American Rifle, by Alexander Rose

Review by W. J. Rayment / ConservativeBookstore -- American history is replete with stories about how innovative people, driven by profit, pride, and accumulated progress were able to develop, invent, and innovate. American Rifle, a Biography, by Alexander Rose is one of these fascinating stories.

"American Rifle" has so many facets. The story is told on multiple levels. Primary among them is the intimate connection between the accurate, long range, rifle and the American character of precision, efficiency, and the need for certainty. This connection is reminiscent of the late middle ages fascination of the English for the long bow. The English have their Robin Hood. We have our Annie Oakley, and Wild Bill Hickock. The legendary American riflemen that struck down the British ranks at Bunker Hill and New Orleans compete with the mystique of Henry V and his longbowmen at Agincourt.

Running throughout the book is the battle between generals that pits "die hard" mass attack tactics against advocates of the long range precision attack of independent minded men exercising their own judgement. Mr. Rose points out how deeply this influenced the process of gun design and manufacture. In the days of rifle and musket, the rifle was accurate at very long ranges, while the musket could be loaded much more quickly. The British, familiar with the battlefields of Europe opted for the musket and massed fire, followed by the bayonet. The Americans under Washington proved more flexible and opted for both, using muskets in settled country and rifles in the wilderness where they proved much more effective. Rifles and muskets took a long time to make. To have adequate weapons, the Continental Congress was forced to import muskets from overseas (mainly France).

Yet this would be the last time that the United States would be required to rely so heavily on overseas manufacture of weapons. The history of the American Rifle is as much about the U.S. Army Ordinance Department as it is about rifled barrels and the American psyche. Innovations such as the minie ball and breach loaders would drive the need for new weapons and experimentation to determine how they could be employed. Mr. Rose makes the case that it was rifle and gun manufacture that paved the way to modern manufacturing techniques of meticulous design, and assembly-line production - especially emphasizing the need for standardization and interchangeable parts to smooth out logistical problems. These manufacturing innovations were copied by private industry, especially arms manufacturers such as Colt, Remington, and Winchester.

This is also the story of the men behind these innovations. The ordinance department was staffed largely by the best and the brightest that the Army could supply out of West Point. It scooped up top notch engineers from the civilian sector. Inventors fought and bargained over patents, and processes. A single man in charge of ordinance could make the difference between adequate supply of advanced rifles, or the development and use of rifles that were out of place in the environment in which they were to be employed (the M-14 in Viet Nam for example).

Interestingly enough, even when the ordinance department did not supply the best weapons, the soldiers themselves took matters into the their own hands. When Union soldiers of the civil war found they could acquire a semi-automatic weapon for use on the battlefield, many bought their own directly from the manufacturer. Whole units armed themselves with repeating rifles rather than be saddled with an old muzzle-loader.

"American Rifle: a Biography" is an energetic history, at the same time enjoyable and profound. It shows the sweep of American history from a perspective from which it has never before been viewed. One need not be a gun enthusiast to enjoy this work. Highly recommended.

American Rifle: A Biography, by Alexander Rose is available at Amazon.