Spit on dat Thang: or otherwise every method under the sun to load fast other than a bullet board

Efficiency, it seems to be a buzzword everyone uses for nearly every task and advertisement it seems. Efficient lights, appliances, electronics, cars, the works! As a whole the idea has fueled the Industrial Revolution and transformed agriculture and was a vital aspect of the 18th and 19th century, but in the name of efficiency have we maintained the same needs and wants as our ancestors and translated them well when trying to recreate the past? Do we naturally gravitate towards the base line they wanted back then, say for example, rate of fire in combat or expediency of loading during a hunting trip?

These little guys has been the subject of innumerable online and campfire debates; from the hardliners who say there’s no evidence to the guys who say “why wouldn’t they?” The whole discussion seems to focus more on what can’t be proven and has ignored the evidences we have for what can be documented. Let that sink in a little bit for people on both sides of the discussion. Once the wider world of information is unveiled the evidence for this ethereal idea of “efficiency” is shown across a continent and through a multitude of cultures. Indeed, as a whole living history would be far better off if we were looking at the real, instead of the hypothetical. It grounds us to the facts and helps show the variety and complexity to a situation we constantly constrain to a state of cognitive bias just because, “Well it makes sense to me” or “Well, not everything got documented.”

So, let’s step away from the bullet boards and loading blocks of the ‘vous” for a bit, and let’s pour through the real life accounts to an age old problem and see how many pop up, and gauge their similarities and differences; and oh yeah, we’ll frame bullet boards into their historical roll too.

Right off the bat the idea of itemized loading and prepared measured charges shows itself strapped to the body of a 15th century musketeer. The concept in part evolved into the paper cartridge and finally to the metallic. But in a civilian setting in America, it also had a rebirth in the antebellum South.

Telegraph and Texas Register (Columbia, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 31, Ed. 1, Tuesday, September 27, 1836

Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 5, No. 10, Ed. 1, Wednesday, September 4, 1839

I feel at this point I can just insert this article by Kolbuck about pre sewn patched bullets. It’s a sweet and easy method that cuts a surprising amount of time.

http://thebuffalotrace1765.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-death-of-bullet-board-and-my.html

Speaking of bullets, it’s time we get to the meat and potatoes of this article. Bullets and their accessibility during fast shooting seem to take up the majority of the written record. It’s a good time to point out right now that all the methods that will be mentioned have a disconnect between expediency and accuracy, and most especially, safety. I’m going to take a moment to apologize here and acknowledge these quotations follow no chronological timeline or geographical context in their arrangement, but hey, we’ll call it a means to ensure the reader looks through all of it so they don’t miss a quote that pertains to their area and time period!

The speed at which the guns are discharged is truly astonishing. It is not at all rare to see three buffalo knocked over by a single hunter within the space of one arpent. Some of them managed to discharge their pieces as many as five times during the course of a chase. Here is how they load: The first shot, only, is wadded down. The other balls are carried in the mouth so that they can prime their guns, pour in a charge of powder, and then spit the shot into the barrel. Saliva causes it to adhere to the powder at the bottom. In the meantime, the steed is abandoned to its own devices, but so well is it trained that the writer has but to lean to one side of the saddle or the other to make it understand his wishes which are obeyed immediately.

-Letter from Father Georges Belcourt  on the 1845 hunt

Reproduced and translated by J.A. Burgesse, “The Buffalo Hunt,” The Beaver (1944), 13-17

[The brigade] chose the captain to keep order in the camp. It was his duty also to issue orders to the riders who were on the lookout for water, or herds of Buffalo, or any other riders he might spy. Our riders were given the best horses as they had so much extra riding to do. They would climb to the top of some high hill or butte where they could see a long way off. They always carried field glasses, and if a herd of buffalo was sighted there would be great excitement, as the men hustled about catching their best riding horses, strapping on their powder horn and placing their guns across the pommel of their saddle. The captain chose the best hunters and best shots for the slaughter. It was a grand sight to see them as they galloped away, their beaded shoulder straps glittering in the sun, as each loaded his gun while on full gallop, pouring in the powder from the powder horn, ramming it drown and dropping in the lead ball – several of which he was carrying in his mouth.

[…]

-Marie Rose Delorme Smith, “Eighty Years on the Plains,” Canadian Cattlemen (1948): 31

The rider of a good horse seldom fires till within three or four yards of his object, and never misses; and, what is admirable in point of training, the moment the shot is fired, his steed springs on one side to avoid stumbling over the animal; whereas an awkward and shy horse will not approach within ten or fifteen yards, consequently the rider has often to fire at random, and not infrequently misses; many of them, however, will fire at double that distance, and make sure of every shot. The mouth is always full of balls; they load and fire at the gallop, and but seldom drop a mark, although some do to designate the animal.

