The National tribune., 1907-07-04

Win large pieces or cork TWO 1eet apart
4, 4. Boxes On top of casks with fuses.
with capped tubes. 6. 6. Brass tops on
the torpedoes. T. I. Copper tubes run
ming thru the casks. S. Wooden plat
form in cenFer of cask, on which the
fuse was coifed and secured. 9. Fuse.
This Internal machine was to be set
the vessel to be destroyed. after the
fuse or slow match was lighted
The Congucror of the Rebellion.
Undoubtedly at the beginning of the
war the United States infantryman was
the best armed, tsoldier in the world.
While the United States has never had
but small Regular Army, no effort has
been spared ito make its soldiers OF the
best manly material available. The
United States led all the world in the
perfection of its muskets In other
countries muskets. like other guns, We're
made in individual factories, and each
weapon was an individual piece of work,
differing according to the ideas and
methods of the gunmaker from every
other gun. The United States was the
first to ''standardiZe" the manufacture
of muskets. The invention of the &c
centric lathe enabled gun stocks to be
turned out very rapidly and cheaply by
machinery. and they We're all of exactly
the same size and pattern. This initia-
tive was followed up in the manufac-
ture of other parts of the gun, the lock
and its accessories being stamped out
and finished by machinery. Thus when
a gun was disabled it could be imme-
diately repaired by taking another piece.
whereas in the European guns each
piece had to be made especially for II.
No efforts were spared to make the
barrel and every part of the American
gun of the highest possible type ana
material. The remarkable success of
the Western rilemen in their victory
over the British veterans at New Or
leans Jan. s, 1915. and our long sue
cession of Indian wars had turned the
attention of the War Department.
strongly to the value of the rifle in war,
and while other countries We're still re-
lying upon the old SmOothbore, firing an
ounce bullet and a number of buckshot,
the United States Army was largely sup
piled with rifles.
Improving the Rife.
There was a great deal of trouble in
adapting the rifle principle to military
purposes. The rifle with which the
Kentucky and Tennessee militiamen had
scored such q success at New Orleans
was a complicated and delicate weapon,
which had been developed in deer hunt
ing and Indian warfare. The barrels
We're long and heavy and the powder
rather inferior. Round bullets were
used, which were carefully fitted into
the muZzle under a thin patch of greas-
ed rabbit skin or some other del1cate
even hide, and forced down by ram
rod made of wood to avoid injuring the
delicate rifling of the barrel. Usually
the rifieman in action had one bullet
in his gun and two in his mouth. After
the militiamen at New Orleans had fired
three terrible volleys there was luli,
which excited the curiosity of the Brit
ish officers, until one who knew theI
Americans explained that the riiiemeN
were stopping to clean their guns.
Various devices were tried in this
country and Europe to secure the ad-
vantage of the accurate firing of the
rife without its attending complications.
False muzzles were put upon the guns
to shape the bullets to the rifles and
pins were pnt "a the bottom chamber
spread it QUITO fft,the rifles. This ham
mering. however. injured the rifling and
was abandoBed. :, Finally the problem
was solved by Capt Mimic. of the French
army who invented conical bullet
with cavity at its base. This was
rammed down upon the powder by. az
iron ramrod,, butfhe force required was
not such as 10 in5nre the rihing When
the gun was fired. the powder expanded
the edges Of, the cavity until they fitted
into the rifling and gave the bullet the
necessary twirl that insured its accu-
racy The principle was Immediately
adopted in tie United States. and the
Springfield ,rnusket which was developed
was the finest military weapon in the
world, and to it in the hands of: men
who were naturally I.iemen and sharp
shooters belongs the credit of putting
down the rebellion. While the sanguinc
advocates of other arms fiji the world
with praises Of what the cavalry and