Brown Bess

One hypothesis is that the "Brown Bess" was named after Elizabeth I of England, but this lacks support. Jonathan Ferguson, Firearms Curator of the Royal Armouries, traces the name to at least the 1760s, and his research suggests the name was adopted from slang for a mistress, prostitute, or lowly woman who also appear in period sources referred to as "Brown Bess". He writes, "'Bess' was a generic and sometimes derogatory name, a bit like 'Sheila' in modern Australian English", and "brown" simply meant plain or drab. Ferguson discounts, with evidence, many of the other theories previously popular.[9]

Early uses of the term include the newspaper, the Connecticut Courant in April 1771, which said: "... but if you are afraid of the sea, take Brown Bess on your shoulder and march." This familiar use indicates widespread use of the term by that time. The 1785 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, a contemporary work that defined vernacular and slang terms, contained this entry: "Brown Bess: A soldier's firelock. To hug Brown Bess; to carry a fire-lock, or serve as a private soldier." Military and government records of the time do not use this poetical name but refer to firelocks, flintlock, muskets or by the weapon's model designations.

Soldiers of the Black Watch armed with a musket (Brown Bess) and a halberd, circa 1790

Popular explanations of the use of the word "Brown" include that it was a reference to either the colour of the walnut stocks, or to the characteristic brown colour that was produced by russeting, an early form of metal treatment. However, in the case of russeting at least, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and Ferguson note that "browning" was only introduced in the early 19th century, well after the term had come into general use.[10] Others argue that mass-produced weapons of the time were coated in brown varnish on metal parts as a rust-preventive and on wood as a sealer (or in the case of unscrupulous contractors, to disguise inferior or non-regulation types of wood), an entirely different thing from russeting.

Similarly, the word "Bess" is commonly held to either derive from the word arquebus or blunderbuss (predecessors of the musket) or to be a reference to Elizabeth I, possibly given to commemorate her death. The OED has citations for "brown musket" dating back to the early 18th century that refer to the same weapon. Another suggestion is that the name is simply the counterpart to the earlier Brown Bill. However, the origin of the name may be much simpler, if vulgar.

In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes, and brocade
Brown Bess was a partner whom none could despise—
An out-spoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced jade,
With a habit of looking men straight in the eyes—
At Blenheim and Ramillies, fops would confess
They were pierced to the heart by the charms of Brown Bess ...

— Rudyard Kipling, "Brown Bess", 1911

Kipling may have based his poem on an earlier but similar "Brown Bess" poem published in "Flights of Fancy" (No. 16) in 1792. Of course, the name could have been initially inspired by the older term of the "Brown Bill" and perhaps the barrels were originally varnished brown, but it is well known in literary circles that the name "Brown Bess" during the period in question in the 17th to early 19th centuries is not a reference to a color or a weapon but to simply refer to a wanton prostitute (or harlot).[11] Such a nickname would have been a delight to the soldiers of the era who were from the lower classes of English and then British society. So far, the earliest use noted so far of the term "Brown Bess" was in a 1631 publication, John Done's Polydoron: or A Mescellania of Morall, Philosophicall, and Theological Sentences, page 152:

Things profferd and easie to come by, diminish themselves in reputation & price: for how full of pangs and dotage is a wayling lover, for it may bee some browne bessie? But let a beautie fall a weeping, overpressed with the sicke passion; she favours in our thoughts, something Turnbull.

The Long Land Pattern "Brown Bess" musket was the British infantryman's basic arm from about 1740 until the 1830s

From the seventeenth century to the early years of the eighteenth century, most nations did not specify standards for military firearms. Firearms were individually procured by officers or regiments as late as 1745, and were often custom-made to the tastes of the purchaser. As the firearm gained ascendancy on the battlefield, this lack of standardisation led to increasing difficulties in the supply of ammunition and repair materials. To address these difficulties, armies began to adopt standardised "patterns". A military service selected a "pattern musket" to be stored in a "pattern room". There it served as a reference for arms makers, who could make comparisons and take measurements to ensure that their products matched the standard.

Stress-bearing parts of the Brown Bess, such as the barrel, lockwork, and sling-swivels, were customarily made of iron, while other furniture pieces such as the butt plate, trigger guard and ramrod pipe were found in both iron and brass. It weighed around 10 pounds (4.5 kg) and it could be fitted with a 17-inch (430 mm) triangular cross-section bayonet. The weapon did not have sights, although the bayonet lug doubled as a crude front sight.

The earliest models had iron fittings, but these were replaced by brass in models built after 1736. Wooden ramrods were used with the first guns but were replaced by iron ones, although guns with wooden scouring sticks were still issued to troops on American service until 1765 and later to loyalist units in the American Revolution. Wooden ramrods, also called scouring sticks, were also used in the Dragoon version produced from 1744 to 1771 for Navy and Marine use.

The accuracy of the Brown Bess was fair, as with most other muskets. In 1811, in London, a test shooting was conducted at the site. The target was a wooden shield the size of an infantry or a cavalry line. The results of the practice were as follows: at a distance of 100 yards (91 m) 53% hits, 200 yards (180 m) 30% hits, 300 yards (270 m) 23% hits. The accuracy of the Brown Bess was in line with most other smoothbore muskets of the 18th to 19th centuries. But it should be borne in mind that this is the result of shooting by ordinary soldiers who had little training. Soldiers of light infantry had more training, and were taught accurate shooting.[12]

The Brown Bess was used not only in the line infantry, but also light infantry, as well as Rogers' Rangers, hunters, skirmishers, Indians and many other irregular troops who used non-standard tactics.

