Louisiana capitolian., 1879-07-05
TIE BEolI1lse d cum.

Isrtns 90 : YsAs.
n
TIE BEoII1I1e d Guns,
II 1919 crossbovs wese u prstty
general use anong 10 Eueliah, Ut !
new era in VA wasto b inaueuratsd,
for with tho army 4 Edward III, (at
Cressy) came i've snall pioces ofean.
mon, : species Of weapon supposed to
be unknown In France, though cannon
are spoken Of In : co sngagemsnt IN
the thirteenth century bstwsen the
King of Tunis and s Mooriuh King of
Seville: whom the Ave pieeas q
cannon were niade is uncertain; ut
LeBlond, in BIZ sT'reatiae on Artil-
lery, says that the earliest guns '.wsrs5
Of very clumsy and inconvenient
make, being ua,ially formed Of several
pieces Of iron fitted together length
wise, and then hoped With ion rings;
and as they were used for the throwing
Of stones Of prodigiousI weight. they
were of enormous bore.r The "Dic-
tionaire Militaire.r (l75a) asserts
that cannon 'swere known In France =
according to some authors in 1893,
under Phillip, but known Of only.
Nevertheless, says Voltaire, It'll tho
reign Of Charles VIII artillery contin-
ued in its infancy, They did not
make use Of artillery IN sieges TIL the
reign Of Charles VI King Of France
and the spear was their principal
weapon till tho reign of Henry w"
No more mention ID made Of cannon
in the Engliah wars until 1905, when
we are told that 1t the siege Of Berwick
. shot from ono great gun 60 shattered
. tower that the gates were at once
thrown open BY the alarmed garrison.
In the year l46O, James II, Of Scot
land, lost bis life by the bursting Of
one Of these rude implements Of war.
At the siege Of Roxburgh, standing in
the vicinity Of . gun which was sbout
to be discharged, the rude mass com
posed ofribs Of iron, bound together
by hoops Of the same metal, burst
asunder, and fragment striking the
King on the thigh, broke it and killed
him on the spot. Hand guns were not
then invented, but at the battle Of
Chipping Barnet (l477) mention is
made ofthree hundred Flemings arm
ed with hand guns, but of their con-
history does not tell.
At the battle Of Flodden, (l5l3,)
James ofScotland had with him thirty
pieces ofartillery which had been cast
for him ut Edinburgh, by the master
gunner Of the Castle, Robert Borth-
wick. Seven Of these guns were Of
great beauty, and were known as the
Seven Sisters Of Borthwick." The
cannon Of the English were Of inferior
make to those used by the Scots, being
Of hoops and bars.
The first cast iron guns Of English
were made at Buxted,
n Sussex, in l543, by Ralph Hogge,
master founder. About this time
here also came into use guns called
lrquebusses, which were fred from q
est planted into the earth.
The French were now making rapid
tribes in the manufacture of brass
,uns, for in 1545, when FrancisI was
to invade England, we find
i'm, according to Pere Daniel) pos
essing in his feet one ship carrying
90 brass guns. At the battle Of
'inkie, l543, pistols were in use
mong the Germans, and others in
he English Army. The cannon were
ow provided with iron balls instead
fthe ponderous stone ones in use
revious to this date. Here also we
nd mention Of the wheel lock pistol.
Carbines, petronels and dragons
re frequently mentioned among the
rearms Of the age. The first was 80
amed from having been used in the
essels called carabs; the second from
eing fired with its square butt planted
n the chest the third from its muzzle
eing frequently decorated with q
ragon's head-hence the troopers
no used it came subsequently to be
AIMED dragons. The wheel lock
ackbut was used in Elizabetb's reign,
18th the rest Of the heavy matchbox,
ut the powder was now made up in
'ses, each containing a complete
large, to facilitate the loading of the
lece, and the strap to which they
ere attached was named collar or
andolier.
The Widow Ashlock, aged forty
ght, lived on her own extensive
rm at Elizabethtown, KY, and one
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