There is a commonly held belief among historians that the Ferguson rifles known to have been used at the Brandywine were placed in storage, never to be used again after General Howe disbanded the rifle company following Patrick Ferguson’s wounding. However, there is a good deal of circumstantial evidence that the rifles were used after the battle, most notably at Kings Mountain, South Carolina, in October 1780.
After Ferguson was wounded and the special rifle corps was deprived of his personal leadership, Howe believed it could not operate efficiently without him. (There is some evidence Howe disliked Ferguson and his “experiment” and was looking for any opportunity to rid himself of the organization.) Adam Ferguson (no relation), who came to North America in 1778 as secretary to the Carlisle Peace Commission, stated: “It was well known in the army that the Commander-in-Chief, Sir William Howe, had taken umbrage at the rifle corps having been formed without his being consulted. It was therefore perhaps not to be expected that he would exert himself to support it.” Howe ordered Patrick Ferguson’s men reincorporated into their home units. “For the present,” explained J. Paterson, the adjutant general of the army, “he [Howe] has thought proper to incorporate the rifle corps into the light companies of the respective regiments.”1
This order indicates the special company was disbanded, but it does not say anything about the rifles being placed in storage. Indeed it is reasonable to assume the men took the Ferguson rifles with them. Nine days after the Brandywine, the British conducted a raid on Anthony Wayne’s division near the Paoli Tavern. Xavier della Gatta’s painting of the battle, which was commissioned by two British participants, includes five men wearing green coats and carrying weapons with longer-than-usual bayonets. This indicates that some of Ferguson’s men may have been using their Ferguson rifles while operating with British light infantry battalions. Also, one of the British light infantry officers referred to some of the Americans being “instantly dispatched by the Riflemens Swords,” which is yet another reference to the long bayonets of the Ferguson rifles.2 While there is no primary documentation to prove it, the rifles were likely present in the hands of some of the light infantrymen at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, as well.
Many believe the use of the rifles ended in July 1778 when the rifles, bayonets, and flasks of the Fergusons were ordered to be turned in to the Ordnance Office for repairs.3 However, considerable research in recent years indicates the possibility that Ferguson reacquired his rifles and used them in his 1778 operation at Egg Harbor, New Jersey, and again when he moved south to command a Loyalist force. A great deal of the evidence is circumstantial, but it seems that at least some of the original 100 Ferguson rifles were used later in the war and especially at Kings Mountain.
While in Charleston, Ferguson ordered the “British standard carbine ball (.615) and Double Glazed Rifle powder for his troops.” Since there is no record of Ferguson acquiring the British short rifles (Tower Rifles) for his command, what use would he have for this small ammunition? In addition, note two historians, “the counts from the inspection returns indicate captured French muskets for the militia and rifles for part of his Loyal Americans Volunteers Company, also known as Ferguson’s Corps.”4 The French muskets took a larger ball and did not require the special gunpowder that the Ferguson required.
Arent de Peyster, who fought with Ferguson at Kings Mountain, reported that after repelling the Americans from the mountaintop for the third time, Ferguson’s Corps was ‘reduced to twenty rifles [fighting men].’”5 Since Ferguson’s men were not issued the British short rifle, to what other rifles would de Peyster be referring?
Both William Campbell and Isaac Shelby reported rifles among the 1,500 weapons captured at Kings Mountain by the American militia.6
Lastly, there are only two known Ferguson rifles still in existence from the original 100. The Milwaukee Museum of Fine Arts owns one, and the other is in the collection at Morristown National Park. Both of these rifles were brought north by Union Civil War veterans returning home from the Deep South. If all the rifles were put into storage in New York in 1778, Roberts and Brown inquire, “how were they captured somewhere in the Southern United States and taken back to the North in the 1860s?”7
While there is no hard direct evidence to indicate the continued use of the Ferguson rifles after 1777, there is enough circumstantial evidence to question the traditional interpretation and believe they were used later in the war, especially at Kings Mountain.