In 1856, Whitworth had produced a rifle and proprietary ammunition to address these weaknesses. He further maintained that the pitch of the gun’s rifling was too gradual and therefore placed insufficient spin on the bullet, affecting accuracy. A longer, smaller-caliber round, he theorized, would provide added surface area for the bore’s lands and grooves to grip, thus yielding more killing power at greater distances. Whitworth himself found its long-range accuracy unsatisfactory and believed he could design a better alternative.įor one, he thought the Enfield’s projectile was too short in proportion to its large-caliber diameter. 577-caliber Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle-musket, which the military was already thinking of replacing. By mid-century, he was a wealthy, respected craftsman and president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.ĭuring the Crimean War (1853-56), the British government turned to Whitworth for machine tools to manufacture its standard-issue. In 1833, Whitworth struck out on his own as a machinist, settling in Manchester, where he opened a shop and gained renown for high-quality tools like lathes. (Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo) He had become Sir Joseph by the time of his death in 1887. Among the Elite: Joseph Whitworth began his illustrious career as an indentured apprentice. He quickly mastered an understanding of the mill’s intricate machinery, often complaining about its lack of precision-an obsession that would distinguish him in time. On completing school, he entered into an indentured apprenticeship in his uncle’s spinning mill with the intention of some day inheriting the business. Born in 1803, Joseph Whitworth showed a natural talent for mechanics at a young age. The story of this unusual shoulder arm begins in England with its namesake. But its impact in the war was limited, not by flawed design but because only a scant number managed to breach the formidable Union naval blockade of Confederate-controlled ports. The Whitworth rifle claimed the lives of quite a few members of the Northern Army-artillerists, officers, and generals alike. Had Lincoln been brought down, the Civil War may well have come to an entirely different conclusion, and an imported muzzle-loading rifle pressed into service by the Confederacy was the deadly tool that could have accomplished the job.
Spent Whitworth bullets have been discovered in the vicinity, and we know sharpshooter rounds killed an officer a few feet away from the president. Jubal Early’s Raid of Maryland reached Fort Stevens on the outskirts of the Union capital. Lincoln actually came under fire on July 12, 1864, when Confederate Lt. As he prepared to fire, though, a Federal officer dragged Abraham Lincoln out of view. Suddenly, the shooter’s attention shifted to a tall bearded man wearing a stovepipe hat, realizing it was that Yankee president, within easy range of his English-made precision rifle. Through the scope-fitted to the left side of the stock-his eye scanned the ample crowd of Union soldiers and plucky civilians who had ventured by, hoping to observe warfare up close.
Sure Shot: Confederate Sharpshooters Left No Doubt the Whitworth Was Their Weapon of Choice-When Available Closeįrom hundreds of yards away, a Confederate sharpshooter carefully aimed his prized Whitworth, the crosshairs of its Davidson telescopic sight outlined against the ramparts of Fort Stevens in Washington, D.C.
0 kommentar(er)
