The important thing to remember about the Ferguson Rifle is that it was not invented by Patrick Ferguson. The breechloading rifle that historians, novelists, gun enthusiasts, and countless internet articles state was born of the creative mind of Major Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 1780), had been around since the early stages of firearms. Breechloading matchlocks and harquebus were present as early as the 1550’s and there are examples of breechloading wheellock pistols that were in use in the 1540’s. Breechloading cannon were common from the 1300’s. What became known as the breechloading design of the Ferguson Rifle was invented in Germany in the late 1600’s, fifty years before Ferguson was born.
The question is raised as to why a British soldier in the 1770’s, who happened to have been a marksman (unique for the time) was given credit for inventing the breechloading rifle? The answer is simple; marketing – both product and oneself. Ferguson is often cited for modifying a slight change in thread design to decrease fowling of the original breechloading rifles, but he had help having commissioned the screw thread design from a Swiss gunmaker who also helped add a bayonet (not used on rifles). Ferguson’s main contribution was his natural showmanship in presenting the rifle’s benefits. As such, the more he popularized the rifle through high level demonstrations, the more he was credited for its invention; until his name and face became synonymous with the rifle itself.
Ferguson’s Early Military Career
Patrick Ferguson was a Scottish officer in the British army born into a family of political and military influence; his father titled James Ferguson, Lord Pitfour. He schooled at a military academy in London and entered the British service at age fifteen. He joined the Royal North British Dragoons, later the famed Scots Greys, and served in Germany during the Seven Years’ War; returning home in 1762 due to what was believed tuberculosis of the knee. He remained at home until 1768 when he purchased a captaincy of a company in the 70th Regiment of foot, commanded by his cousin Alexander Johnstone. He served with his unit in Tobago, West Indes, where his younger brother George was governor. He saw action during a formidable slave insurrection and while there, purchased a Tobago slave plantation which was managed by his brother.
He returned to England in 1772 and captained his regiment’s light infantry. Light infantry companies were developed in America to meet the needs of wilderness fighting and in 1771, was adopted wholescale by the army. General William Howe had served in America and it was at Howe’s light infantry training camp that the two first met. During this time Ferguson applied himself to developing marksmanship skills with the rifle. Of interest to the young officer was the well-established breechloading rifle; particularly the Chaumette rifle, designed in 1704 and patented in England in 1721 by Isaac de la Chaumette.
Chaumette Breechloading Rifle
Isaac de la Chaumette (1658-1748) was a Huguenot inventor and gunmaker in Paris. He experimented with various German breechloading rifles and developed his own design. A protestant refugee, he emigrated to England and in 1721, patented his design. Along with fellow French gunmaker Georges Bidet, the two continued to make Chaumette rifles. Prior to Chaumette, a plug was unscrewed from the rear of the barrel and the ball loaded through the hole. However, this proved a problem during firing. What was a soldier to do with the unscrewed plug while one hand held the gun and the other loaded the ball and powder? Would the soldier pocket it, or lay it down where it could easily be misplaced? – especially difficult when keeping an eye on the enemy.
Chaumette’s answer did not require removing the screw to load. Instead, he passed the screwed plug from the top of the weapon, through the breech, where it was attached to the trigger guard that remained stationary. A twist of the guard pulled the plug back just enough to reveal the hole into which the ball and powder was dropped. The trigger guard was then turned back to its original position. The pan was primed and the gun fired. No longer would a soldier have to fumble with trying to engage the plug’s screw threads while under fire. And as in all breechloading weapons, valuable time was saved by not having to jam down the rifle butt and draw a rod to ram ball, powder ,or cartridge down the barrel’s muzzle. But the rifle had one flaw, it fouled easily, which discouraged large scale military use. And here is where Ferguson came in.