The Brown Bess's bullet was lethal at its full effective range. In the mid-18th century, Robertson measured the speed of musket bullets on a ballistic pendulum. According to him, the speed of a round musket bullet slug was about 1804 feet per second (550 m/s). That is, the muzzle energy of the musket was about 3,500 to 4,000 joules, which is comparable to the energy of modern rifle cartridges. Modern ballistic tests have confirmed these data.[13] According to the Russian lieutenant-general Ivan G. Gogel, all the muskets of the European nations were able to penetrate a wooden shield with a thickness of 1 inch (2.5 cm) at a distance of 300 yards.[14]

British soldiers armed with Brown Besses preferred to reduce the standard number of steps for loading a musket. To this end, they would sometimes drop the cartridge into the barrel and strike the butt on the ground, to seat the load without the use of a ramrod.[15]

Besides not having fore-sights, Brown Bess-muskets were virtually identical to Potzdam muskets up until the Prussian 1809 pattern.

Variations

X-ray of a Brown Bess musket recovered by LAMP archaeologists from an American Revolutionary War-era shipwreck from a ship lost in December 1782. It is believed to be a 1769 Short Land Pattern, and is loaded with buck and ball

Many variations and modifications of the standard pattern musket were created over its long history. The earliest version was the Long Land Pattern of 1722, 62 inches (1,600 mm) long (without bayonet), with a 46-inch (1,200 mm) barrel. It was later found that shortening the barrel did not detract from accuracy but made handling easier, giving rise to the Militia (or Marine) Pattern of 1756 and the Short Land Pattern of 1768, which both had a 42-inch (1,100 mm) barrel. Another version with a 39-inch (990 mm) barrel was first manufactured for the British East India Company, and was eventually adopted by the British Army in 1790 as the India Pattern.

By the late 1830s and into the early 1840s the weapon was becoming obsolete and its flintlock mechanism was being replaced by the more efficient and reliable percusion cap ignition. The flintlock mechanism, which was prone to misfiring, especially in wet weather. The last flintlock pattern manufactured was selected for conversion to the new system as the Pattern 1839. As a fire at the Tower of London destroyed large stocks of these in 1841, a new Pattern 1842 musket was manufactured. These remained in service until the 1853 outbreak of the Crimean War, when they were replaced by the Minié and the P53 Enfield rifled musket.

Pattern	In service	Barrel Length	Overall Length	Weight
Long Land Pattern	1722–1793 Standard Infantry Musket 1722–1768 (supplemented by Short Land Pattern from 1768)	46 inches (1,200 mm)	62.5 inches (1,590 mm)	10.4 pounds (4.7 kg)
Short Land Pattern	1740–1797 1740 (Dragoons) 1768 (Infantry) Standard Infantry Musket 1793–1797	42 inches (1,100 mm)	58.5 inches (1,490 mm)	10.5 pounds (4.8 kg)
India Pattern	1797–1854 Standard Infantry Musket 1797–1854 (Some in use pre-1797 purchased from the East India Company for use in Egypt)	39 inches (990 mm)	55.25 inches (1,403 mm)	9.68 pounds (4.39 kg)
New Land Pattern	1802–1854 Issued only to the Foot Guards and 4th Regiment of Foot	39 inches (990 mm)	55.5 inches (1,410 mm)	10.06 pounds (4.56 kg)
New Light Infantry Land Pattern	1811–1854 Issued only to the 43rd, 51st, 52nd, 68th, 71st and 85th Light Infantry and the Battalions of the 60th Foot not armed with rifles. The detail differences between this musket and the standard New Land Pattern were a scrolled trigger guard similar to that of the Baker Rifle except more rounded, a browned barrel and a notch used as rear-sights, the bayonet lug being used as fore-sights	39 inches (990 mm)	55.5 inches (1,410 mm)	10.06 pounds (4.56 kg)
Cavalry Carbine	1796–1838 Issued to cavalry units	26 inches (660 mm)	42.5 inches (1,080 mm)	7.37 pounds (3.34 kg)
Sea Service Pattern	1778–1854 Issued to Royal Navy ships, drawn by men as required, Marines used Sea Service weapons when deployed as part of a ship's company but were issued India Pattern weapons when serving ashore	37 inches (940 mm)	53.5 inches (1,360 mm)	9.00 pounds (4.08 kg)

• British military rifles
• Carbine
• French Land Pattern Musket
• Historical reenactment
• List of infantry weapons in the American Revolution
• List of wars involving England
• List of wars involving Great Britain
• List of wars involving the United Kingdom
• Spanish Land Pattern Musket
• Military history of Britain
• Military history of England
• Military history of the United Kingdom
• Musket
• Prussian Land Pattern Musket
• Rifle
• American Land Pattern Musket
• Swedish Land Pattern Musket

• Cumpston, Mike. "The guns of empire: 18th century martial muskets". Guns, August 2008, p. 60. FMG Publications, San Diego, CA
• Reid, Stuart. British Redcoat (2) 1793—1815. Warrior series. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781855325562. OCLC 37820387.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Brown Bess".

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brown Bess.

• Detailed Brown Bess Images and Information. Correct Source of Images with Blue Background.
• Brown Bess—Musket Misconception
• Kipling's poem "Brown Bess"
• Brown Bess Musket: Three shots in 46 seconds (video)
• Live Fire (Brown Bess) Volley at 60 yards www.kings8th.com (video)
• (Brown Bess) Musket Firing Demonstration Part 1 (Minuteman National Park) (video)
• (Brown Bess) Musket Firing Demonstration Part 2 (Minuteman National Park) (video)
• How to fire a Brown Bess musket—English Heritage (video)
• Brown Bess Flintlock Musket Accuracy—updated (Australia) (video)
• Swedish subsidy musket from the United Kingdom #1—Swedish Army Museum (image)
• Swedish subsidy musket from the United Kingdom #2—Swedish Army Museum (image)