Firing Squads

trialsz63

Cadet
Joined
Feb 3, 2017
Location
Oklahoma
In the book Our Connection With Savannah: History of the 1st Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters written by Russell K. Brown he mentions a soldier who was executed by firing squad. In the description of the event, and in the transcription of a letter that my gg grandfather wrote (he was present when then execution took place, and was in charge of the back-up shooters, in case the first shooters didn't complete the job) it is stated the convicted man was shot from six steps away. I would like to know more about the rules of execution, if there were any. I'm also curious about the weapons that were used. Were they muskets? Were all of the men of the firing squads provided with "live" ammunition? Was there such a thing as "blanks" that were used by some of the men, and only one or two given "live" ammunition? It seems that it would be distressing for the men in the firing squad to know that their shot was the one that killed someone who used to be one of their own. Suggested reading materials are welcome.
 
That's about right. The weapons were the ones that were issued to the soldiers and some of them were smooth bore muskets and some of them were rifles. And all used live ammunition. They had a back up because they were not that accurate and the soldiers were volunteers, some of them never shot before.

Different than 20th century firing squads with much more accurate weapons.
 
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