Weapons of Mississippi

5. MISSISSIPPI RIFLES: WEAPONS OF MISSISSIPPIANS IN MEXICO

59 MISSISSIPPI RIFLES WEAPONS OF MISSISSIPPIANS IN MEXICO America of the 1840s was the America of Manifest Destiny. In 1845, Congress annexed Texas, which until 1836 had been a republic of Mexico. Since then, however, Texas had considered itself an independent republic, while Mexico still saw it as a wayward province in revolt. When Texas joined the United States, relations between Mexico and the United States rapidly deteriorated. On May 13, 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico, and President James Polk faced the problem of building an army capable of battling the formidable Mexican army of Antonio López de Santa Anna. Mississippians had long supported Texas independence and welcomed it into the Union as a Southern state critical to maintaining the delicate balance of power between slave and free states. In spite of a flood of volunteers, Secretary of War William Marcy limited the Mississippi state quota to a single regiment of infantry or riflemen for twelve months’ service. Competition was stiff, and many disappointed volunteers were refused, but finally the 936-man First Mississippi Volunteer Regiment was mustered into federal service. On the second ballot, Jefferson Davis, then serving in the U.S. Congress, was elected as the regiment’s colonel.1 5 MISSISSIPPI RIFLES 60 Davis’s selection profoundly impacted the weapons Mississippians would use in Mexico. The most common shoulder arm in the Mexican War was the flintlock musket, although technical developments had made it possible to replace the flintlock with the percussion cap and therefore make muskets more reliable and serviceable in rain and snow. Indeed, in 1842 the army ceased producing flintlocks, and the Model 1841 Springfield caplock actually became the standard shoulder arm. The way the system worked was that when the weapon’s hammer fell, it struck a small brass cap that fit snugly over a nipple at the breach of the weapon. The inside of the cap was painted with a small daub of mercury fulminate, which would ignite when hit by the hammer. This action sent a spark to the chamber and ignited the powder charge. The used cap could then be discarded and a new one put in place for the next firing. The percussion cap system eliminated the need to prime the weapon. The system not only made the rifle faster to load but also achieved a much lower rate of misfires than the flintlock, which was particularly vulnerable under damp conditions. However,Army General-in-Chief Winfield Scott distrusted the percussion cap as being too complicated, and because of his influence, the flintlock remained the predominant firearm when the Mexican War began. Volunteer units, however, were less traditional in embracing the new technology,and many,such as Davis’s“Mississippi Rifles,”were outfitted with rifles.2 The weapon and the Mississippi soldiers who bore it would win fame and victory at the Battle of Buena Vista. MISSISSIPPI’S MILITIA TRADITION By 1846, Mississippi had reversed completely the poor militia that territorial governors Sergeant and Claiborne had struggled just to supply with weapons. Mississippi now had a well-organized, well-equipped, and welldrilled militia that personified the society’s fascination with all things martial .This martial spirit was a large part of the culture of not just Mississippi but the entire South. Southern men relished in hunting, riding horses, MISSISSIPPI RIFLES 61 fighting, and dueling, and these preferences naturally led to an enthusiasm for participation in the militia. The result, according to one visitor to the state, was a man“almost naturally trained for war.”3 An example of this martial spirit and its impact on the Mississippi militia is John Quitman. Originally from New York, Quitman arrived in Natchez in 1821 at the age of twenty-three. By then the militia system, not just in Mississippi but in the entire nation, had reached a serious crisis. The failure to achieve federal regulation of the militia and an absence of imminent enemy attack had caused a dangerous lapse in militia standards. This was exactly the situation Quitman found in Natchez. By 1823, Quitman was the brigade inspector for the second brigade of the first division in the Mississippi militia. The position gave Quitman both experience and visibility, and by the spring of 1824 he was able to lead a group of like-minded individuals to form a volunteer company that became known as...