Ferguson’s Modification and Patent
The breechloading weapon was not new to the British military. By the 1700’s there had been several gunsmiths producing breech loading weapons in England; John Warsop, Joseph Griffin, John Hirst, Joseph Clarkson, and George Payne. John Hirst, in 1762, had presented the Board of Ordnance five breech loaders in which twenty were ordered but never saw service. It is believed that Ferguson first showed keen interest in the breechloading rifle while studying light infantry tactics. Aware of the Chaumette’s rifle fouling drawback, he commissioned Durs Egg, a renowned Anglo-Swiss gunmaker, to investigate the problem. Ferguson worked closely with Egg as through his expertise, they came up with improvements of the screw plug that eventually answered the fouling drawbacks. The screw was redesigned to have several recesses and channels in which fouling particles ended up during firing. The breech plug was also tapered at a ten-degree angle, while still leaving an adequate breech seal. Two other additions made the rifle more desirable to military leaders; it could mount a bayonet (rifles at the time could not), and it had an adjustable rear site – the first of its kind.
Though Ferguson’s improvement in threading made the gun more practical for use on the battlefield, the gun was still a Chaumette rifle. Ferguson applied for and remarkably (perhaps due to family connections) received a patent for what he began calling the Ferguson Rifle. Some credit is due Ferguson for he never stated he invented the breechloading rifle himself; however, claiming the improvements were his alone writing “altho the invention is not entirely my own, yet its application to the only Arm where it can be of use is mine, and moreover there are several original improvements . . . which are entirely mine.” His patent titled, “Improvements in Breechloading Firearms,” was filed in December of 1776 and granted the following March.
Promotes and Demonstrates the Rifle
But beyond the simple technical advance of changes to the plug’s threading, it was Ferguson’s ability as a salesman that caught the public eye. Only single copies of breechloading rifles were built per order (except for Hirst’s 1762 limited production) and not used in the field. Ferguson promoted the rifle’s benefits so successfully that the British army adopted the weapon and began large scale production. To achieve this, he started at the top. Ferguson was a young man of influence renowned as a marksman among his peers. He began lobbying his senior officers including Lord George Townshend (son of Charles Townshend who drafted the famed Townshend Acts), the Master General of Ordinance. He wrote to Townshend that his rifle “fires with twice the expedition, & five times the certainty, is five pounds lighter and only a fourth part of the powder of a common firelock.” Through his efforts, he was able to schedule two demonstrations in which he would highlight his true showmanship.
He gave two high level personal demonstrations of the rifle’s abilities. One before King George III at Windsor Castle, and the other in the summer of 1776 for the Ordnance Board at Woolwich before military heads. Both were stellar performances of the superior qualities the rifle offered, the second performance in heavy rain with high winds. He fired up to six shots per minute when the Jaeger pattern rifle in use by the British army got off two. He hit targets at 100 and 200 yards with several bull’s-eyes. With a flair for showmanship, one dead center shot was achieved while lying on his back on the ground. His audience was so impressed that 100 rifles were authorized for manufacture. Ferguson was instructed to organize an experimental light infantry rifle corps which would serve for one year before evaluating their performance. He drew 100 men from the 6th and 14th Regiments of Foot and trained at Chatham. On March 11, 1777, Ferguson received orders to sail to America, arriving New York City in May.
American Revolution
Ferguson’s rifle corps that arrived in America did not exceed 90 men and only around 70 rifles arrived with them. He immediately saw action in New Jersey during what has been termed the Foraging War. When Commanding General William Howe decided to launch an expedition against Philadelphia, Ferguson’s rifle corps saw their first major action at the Battle of Brandywine Creek, Sept. 7, 1777. He was attached to General Wilhelm von Knyphausen’s column tasked with launching what the American army under General Washington thought was the main assault. Meanwhile General Howe marched the bulk of his force in a flanking maneuver to attack his enemy’s rear (similar to what Howe did at The Battle of Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776).
