Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1864-06-24

cd and fed, leaving their dead upon the ground.
In this action, by the aid Of this new repeating
fire arm. nearly every Union soldier brought
iown his man Such deadly firing makes en-
Sagements short and sharp, and is terribly des-
;ructive of human life. Look at the results Of
The battle OF Oluslee, in which our little army
oi five thousand men lost one-ffth of their
lumber in three hours fight.
The old regulation musket, with which our
soldiers were formerly armed was n very unre-
table weapon. Sir Emerson Tenant tells us
that mot long ago ,reH trained iparksman,
provided with an old regulation musket, was
placed to fire at target eighteen feet square,
al distance OF three hundred yards, and found
that he could not put even into that spacious
area one 6ultet ont of tlceHty. Al two hundred
yards, his success was moi greater, and vet the
hre-arm thus tested was the regular weapon of
the British soldier so late as the year 1862.
II is the rife that has brought about the
great change in the range and precision Of fire.
arms. The rfed bore and elongated project.
lie have not only given greater accuracy but
triple power of penetration. The Enfield rifle
was thought to be a very superior weapon, but
now it is acknowledged to be inferior to the
Yhitworh rife. The effective range of the
latter weapon is given at 1000 yards, or about
one and one-sevenih miles, distance more
than equal to the ordinary capacity of the eye
to distinguish objects no larger than the body
of mar.
Troops armed with such weapons must Of
course go into action with greater confidence
than they could have felt with the old regua-
tion musket. The importance of the men hav-
ing this confidence in their weapons is seen in
the battle ofOlustee, in which portion of the
7lh New Hampshire gave way because they
had been made 10 exchange their favorte rifles
for old and useless guns
Formerly, when troops were armed with the
old smooth bores, it was not the custom in war
fare to take careful aim in firing. With the i'm
provement in the precision of firearms each
soldier becomes sharpshooter and picks off
his men at a range equal TO that of ordinary
artillery. This has made it necessary to apply
the same system of rifiing to field ordnance
The old idea that he who wishes to live long
must enlist in the artillery is no longer true
tor the sharpshooters make it their business TO
pick off the artillery men at great range. At
the battle of Oustee, Hamihon's battery in
twenty minutes lost forty-four men killed and
wounded and forty horses, and was consequent
| " obliged to retire with the loss of two guns,
| The new riAed artillery is as superior TO the
old service guns as the Whitworlh rifle is to
told Brown Bess." The Armstrong gun can
hit target two feet and six inches in diane
ter, while the old cannon cannot be relied upon
TO hit haystack. The accuracy of the Arms
trong at 5000 yards is as seven to one compared
with that of the common gun at 1000 yards, and
at equal distances it is ffty-seren times accur-
ate as our ordinary artillery. The Armstrong
gun has range of nearly five and quarter
miles, while the Whtworth 12-pounder
has sent ball 10000 yards, very little short
of sir miles Our own Parrot guns are believ
ed to be quite equal to the best English make.
Indeed the Committee on the Conduct OF the
War have thoroughly satisfied themselves by
the testimony of competent witnesses, that the
United States is using the best ordnance in the
world, manufactured at the least cost.