Alexander Ross, Red River Settlement (1856): 255-257

Buffalo meat was our chief article of food. Every summer, for weeks at a time, the settlers moved to the plains and killed buffalo, dried the meat, and made pemmican of some of it. They sold the robes to the Hudson’s Bay Company. I have been told that when the first hunter began to chase the buffalo, any old horse would do. But in later years, one had to have a very swift horse. It took a good rider, and a man had to be quick, too, to kill buffalo. The guns were all muzzle loaders, and the rider carried a powder horn on his right side, a shot or bullet pouch on the other, and the gun caps in his waist coat pocket. The bullets for immediate use, he held in his mouth. The horses were well-trained, and could be guided by the motions and gestures, or leanings of a rider’s body. Being a cripple (sic) I had to forgo the pleasures of the hunt. But, I went often to the plains with my parents, and saw the buffalo hunt, and helped cut and dry the meat.

Only once did I ride after the buffalo. My Chum, Jimmy Adams and I rode out together, when we got near the buffalo, I looked at Jimmy and he had his mouth open, laughing at the old bulls running. I had to laugh too, and dropped the bullets out of my mouth, consequently, neither of us fired a shot. The Pochas father and seven sons were at that hunt, and it was a pleasure to see how they could handle their horses and guns. Talk about your moving pictures, I can shut my eyes yet, and see in memory what the screen could not portray

-Irene Spry, “The ‘Memories’ of George William Sanderson,” Canadian Ethnic Studies XVII (2) (1985): 120-121

“It was common in them times for riflemen to carry two sizes of a bullet, one size suited to the calibre of the gun, the other a size less but only to be used in cases of emergency. General Morgan used to say that such charges would do for close fighting, and so it happened with Wetzel and the tall pine.”

-Jared C. Lobdell, ed., Indian Warfare in Western Pennsylvania and North West Virginia at the Time of the American  Revolution; Including the Narrative of Indian and Tory Depredations by John Crawford, the Military  Reminiscences of Captain Henry Jolly, and the Narrative of Lydia Boggs Shepherd Cruger, with Notes by Lyman Copeland Draper. (Westminster: Heritage Books, 1992), pp. 71-72.

“He then made a requisition of all the powder and lead in the fort. The ammunition was accurately divided amongst all the men, and the amount supposed to be fully sufficient.”

“’Now,’ says the captain, ‘When you run your bullets, cut off the necks very close, and scrape them, so as to make them a little less, and get patches one hundred finer than you commonly use, and have them well oiled, for if a rifle happens to be choked in the time of battle there is one gun and one man lost for the rest of the battle. You will have no time to breach a gun and get a plug to drive out a bullet. Have the locks well oiled, and your flints sharp, so as to not miss fire.”

-Doddridge, Joseph. Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia and

Pennsylvania from 1763-1783

We carried the rifle balls in our mouths and loaded our flint-lock rifles with great rapidity. After our first deadly volley the Mexicans became demoralized and commenced retreating.

From San Jacinto Veteran James Monroe Hill 1894.  AUSTIN, TEX, June 22

I rose violently from my seat, and throwing all the infuriated demon I could into my face-affecting to (and actually blackening with rage) thrusting my pistols into my belt--a half dozen builets into my mouth- and my double-barrelled gun into my hand I leaped ashore and chased the lot of them from the beach

Virginia free press., February 04, 1836

(Missouri River)

A running fire opens then all along the line.

At the first volley the buffaloes

scamper off. The hunters continue the pursmit, reloading their guns while their horses are in full gallop. For the sake of expedition. the bullets are carried in the mouth, and dropped into the barrel without any wadding.

Bloomington herald. [volume], September 27, 1845

Every mossy rock becomes a battery every pine tree burns powder. 'The marksmen of the backwoods hold their bullets in their mouths for swift reloading, and thus the torrent of fire never ceases. The officers on both sides fight like common soldiers.

The Camden journal. [volume], October 15, 1850 (King’s Mountain)

'It was afterward discovered that, though arranged in peaceful at-titude, the Chippeways had, each,

one bullet in his mouth and powder in the hollow of the hand, ready for prompt loading and combat, if need should be.

The River Falls journal., June 01, 1859

"The half-breeds were In the hablt, while on the gallop after búfalo, of filling their mouths full ot bullets and as they rode at full gallop poured a charge of powder down the barrel of the gun, and spat a bullet in after it, holding the muzzle up till, they came to shoot, which, when they did, often resulted in the bursting of the gun.

The riders of the plains: A reminiscence of the early and exciting days in the North West

,1905

As soon as it was light enough to see, he was on his feet, and, leaving his camp-ground, would proceed to hunt for game, keeping at the same time, a good look out for the Indians.

If he discovered a deer, he would

slip a bullet into bis mouth, to be prepared to load again immediately. This was his first care, never to be caught with an empty rifle.

The emigrant aid journal of Minnesota. [volume], November 07, 1857

One of the letters gives an interesting account of the Indian's mode of fighting. The great danger is from the first fire with their rifles.

They are then well load.ed and their bullets patched.-'The discharge of this load is comparatively sure. After that, when they enter on a battle, they fill their mouths with bullets guess at the powder, which is generally too small in quantity and spit the bullet (unpatched) from the mouth to the gun, hitting the butt a tap or two on the ground and then are ready to shoot again. Every rifleman knows such shots can rarely be effective,

Richmond enquirer. [volume], February 27, 1836 (2nd Seminole War)

Each rider holds in his mouth ten spare bullets. They approach the bison on the right or off side.