As light infantry rifle specialized in skirmishing, Ferguson’s men were out front screening the Hessian advance when the two opponents clashed. He and his men found themselves in a hot fight alongside a battalion of Partisan Queen’s Rangers led by Captain James Wemyss. Though the Hessians were a diversion to keep the Americans engaged, the riflemen, along with Queen’s Rangers, were able to push back a brigade under Brigadier General William Maxwell. His riflemen performed exceptionally, but eventually retreated after Ferguson was badly wounded.
After battle reports proved one huge advantage of the breechloading rifle. Though fighting side by side, Ferguson suffered far fewer casualties than Wemyss’ Queen’s Rangers. Ferguson wrote to his brother George that “the great advantage of the Arm [his rifle] that will admit of being loaded and fired on the ground without exposing the men.” Ferguson had been shot in the right arm, shattering his elbow. It would take a year for Ferguson to recuperate, suffering numerous surgeries to remove bone fragments so to save his arm from amputation. He would never again have full use of his right arm.
During Ferguson’s recovery, his rifle corps was disbanded and restored to their original regiments or were reassigned to other light infantry companies. When he returned to duty in the fall of 1778, he was given a company of New Jersey Partisan Militia, the Loyal American Volunteers; loyalists trained and equipped as British regulars. Ferguson was always ambitious and eager to impress his senior officers. Now absent of his rifle corps, he may have been seeking a noticeable action to get accolades from his superiors. For that he turned to butchery.
Night-time raids upon sleeping troops became more commonplace, often with no quarter offered. The most famous was the night-time attack by British General Charles Grey who slaughtered sleeping troops in General ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne’s Brigade at the Paoli Massacre, Sept. 20, 1777. Ferguson witnessed the commanders of such vicious attacks praised and garnished with notoriety. One can guess that the former leader of rifle, who had performed for the King of England, was determined to join that select club; and soon got his chance. Captain Ferguson staged a savage raid on the detached infantry of Colonel Casimir Pulaski’s Dragoon Regiment. At Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, in the early morning hours of October 15, 1778, Ferguson’s men snuck up on Pulaski’s camp. They bayonetted the single sentry and his men surrounded the three buildings in which the rebels slept. Ferguson had issued orders that no man was to be spared. By the time his loyalists were through, there were 53 dead, all hideously bayonetted (some impaled a dozen or more times) with those living horribly wounded (many to die later). Perhaps in penance for his actions, over the next two years, till his death, though he made threats, Ferguson never again issued orders that resulted in such a barbarous act.
Over the past year Ferguson had learned to deal with the impairment to his right arm. He learned to write with his left hand. Load and shoot a flintlock with one arm. But of most importance, he was able to direct his troops from the saddle. Eighteenth century officers rode among their infantry during positioning troops and in battle. Due to the constant din of both marching to and the constant crash of combat, vocal orders were severely limited. With one hand on the reins, officers often motioned directions with the other arm. Ferguson devised a system of orders that were relayed to his men by blowing shrill patterns on a whistle; something southern rebel pensioners would document years later when describing actions against Ferguson.
When General Henry Clinton shifted the war south to the Carolinas and Georgia, in December, 1779, Ferguson and the Loyal American Volunteers sailed with the army. Because of his light infantry experience, Ferguson was active throughout the Siege of Charleston, resulting in the surrender of the city and the Southern American Army on May 12, 1780. Clinton was aware of Ferguson’s abilities as well as the young officer’s perchance to please; having received numerous correspondence from Ferguson detailing his thoughts how the British should prosecute the war. Before leaving for New York, Clinton turned command of the Southern British force to General Lord Charles Cornwallis and Major Patrick Ferguson was given a title and independent command of Tory militia; Coordinator of Loyalist Militia.
Ferguson was good at communicating with backcountry loyalists, gaining their respect and following. He also made enemies of rebel militia by claiming fealty to the British crown, or suffer severe consequences. By late summer of 1780, with a detachment of his partisan regulars, he had gathered around a thousand volunteer loyalist militia. In effect, Ferguson became British General Cornwallis’ left, far western flank as His Lordship prepared to invade North Carolina in the fall of 1780. Ferguson cooperated with Cornwallis in his movements throughout the Ninety-Six and Waxhaws region of the northwestern frontier of South and North Carolina. Ferguson’s forces clashed with rebel bands as he continued to recruit loyalists to his banner.
