The Gatling Gun
The Gatling Gun was a new invention that was made by Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling. The Gatling gun was a hand-crank operated weapon that used six rotating gun barrels to fire about 600 rounds per minute, or 100 rounds fired from each barrel per minute. It fired the standard ammunition cartridge and it performed well in tests, but the U.S government was not interested in such items. However, after the Civil War had finished, a new model of the Gatling gun was tested by the U.S government and was adopted by the government in 1866. After this official recognition, Gatling's began selling his guns internationally. This Gatling gun was the predecessor of all machine guns to come.
The Gatling gun showed the world that the strength of a division could be shot out of a Gatling gun in minutes. An entire battalion did not have to take the field to defend a position when a single Gatling gun could be deployed to defend that area. Gatling wanted to be able to create a weapon that shot rapidly and erase the need of massive armies to defeat foes.
In a letter to a friend, Dr. Gatling clearly describes his beliefs in why he developed this gun:
My Dear Friend.
It may be interesting to you to know how I came to invent the gun which bears my name; I will tell you: In 1861, during the opening events of the war, (residing at that time in Indianapolis, Md.,) I witnessed almost daily the departure of troops to the front and the return of the wounded, sick, and dead. The most of the latter lost their lives, not in battle, but by sickness and exposure incident to the service. It occurred to me if I could invent a machine--a gun-- which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a great extent, supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease be greatly diminished. I thought over the subject and finally this idea took practical form in the invention of the Gatling Gun.
Yours truly,
R.J. Gatling
The Gatling gun showed the world that the strength of a division could be shot out of a Gatling gun in minutes. An entire battalion did not have to take the field to defend a position when a single Gatling gun could be deployed to defend that area. Gatling wanted to be able to create a weapon that shot rapidly and erase the need of massive armies to defeat foes.
In a letter to a friend, Dr. Gatling clearly describes his beliefs in why he developed this gun:
My Dear Friend.
It may be interesting to you to know how I came to invent the gun which bears my name; I will tell you: In 1861, during the opening events of the war, (residing at that time in Indianapolis, Md.,) I witnessed almost daily the departure of troops to the front and the return of the wounded, sick, and dead. The most of the latter lost their lives, not in battle, but by sickness and exposure incident to the service. It occurred to me if I could invent a machine--a gun-- which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a great extent, supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease be greatly diminished. I thought over the subject and finally this idea took practical form in the invention of the Gatling Gun.
Yours truly,
R.J. Gatling