Blacksmith
12-07-2012, 01:49 AM
Here is an excerpt, which deals with boolit casting in the revolution, from one volume in the series "Chronicles of America".
"WASHINGTON AND HIS COMRADES IN ARMS,
A CHRONICLE OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE"
Volume 12 in the Chronicles of America Series. Abraham Lincoln Edition.
By George M. Wrong. The following is from Chapter VII pages 157-158.
"Powder and lead were hard to get. The inventive spirit of America was
busy with plans to procure saltpeter and other ingredients for making
powder, but it remained scarce. Since there was no standard firearm,
each soldier required bullets specially suited to his weapon. The men
melted lead and cast it in their own bullet-molds. It is an instance of
the minor ironies of war that the great equestrian statue of George III,
which had been erected in New York in days more peaceful, was melted
into bullets for killing that monarch's soldiers. Another necessity was
paper for cartridges and wads. The cartridge of that day was a paper
envelope containing the charge of ball and powder. This served also as
a wad, after being emptied of its contents, and was pushed home with a
ramrod. A store of German Bibles in Pennsylvania fell into the hands of
the soldiers at a moment when paper was a crying need, and the pages of
these Bibles were used for wads."
Here is the link to Volume 12:
http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/5103020
Chronicles of America is the title of a fifty volume series on American history. Originally printed in 1918, the volumes were written by historians of the time about various aspects of American History. The series was edited by Allen Johnson. Since the copyright has expired, all of the volumes are freely available in electronic form. With fifty volumes there is a lot of good reading available.
Here is a link to the complete collection listed by author:
http://www.digitalbookindex.org/_search/search010hstuschroniclesofamera.asp
"WASHINGTON AND HIS COMRADES IN ARMS,
A CHRONICLE OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE"
Volume 12 in the Chronicles of America Series. Abraham Lincoln Edition.
By George M. Wrong. The following is from Chapter VII pages 157-158.
"Powder and lead were hard to get. The inventive spirit of America was
busy with plans to procure saltpeter and other ingredients for making
powder, but it remained scarce. Since there was no standard firearm,
each soldier required bullets specially suited to his weapon. The men
melted lead and cast it in their own bullet-molds. It is an instance of
the minor ironies of war that the great equestrian statue of George III,
which had been erected in New York in days more peaceful, was melted
into bullets for killing that monarch's soldiers. Another necessity was
paper for cartridges and wads. The cartridge of that day was a paper
envelope containing the charge of ball and powder. This served also as
a wad, after being emptied of its contents, and was pushed home with a
ramrod. A store of German Bibles in Pennsylvania fell into the hands of
the soldiers at a moment when paper was a crying need, and the pages of
these Bibles were used for wads."
Here is the link to Volume 12:
http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/5103020
Chronicles of America is the title of a fifty volume series on American history. Originally printed in 1918, the volumes were written by historians of the time about various aspects of American History. The series was edited by Allen Johnson. Since the copyright has expired, all of the volumes are freely available in electronic form. With fifty volumes there is a lot of good reading available.
Here is a link to the complete collection listed by author:
http://www.digitalbookindex.org/_search/search010hstuschroniclesofamera.asp