The gun is not placed at the shoulder,but held breast high, and discharged with great ac-curacy. The bison is shot either in the heart, or across the spine at the kidneys.

Each bull is brought to the ground with a single bullet. The hunter, riding at full speed, now places the butt of the gun upon his foot, pours another charge of powder into his hand, which is clasped to prevent the wind or rapid movement from causing the loss of the • villainous saltpetre,' places it in the gun, and taking bullet from the half seore he has held in his mouth, drops it into the barrel of the arm, without amig the rammer. The wet bullet sticks fast on reaching the powder; the gun, by a jar against the stirrup, is primed; and the rider, who is all this time galloping at racing speed in the midst of the dust and confusion of the maddened herd, is ready to select the next fat bison as a victim. Ellsworth American. [volume], February 24, 1860 (Oregon)

Foster and Stoner were both remarkably expert at loading their rifles, but the former most so, at least if it became necessary to make several shots in hot haste, and at a short distance. Foster has been known repeatedly, upon a wager, to commence with his rifle unloaded and fire it off six times in one minute. This, to the reader, if a modern marksman and unaccustomed to taking game upon foot, seems incredible, but it is nevertheless true. While hunting he usually wore three rifle balls between the fingers of each hand, and invariably thus in the left hand, if he had that number of ballswith him. He had a large bony hand, and having worn such jewels a long time, they had made for themselves cavities in the flesh, which concealed them almost as effectually as they were, when hid in the moulds in which they were run from the fused lead. The superficial observer would not have noticed them.

Foster's quick shooting was in the days of flint locks. He had a powder flask with a charger, and with six well pared balls between his fingers, he would pour in the powder, drop in a ball that would just roll down without a patch, and striking the breech of his gun with his hand, it was primed; soon after which the bullet was speeding to its mark.

These rapid discharges could only be made at a short distance, as to make long shots it became necessary to patch the balls land drive them down with a rod, the latter being dispensed with in the former case.

Foster would make his six shots, so as to kill so many men, within one minute, at a distance not exceeding ten rods. A regiment of such riflemen, in close action, would soon decide the fate of a battle.

-Trappers of New York : or, A biography of Nicholas Stoner & Nathaniel Foster ; together with anecdotes of other celebated hunters, and some account of Sir William Johnson, and his style of living

James Trabue ordered every one to alight, and prime our guns afresh, and put 2 bullets in each man's mouth, and if we came up with the Indians we must fight our best.

Colonial men and times; containing the journal of Col. Daniel Trabue, some account of his ancestry, life and travels in Virginia and the present state of Kentucky during the revolutionary period; the Huguenots, genealogy, with brief sketches of the allied families

Witherspoon drew his rifle on him and fired, when the Red Coat, wounded, pitched the butt of his gun, in submission, towards his antagonist, throwing up his hands imploring mercy; and when Witherspoon reached him, he found his mouth full of balls, chewing them so as to make them jagged, and render the wounds they might inflict more fatal.

King's Mountain and its heroes : history of the Battle of King's Mountain, October 7th, 1780, and the events which led to it

we concluded to rest our horses a moment and then Charge their line in front near the left wing we were close enough to hear them talking as they pranced back and forward on the bench above us after tightening our girths and examining our arms we put each of us 4 or 5 bullets in our mouths and mounted without noise—Our leader (the same old Iroquois) Sallied forth with a horrid yell and we followed the Indians were so much surprised with such a sudden attack that they made no resistance whatever but wheeled and took toward the village as fast as their horses could carry them

Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper

But these aren’t the only time reducers. Once the short lived percussion age emerged people were making cappers readily accessible from their shooting bags. As a bonus- these appear by all three methods of documenting the historical record- written, pictorial, and surviving examples

The ammunition should be carried in a pouch, on the right side, suspended by a strap passing over the right shoulder, to which should be attached a measure for charging the rifle. good, plain butcher's knife should be wort for ordinary purposes, and more partienlarly for cutting off the patch-ling while loading. For quick firing, the patching should be all ready eat and strung, as is usual with frontier men. 'There should also be a piece of leather cut so as to fit the caps, holding at least ten caps, and fastened on the strap passing across the breast, so as to be ready for use in quick firing. This, although apparently a trivial matter, will be found of great convenience.

The Nevada journal. [volume], December 11, 1851

Alright, we’ll stop for now… but you get the point. The needs of the frontier to quickly load were both imperative to survive and simultaneously documented across the continent with the market hunters, over the mountain men, natives, rangers, Rocky Mountain trappers, Metis, and the list itself will grow as more items are discovered. This endeavor is a collective effort and I’m thankful for the individuals who contributed their knowledge on this topic.

Meanwhile, what about bullet boards? At best, we have three examples post 1840, two bag sets from hunters and this photograph.

Pvt. John W. Stroder Co. E 13th Tx. Inf. & Co. G 15th. Tx. Inf.

Unfortunately I don’t have the bag set images ready at hand but I will include them as I run into them again.

Anyways, there you have it, a glimpse at the past on a topic that deserves further attention and study beyond the philosophical hypotheticals of a campfire or the rhetorical observations of an online forum.