Battle of King’s Mountain and Ferguson’s Death
In September, Ferguson made what proved to be the first of two fatal decisions. Frustrated battling elements of ‘Over the Mountain Men,’ those wilderness settlers who migrated further west, over the mountains and onto Native American Lands, he issued a Proclamation. Basically, unless all far western settlers (present day eastern Tennessee) proclaimed loyalty to the crown, he would march his army over the mountain and destroy all within his path. For these hardened ‘mountain men,’ who spent years forging a living out of the wilderness, battling Native Americans, this was too much. They grabbed their famed Pennsylvania Long Rifles and gathered in large numbers and marched east with the sole intention of wiping out Ferguson’s command.
Ferguson’s second fatal error occurred around October 4th, when news of a large patriot force was closing in on his position composed of Over the Mountain Men with North and South Carolina militia. Instead of marching forty miles to the safety of Cornwallis’ main command, he held his ground and dug in atop of King’s Mountain, just south of the North Carolina border. Ferguson was confident that his men could hold off any rebel force and inflict large casualties on his enemy. There was also a personal reason he decided to stand and fight; if he marched to safety, he was fearful that Cornwallis might release him of his command. And for a man of ambition with the need to gain the praise of others, he would rather risk defeat and death.
And on October 7, 1780, Ferguson gamble proved fatal. He was killed, shot half a dozen times while his horse dragged him into the rebel line. His command was decimated with 150 dead, many others wounded, and over 600 taken captive. Thirty loyalists were condemned to hang, with nine suffering death before the rest were commuted. With so many dead, burial details could only carve shallow, unmarked graves. Wild animals dug up the remains, scattering bones over the mountain top that was locally renamed Wolves Mountain. Some years later, Ferguson’s grave site was identified and marked with a memorial. Legend has it that one of Ferguson’s two mistresses, Virginia Sal who was killed during the battle, was buried with him. Considered a folk tale, it is interesting that when the site was scanned a couple of decades ago, the results showed two bodies beneath the stone.
Afterwards
Of Cornwallis’ left flank of strong militia forces; they were history, as well as hampering any future recruitment of Tory forces. Cornwallis would call off his invasion of North Carolina until the following year when the southern picture changed greatly; the incompetent Horatio Gates was replaced with the best Washington had to offer – Nathanael Greene.
Few Fergusson rifles had survived the war. A February 1778 entry in the orderly book of the Guards Brigade orders an inventory of the rifles still in use within active battalions. This indicates many were kept by the original rifle corps when dispersed back to their original light infantry units which may explain why so many were lost. So too, an order was issued in July 1778 for the return of all Ferguson rifles still in use to the Ordnance Office for repair and most likely storage.
Ferguson’s breech loading rifle corps had been formed as a one-year experiment. Without Ferguson lobbying for its continued use, the weapon was never given the opportunity to fully prove itself in combat. It would take another twenty-two years, during the Napoleonic Wars, before the British army once more approved of an experimental corps of green-coated riflemen; what would become the 95th Rifles.
Short you tube video shows the operation of the breech loading plug mechanism
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RESOURCE
Buchanan, John. The Road to Guilford Courthouse. 1997: John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, NY.
Jarvis, Tim. The Ferguson Rifle: Could Have Changed the American Revolution. 2012: Lulu Press Self-Publishing Company, lulu.com.
Moss, Mathew. “Patrick Ferguson and his Rifle.” December 13, 2018. All Things Liberty
Southern, Ed (editor). Voices of the American Revolution in the Carolinas. 2009: John F. Blair Publishing, Durham, NC.
“The Ferguson Rifle”. The Armourer’s Bench
Vikings Word. “Breechloading Rifles” vickingsword.com