sporting guns...if only because of the ribald jokes that would have been made if an officer appeared on parade with one. The fuzee was essentially a reaction to campaigning in North America...not just against the Continental Army but the entire problem of operating in what was to British minds at least a wilderness. It isn't coincidental that, with the North American campaign over, it rapidly fell out of use.

The terms itself is nebulous. As often as not "fuzee" (which is the 18th-century British spelling and tells us how it was pronounced) is really just a light flintlock musket. It was commonly used for all light muskets. Defoe uses it consistently in his novels written in the early 18th century. It was also used to differentiate between a flintlock and a matchlock at the beginning of the century when "fuzilers" were troops utilized to project artillery and the dangers of having burning matches around loose gunpowder were obvious.

[smart dog]

Hi Joe,
I agree.  With respect to personal guns, unless an officer was a wealthy land owner in Britain or well connected, he likely would never have the opportunity to hunt big game and maybe limited chances to hunt upland game or waterfowl.  However, while serving in America and perhaps, India, those opportunities would have existed.  Because we focus so much on battles and campaigns, we forget that there was a lot of down time while on garrison duty, between campaigns, and during winter and Spring.  Officers probably took advantage of an abundance and diversity of hunting opportunities in NA and India.  They might use their service arms but I suspect quite a few brought over personal hunting guns particularly if they had been hunters in Britain.   

dave

[backsplash75]

Probably 90% of the guns identified as "officer's fuzees" aren't. I'd say that goes especially for the gun the late Kit Ravershear had. As just one observation, I've been cataloging portraits of officers with fuzees for 30 years. They ALL predate 1785 and have slings as well as full-size bayonets. The little bayonets (often housed in the stock) were for sporting arms. There are several period references to bayonets fitted to fowlers or other sporting guns for the simple purpose of dispatching small game without having to shoot it.

Look for a Gainsborough portrait titled "An officer of the 4th foot" (it is on the internet)...that is a real fuzee.

Great discussion. Sometimes things get a little murkier than we'd like them to be. A "carbine with bayonet" is basically a fusil, as is a "light musket". There are some grey areas.



Major George Scott, 40th Foot LI. ca 1758 with what appears to be an atypical officer's fusil (note the bayonet is a sporting style and the gun is stocked to the muzzle) as well as a great tin tube cartridge box.

One thing missing from this discussion is that with British army officer's fusils is that, at times (not always) there was a regimental pattern fusil that officers were to stick with, sometimes even marked to the unit.

[Transcription by Paul Pace shared elsewhere]


Mr. [James Barbar] Barber Gun Smith Dover Street
I do hereby promise to Provide for the Officers of the three Additional Companys of Lord John Murray’s Regt.[42nd]  twelve Fuzeis [sic] by this day 3 Weeks Witness my hand – Signed Jas. Barber
July the 18th. 1757…