- Hello everybody and welcome to Heritage Weeks Online.
I am Master-At-Arms First-class Travis Hagerty
and this is my station.
This is the 1812 Marine musket station.
What we're gonna do here is we're gonna go through a little
bit of the history and then dive into
what it is to fire a 1812 era musket.
So traditionally we did have 50 Marines on board
on the USS Constitution and their duties
were to climb up into the fighting tops,
do a little bit of a musketry from the fighting tops,
sharpshooters, they would shoot down on the enemy.
They'd also lead boarding parties.
They would also be the captain's personal security on board.
So anytime they pull into ports
and they needed to go retrieve goods,
or the captain just wanted to get some grog,
they'd have to have a personal Marine escort to do that.
To dive a little more into the in-depth history
of the Marine Corp, back in 1812,
we do have a very special person on board,
he is the Lieutenant of the 1812 Marine Guard,
specifically attached to the USS Constitution.
I'm gonna introduce you to Lieutenant Matt Magrath
of the USS Constitution Marine Guard.
- As MA1 Hagerty mentioned the Marines
aboard Constitution had a variety of duties.
She had a 50 man detachment composed of
two officers, two sergeants, two corporals,
a fifer, a drummer and 42 privates.
Normal duty aboard ship,
they would provide sentries of the captain's cabin,
the officer's wardroom, the powder magazines,
as well as the spirit room for the obvious reason
of keeping the run from the crew.
Additionally to that, they had sentries
posted on either side of the main mast.
The quarter deck extending out from the main mast
was in fact officers country the Marine sentries there
would make sure that no unlisted men
were there who were not required there by duty.
In port, an additional Marine would be posted port
and starboard at the gangway
to watch for boats approaching the ship
to alert the officer of the deck,
and to help prevent unauthorized departure
of the ship from the ship of various boats.
In combat things changed, once speak to quarters
is given by the Marine drummer,
the Marines swing into action.
Seven to 10 Marines are assigned
to each of the ship's main tops.
The main top four top and mizzen top.
Their muskets are hauled up in sacks,
along with casts containing their powder charges.
They shed their bayonet cartridge box and shakos
before they go up to the sharpshooters main target
or the ships officers,
easily distinguished in their uniforms,
to kill them to prevent the ship
from being properly commanded.
Control is taken away by shooting anyone at the ships helm.
And to overwhelm the enemy with firepower
and to silence his guns the enemies powder monkeys
charged with carrying powder from the magazines
to the guns would be the next target.
After that ship's gun captains, any sailors, or Marines
on the enemy deck as many people as they could kill.
The remainder of the ship's Marines would have been drawn up
along the ship's waist on either side of the main hatch,
armed with bayonets, ready to either repel
at the enemy assault or to lead
a boarding party aboard the enemy ship.
An example of this resulted in the death of the first
United States Marine officer killed in action.
On the 19th of August 1812 as the Constitution battled
with Guerriere, the two ships close together,
her Marine Lieutenant William S. Bush
grabbing his sword, leaped up onto the taffrail,
ready to lead the boarders aboard the British ship,
turned to Captain Hall for permission
saying, shall I bored her, sir?
He was immediately killed by a British musket ball
through the left cheek.
Her last action in the war of 1812,
her Marine detachment was commanded
by one of the most famous Marines
in the United States history then captain
Archibald Henderson.
Henderson had reported to Constitution after serving
as the barracks commander here in the Charlestown Navy yard.
And he led his Marines into action.
Their musketry was much praised
by Captain Steward after the action.
Following the war of 1812 and 1820,
Henderson would be selected to become
the Lieutenant Colonel commandant of the Marine Corps.
His ability he held for 39 years until he died asleep
in his office in a chair one day
in his afternoon nap in 1859.
The most famous and noted Marine
in the United States history.
Next thing I'd like to do is introduce you to the Marines
of the ship and their weapons with a firing demonstration.
Now's the time for our musket firing demonstration.
Interestingly, as we fought the British
during the war of 1812,
the standard Marine Corps musket was the third
or East India pattern, Brown Bess, a British weapon.
How did we come by them?
Between 1795 and 1800
the United States government purchased 5,000
of these from the crown and approximately 500 or more
went to the United States Marine Corps.
It was actually preferred to the US Springfield
because it was thought to be a better manufacturer.
And the difference was it also was heavy caliber.
The Springfield was a 69 caliber, this is 75 caliber weapon.
What we're gonna do to demonstrate the firing,
First I will take the Marines
through what is known as load by word.
There is a separate command for each step
in the loading process.
These commands are what Marines
were trained by to gain knowledge
and to gain the experience with the weapon.
The last two volleys will be known as loading quickest time,
this is how they would load
and fire in combat under command.
Attention, shoulder, arms, open, hand.
And at this command the Marine turns the weapon,
drops it, throws open the hammer
exposing the pan of the weapon
for the next step which would be priming.
Handle, cartridge.
They're biting the end of the cartridge
off to expose the paper.
Time!
Pouring a little bit of the powder
into the pan as a priming charge,
bring the weapon about,
the pan is closed to hold the powder in the pan.
Charge, cartridge.
The cartridge is up ended, the powder,
and if it was a live cartridge,
the ball would be lowered down the barrel.
Draw, rammer.
Rammer's drawn, inserted, waiting for the next command.
Ram, cartridge.
Cartridge ball and paper would be rammed down tightly.
Return, rammer.
Shoulder, arms,
make ready, take aim, fire.
(gun blasting)
In quickest time load, arms.
In combat each Marine, or in the case
of the army, a soldier, would load the weapons
as quickly as they possibly could,
and then they will bring the weapon up to a carry position.
Once I looked down the line and see that they're all ready,
then I can give the next command.
In the tops they're doing this
and they're just getting ready, once the weapons loaded,
they're holding it out ready for the sharpshooter to fire.
Your average red coat was trained
to fire three rounds a minute.
So we need to at least equal that.
That's what we try to do.
Shoulder, arms, make ready,
take aim, fire.
(guns clicking)
Shoulder, arms, half-cock, shut the pan, bring it up.
Well right about, pace, dismiss.
I'd like thank you all very much.
It's been an honor to take part in Heritage Week
and we would like to wish on behalf
of the 1812 Marine guards,
we'd like to wish all of you successful careers as chiefs.
Keep the tradition going, oorah.