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MUSKETS PROCURED BY AUTHORITY OF A COLONY OR STATE It isa misconception that allAmerican-made Britishpattern Revolutionary War muskets were "Committee of Safety" muskets. As it is explained below, the colonies1 committees of safety procured musketsbetween late springof 1775 and 1778. By 1778 the legislaturesof the several colonies had adopted new constitutions and had become officially known as "states." Muskets made under state contracts for militia arms, let from 1778, are properlydefined as "state contract" muskets. Still other American-made musketswere procured under authority of the Continental Congress. COMMITTEES OF SAFETY 031.2 The following resolution was passed by the Continental Congress on July 18, 1775: "Resolved, that it be recommended to each Colony to appoint a committee of Safety, to superintend and direct all matters necessary for the security and defenseof their respectivecolonies, in the recess oftheir assemblies and conventions." Committees ofsafety had been formed at the local and county level inseveral of the colonies for many months prior to this. The Provincial Congress of the Massachusetts Bay Colony had authorized a colony-wide Committee of Safety in May 1775. For over a yearpriorto the outbreak ofhostilities, many Americans in the New England colonies were aware that the war was inevitable and had begun the clandestine stockpiling of militarysupplies.The colonies below New England do not appear to have begun this until after the April 19,1775, outbreak of hostilities. In each of the colonies, local and county committees, or "councils ," of safety were formed as the organizingagency in charge of procurement and storage of militarystores. The resolution of the Continental Congress just cited authorized committees of safety at the colony level. These colonial committees of safety functioned as the colonial government when the legislature was in recess and usually had power to convene the legislature as well as broad powers to act in its stead. The local and county committees of safety received direction, and coordination with the committees of other counties, from the colony's Committee of Safety or its Provincial Congress, sometimes called the Assembly of Delegates. After the outbreak of hostilities, most provincial congresses authorized the committees of safety to purchase all available firearms in each county, or to contract for the fabricationof musketsby the gunmakers in the county, or both. 031. MUSKETS PROCURED BY AUTHORITY OF A COLONY OR STATE There were an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 gunmakers in America at that time, and at least twothirds of them were sympathetic to the Revolution. Extremely limited quantities of shoulder arms are known to have been purchased by colonies from abroad — and even fewer wereprocured domestically — prior to the outbreak ofhostilities. There isno evidence that any Committee of Safety contracts were let for fabricating muskets in America until after the battles of Lexington and Concord. The muskets and other military stores procured by the committees of safety were usually intended forthat colony's militia, not the regularContinentalarmy. However, many of the colonial militia forces were levied for continental service, and so some arms and military stores procured by committees of safety did see continental service. There wasalso another exception to this: The continental government used the Committee of Safety structure of at least two colonies for the procurement of continental arms. These will be discussed next. The committees of safety procured military stores until 1778. By then most of the individual states' governments had been formed from the interim governments that had existed during the transitional period from colonial government. These state governments took over the musket contracts and other military procurement functions. COMMITTEE OF SAFETY MUSKETS 031.4 The muskets contracted by the various colonies' committees of safety were generally of the British land pattern configuration. The specifications for the contracted muskets, prescribed by the committees of safety, were remarkably similar. The specified barrel lengths range from 42" to 46", and they were to be .75 caliber. They were to be brass-mounted, although iron-mounted muskets were accepted in some colonies. The stocks were to be ofblack walnut, although other indigenous hardwoods, such as maple or cherry, were also accepted. All were to have steel ramrods and a socket bayonet with a 16" to 18" blade. The probable reason for the similarityof musket specifications in the various colonies was the following resolution passed by the Continental Congress on November 4, 1775: "Resolved, that it be recommended to the severalassemblies or conventions of the colonies respectively, to set and keep their gunsmiths at work, to manufacture good fire locks with bayonets; each...

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