ABSTRACT
Brown Bess was a soldier’s best friend during the American Revolution. Bess was the British nickname for a muzzleloading flintlock musket. The nickname probably came from the German words “braun buss,” which mean “strong gun.” The gun was an improvement over old-fashioned matchlock guns that required the soldier to actually light a match to ignite the gunpowder and make the fire. Brown Bess used flint striking against steel to cause a spark that would set off the gunpowder. The American colonists were at a great disadvantage because most of them had never learned how to drill or march as a regiment. Plus, they didn’t have as many weapons, enough gunpowder. At the start of the war, most men were using whatever weapons they had in their homes. As the war progressed, the Continental Congress placed orders with American gunsmiths to make as many flintlocks as possible. The rebel soldiers also captured as many guns as they could from the British.
