There’s an account from the Battle of Sandusky 1782 of a rifleman pulling a breech pin.
The battle of Sandusky was retaliation for the Moravian Delaware Massacre. The Indians basically came out of the woodwork to meet Col Crawford (a tragic figure).
Crawford was a Continental officer sent west by Washington in 1782. Although he was not present at the Moravian Massacre at Gnadenhutten some of the militia under his command was.
Indians that were neutral and even some that had supported the American cause, rallied against the Crawford Expedition.
After the battle which was a British/American Indian victory, Crawford was judged and burned at the stake. There are claims that many Indians tried to help Crawford escape. Crawford being a man of honor refused and accepted his fate.
The account….
According to the rifleman’s story, the battle was on open ground broken by clumps or islands of trees and thick brush.
In the midst of battle, his rifle malfunctioned ( loaded wrong or contaminated powder)….
He retreated into one of these islands of trees and thick brush, unbreeched his rifle and removed the breech pin.
He cleared the barrel, replaced the breech pin and assembled his rifle.
Afterward, he returned to battle and retreated with other survivors south to cross the Ohio River.
Is it true?
I have my doubts. The battle was going poorly for the Americans.
Personally, I think the guy hid in the bushes and made his escape.
The gun repair story may have been a cover to save face.
Can you blame him?
It’s one of those stories that may be crazy enough to be true.
It does raise questions…..
Could breech plugs be pulled with basic shooting bag tools?
The threads on original guns are much courser than the fine, very tight threads of modern barrels.
Was removing a breech pin fairly common, as in not unknown, making the story believable?
Another factor, instead of a solitary rifleman, was this a group that took shelter in a defendable position while an “armorer” (someone mechanically competent) repaired a rifle?
The jest is, were breech pins easier to remove then?
