800 to 1000 yard rifle accuracy?

I have a report from Second Lieutenant of the First Dragoons, U. S. Army that states;

"I fired at them at a distance from 800 to 1000 yards, and can say with certainty that several of the Indians got wounded."

He then says that two of the Indians fired back, and their balls falling among his troops, he was compelled to remove his horses from view. These Indians had taken to a high bluff out in California after being tracked in August of 1861 from Fort Crook. What rifle would a small company of 30 men including the guide, carry with them having that range and accuracy, firing above at a height? And what about the two Indians that fired down upon the company?
Remember this is out west on the Pacific Coast in August of 1861.
[Report from Series 1 Volume 50, Part 1, page 25-26].

Thanks,
Lubliner.
Some times a memory just stays put. Back in 1991 I read the book 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' about the Revolutionary War. It was contemporaneously written soon after that time (?), but it mentions a soldier up in New York taking a bead on a target 500 to 800 yards off, and hitting it. That would be in the 1780's when most of the patriots had spent years in the forest hunting game. Some times a memory flees.
Lubliner.

Once in a while someone scores a hit at unusually long range. It's probably the rarity of those instances that gets them into memoirs or history books. No one bothers writing about the times they took a shot at some annoying Indians or whoever and missed.
 
I hit a guy on a bicycle with a water ballon filled with chocolate pudding using a slingshot at about 100 yards. Is that impressive? I thought it was. Hilarious too.
Yes, but one you could not duplicate! Just remember what Lincoln said whenever he heard someone argue for slavery...let us try it on their self?
Lubliner.
 
Yes, but one you could not duplicate! Just remember what Lincoln said whenever he heard someone argue for slavery...let us try it on their self?
Lubliner.
Sure, I'm just reiterating the same sort of thing mentioned above, I have no idea how many "shots" I took with that slingshot before I got that "one" great shot, but that's the one my kids and I talk about!
 
Sure, I'm just reiterating the same sort of thing mentioned above, I have no idea how many "shots" I took with that slingshot before I got that "one" great shot, but that's the one my kids and I talk about!
Plain lucky goes a long way. I almost picture some kid hanging around with all those attempts at him before he gets hit and rides away.
I have some unmentionable moments growing 7up!!
Lubliner.
 
Plain lucky goes a long way. I almost picture some kid hanging around with all those attempts at him before he gets hit and rides away.
I have some unmentionable moments growing 7up!!
Lubliner.
No, that was one shot, one hit, that was the best part, his reaction, had no idea what hit him, or where it came from, or why he had Chocolate pudding on him. Knocked him right off the seat of the bike. Thinking now, I'm glad he didn't fall and break something! We did a good job hiding too. I got wailed by the kid on when we told him what we did to him at dinner, but that was worth it too. I know I got mine several times, too many pranks going on in those years....

But yeah, summers as a kid were awesome.
 
No, that was one shot, one hit, that was the best part, his reaction, had no idea what hit him, or where it came from, or why he had Chocolate pudding on him. Knocked him right off the seat of the bike. Thinking now, I'm glad he didn't fall and break something! We did a good job hiding too. I got wailed by the kid on when we told him what we did to him at dinner, but that was worth it too. I know I got mine several times, too many pranks going on in those years....

But yeah, summers as a kid were awesome.
You could have told him you wasted a whole serving of chocolate pudding on him. Oh, you did! Haha!!
Lubliner.
 
Some times a memory just stays put. Back in 1991 I read the book 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' about the Revolutionary War. It was contemporaneously written soon after that time (?), but it mentions a soldier up in New York taking a bead on a target 500 to 800 yards off, and hitting it. That would be in the 1780's when most of the patriots had spent years in the forest hunting game. Some times a memory flees.
Lubliner.

Plumb Martin. I think it was from Manhattan Island to Blackwell Island (now Roosevelt Island). The distance was 350 yards, which is still remarkable considering it was a smoothbore fowler. See page 14-5 of my book, Sharpshooters: Marksmen Through The Ages
What rifle issued to the (regular) army in august 1861 had a scope?


(I expect the dragoons had rifles, and not carbines?)
No scopes were mounted on the 1855 or 1861 and no scoped (target telescope in the period vernacular) rifle was issued by the Army. The states are a a different matter and some of Andrew Sharp Shooter arms were provided by Massachusetts.
 
I think we have a case of Old Testament numbers. During antiquity, numbers above a few hundred were not meant or understood to be literally true. In the 1400's an English army we know from documentary evidence to be roughly 2,500 men is depicted as tens of thousands in the chronicles because of the damage they did. Hyperbole, as in the Lieutenant's obviously absurd range claim falls into an ages long tradition where "extreme long range" is just not sexy enough.
 
"....eight men were detailed from an organization of 300 men to seize the arms sent to Los Angeles for the Union men, or home guards, but some of the men backed out, consequently the arms were not seized....".
[Ser. 1, Vol. 50, Pt. 1, pg.27]
This was included in a report made October 7, 1861 near San Bernardino, by Major Robert Scott Ketchum, Fourth U. S. Infantry, which implies a recent arrival of arms in Los Angeles from the east. Narrowing the search for which weapons.
Lubliner.
 
Back
Top