Light Dragoon Pistol
date: label: date made
content: ca 1779
name: label: associated institution
content: Committee of Safety
label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description:
label: Description
content: This .67 caliber smoothbore flintlock pistol was made for the Light Dragoons. It has brass furniture, a pin fastened stock, a single ramrod pipe, a wooden ramrod with a swelled tip, and a raised beaver tail carving on the stock around the tang.
label: Description
content: The lock plate is stamped “US” under the flashpan. “U.STATES is stamped into the stock by the trigger guard. “LD” and “US” are stamped on the barrel
label: Description
content: History:
label: Description
content: After the French and Indian War, the British Army recognized the necessity for a pattern pistol to be created for Light Dragoon Regiments. A version was made that became popular in England. This Light Dragoon is copied from a British Dragoon pistol and similar to the Rappa Forge pistols made by James Hunter in Virginia.
label: Description
content: It was made for use during the Revolutionary War. The initials “LD” stand for Light Dragoon. Both the 1st Continental Light Dragoons led by Commander Bland and the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons led by Colonel Talmadge carried these types of pistols. After the Revolution, these pistols remained popular until the New Land Pattern Pistol became popular in the early 1800s.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Flayderman, Norm. Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms…and their Values, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2007. 9th edition.
label: Description
content: Military Heritage Site. “British Light Dragoon (Cavalry) Pistol: American Revolution – Napoleonic Wars,” Arms Collection < www.militaryheritage.com/pistol7.htm>.
label: Description
content: Smith, Samuel E. and Edwin W. Bitter. Historic Pistols: The American Martial Flintlock 1760-1845, Scalamandre Publications, New York: 1986, p. 40.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: The Bitter Collection of Firearms
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Adriana and Edwin W. Bitter Family Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0149.01
label: accession number
content: 1989.0149
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0149.01
label: collector/donor number
content: P73L
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pistol
label: Object Name
content: pistol, flintlock
label: Other Terms
content: pistol; Firearms; Flintlock; .67 In; Smooth Bore; Muzzle Load; Sa
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 7/8 in; 37.7825 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 7/8 in x 6 in x 2 1/4 in; 37.7825 cm x 15.24 cm x 5.715 cm