Source: Red Coat and Brown Bess. Museum Restoration Service, Bloomfield, Ontario. 1970. Anthony Darling. p.10.

"The flintlock muskets and bayonet had been the great weapons innovations of 17th Century warfare. Previously, foot soldiers were more or less evenly divided up between matchlock musketeers and pikemen: missile and shock troops who fought in columns or squares. Pikemen also served as a defense for musketeers; the hollow pike squares afford security into which the musketeers could retreat when subjected to a cavalry attack. Under such a system, firepower or missile action was limited. The flintlock musket brought about a superior rate of fire over the slower-functioning matchlock, while the bayonet removed the necessity of maintaining pikemen. The new weapons, in emphasizing firepower and individual protection brought about the development of linear tactics."

thats a lot of bla bla bla to not answer the original question of where the term "musket" came from.

Are you sure your not a politician?

Mike.

An excellent observation and a great question Mike. Glad it amused you the way it did me.

No. Not a politician. Just an educator.

Pud

Hi, I´m new here, and please sorry my english. Maybe it can help, is a strange hipotesis from the origin of the word musket/moschetto/mousquet/muskete/mosquete....

"The word originally signified a male sparrowhawk (Italian moschetto, derived perhaps ultimately from Latin musca, a fly) and its application to the weapon may be explained by the practice of naming firearms after birds and beasts (cf. falcon, basilisk). Strictly speaking, the word is inapplicable both to the early hand-guns and to the arquebuses and calivers that superseded the hand-guns . The "musket " proper, introduced into the Spanish army by the Duke of Alva, was much heavier and more powerful than the arquebus."

I take it from
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/MOS_NAN/M ... kete_.html

Hope it helps.

Regards from Buenos Aires.

Marcelo.

Nicely said Marcelo! Where were you a year and a half ago when I was attempting to answer the "musket" question.....? lol

The original post was never finished and you just brought it to my attention that I meant to go back to it and add to it....

Thanks for your post. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you.

Cheers from the Great White North......22 degrees below zero celcius here tonight....how about in Buenos Aires??

Pud

Thanks Pud,

I knew this page just a few days ago, looking for some articles about the brown bess musket.


Well, now we are in summer here, so we had today + 27 centigrade or celcius degrees, really hot, and the worse, dampness, please send some snow...


By the way congratulations, serious reenactment and very interesting uniforms... hope someday we can do something similar here !!

Regards.

Marcelo.

Wow, Marcelo, sounds like you're having a real melt down at your place !! lol

If there was anyway I could send you all of our snow,.....I would, trust me!! lol Hopefully we'll only have 6 more weeks of it and then the birds will come back and everything will begin to grow again and the air will warm up.............ahhhhhhhhhh, I can hardly wait.

We actually have our severe heat at the end of June and then the severe humidity by early August.

Have you ever travelled to Canada before?

By the way,....welcome to our website! It's good to have a fellow enthusiast onboard. And, I too hope that you someday get to re-enact as we do. Let me know when you do because I'd love to come and watch, even participate if you'd have me

So, what has brought on your interest in Napoleonic or 1812/14 Warfare?

I look forward to hearing from you again.

Cheers,

Pud

Hi Pud,

I never travelled to Canada, but 2 friends of me have families there since the 80’s, and they told me that they love the country and people, very polite and respectful of the law, they said. I hope someday to know the plains of Abraham !!

Well, some shooters here are using muzzleloaders guns from more than 30 years ago (I from 10), specially muskets, but reenactment is only being born since 2 years ago, because is very difficult to obtain equipment and uniforms (and people interested, they come and go, you have the same problem?), and we have a hard work manufacturing almost everything.

The most important events here are the two british attacks to Buenos Aires in 1806/07, that s why Im interested in that age. We had a 3 days event in Ensenada de Barragan last October, where we attack a fort (well, its ruins), and defeat an spanish regiment + colonial militia there. Sadly next day we lost a battle on opened field and my comrades and I were merciless killed (RIP). I see you like military history, maybe its hard to find in english spoken books this little war at the South end of the world.

By the way, we re-enact a british landing party (HMS Diadem), that was in that historical attack, and use local India brown besses.

Thanks for writing & keep the contact !!

Marcelo.