The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-28
THE SMALLEST WEAPONS OF WAR.
Evolution of the Most Ancient OF
Firearms

Firearms.
From the Louisville Com journal.
The pistol, the smallest and most inter-
esting of firearms, is also the Oldest. From
the time of the battle of Rentz. between
the Germans and the French, in 1915,
swords and pistols have been the recog-
nized equipment of a horse soldier.
In England France and Germany the
service pistol is of a fixed and definite
form and caliber, but in the United
States no such uniformity prevails. The
government does not supply any of its
officers with side arms, so the American
follows his own preference in the Sc
lection of his pistols. These vary both
in caiber make and style, and there are
still in use on board some of our war
ships boarding pistols of a cumbrous
one-fire pattern which went out of date
twenty years ago.
But some sort of pistol always ap-
pears as a part of the army officer 8
equipment. One of the British CORE
spondents who accompanied the Gussie
expedition to Cabanas wrote home:
"Of the officers, some wore a sword,
some did not, though all carried re-
volvers." No orders had been issued on
the subject; it was left to individual
taste. There have been from time to
time efforts made to have the govern
ment secure uniformity in this matter
by the selection of some definite type
and caliber of revolver, but, so far. it
has never been done, and of late there has
been tendency to substitute sword and
Carbine for sword and pistol among our
horse soldiers. w
The exact date at which the pistol first
made its appearance as a weapon is not
certainly known The earliest hand-gun
of which there is a specimen extant il a
fire-loek. A combination pistol and iron
club made about 1910, is preserved in one
of the European museums. In firing IL
was held at arms length and operated by
a blazing stick applied to the touch-hole
Once discharged, it could be used only as
a club.
The modern revolver, as matter OF
fact, is the first pistol really useful in
battle for more than one discharge. At
Marston Moor Q64D the cavaliers dis
charged their pistols and flung them at
each others heads" AT the battle of
Wittenmergen, in 1888, the musketecrs
of the Duke of Weimer succeeded in
firing their pieces seven times in eight
hours. 1t sometimes took a minute or
two to fire off a wheel-loek after the
firing process had begun.
The evolution of the pistol can be traced
by the development of the lock- It's earliest
form, the fire-lock, was succeeded by the
match lock. There is in the tower Of Lon
don a Matchbox of 1850. The improve
ment in the Matchbox over the earlier
form consisted in The fact that the latter
carried ITS own self-burning slow match
fixed on the lock. These Matchbox pis-
tolls were also called serpentines from the
double curve Of the combined cock and
trigger, which were in one piece They
We're used by the German ritters at Rentz
They We're nearly three feet long and as
awkward as can be imagined, yet the skin
with which they were used against the
French on this occasion led 10 their per-
manent adoption as part Of the equipment
OF oavalrymen.
The wheel-lock, made chiefly In Italy, at
Pistoia. which Is said 10 have originated
the name pistol" succeeded the match
lock. It's mechanism consisted Of a cock.
so-calied from being generally modelled
after the head OF the barnyard rooster,
holding "a piece Of pyrites IN It's back
which. on touching the trigger, was sprung
back into contact with the wheel in The
lock. This wheel was wound up before
hand by a key. something like clock
key. ana when tho trigger sprung The
cock back. the spring Of the wheel was
simultaneously released ana the pyriles