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Updated: May 21, 2025
"And as he suspected the panther was the animal, he knew it would soon return to kill him, on which account he made haste to deceive it, and to put himself in a situation to give it a taste of the contents of old smooth-bore.
A large table was placed in the arena where rhinoceros, buff aloes, and rams had been recently struggling for victory in their various duels, and a far more entertaining exhibition was exchanged for the savage conflicts.... Upon this table stood a model brass cannon about eight inches in length of barrel, and a calibre equal to a No. 12 smooth-bore gun.
The rifle, though not in general use, had been invented many years before, and for hunters and backwoodsmen was an effective weapon, though it was regarded as "a slow firing gun" compared with the smooth-bore. Many of the Indians had firearms and were excellent marksmen, and had overcome their superstitious dread of the white man's weapons.
The early days of April were spent by Frémont in obtaining reports of the condition of the several parts of his command. Requisitions for supplies and transportation had been sent to the proper staff departments during the winter, but had not yet been filled. One of the batteries was of mountain howitzers, and the other two of mixed smooth-bore and rifled guns of different calibres.
The position, too, was dominated by the hills on either side, and after an artillery duel lasting for some time, the enemy's guns were moved on to the hills and a terrible fire opened upon our infantry. At about two o'clock the smooth-bore guns began to run short of ammunition, and as only sixty rounds had been captured with them and there was no reserve, these were abandoned.
The question of iron-clads was proposed, but with only the ocean iron-clads as a guide, who should conceive the proper form of an armored boat which could navigate our rivers and compete successfully with the heavy guns, rifled as well as smooth-bore, of the fortifications.
And when I learned that Guy Johnson had sheltered you, then I was surer still." "Who, then, am I?" I asked, bewildered. The three Indians were staring at me as though that murderer aloft on his eyrie did not exist. I, too, had forgotten him for the moment; and it was only the loud explosion of his smooth-bore that shocked us to the instant necessity of the situation.
A buffalo or deer may cross the path at a hundred yards, and the smooth-bore is useless; on the other hand, the rifle is always ready for whatever may appear. Smooth-bores I count for nothing, although I have frequently used them. So much for guns.
The old smooth-bore guns had been replaced by great rifled cannon capable of sending a heavy ball for ten or twelve miles and of piercing through steel plates of moderate thickness as through so much paper.
"This was the first-born," the subaltern explained, "the first thing we could lay our hands on when the close quarters' trench warfare began." It was as out of date as grandfather's smooth-bore, the tin-pot bomb that both sides used early in the winter. A wick was attached to the high explosive, wrapped in cloth and stuck in an ordinary army jam tin.
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