Thundersticks

Many of us might recall the stereotype found in Hollywood's view of American history: the superstitious Indians frightened and awed by the noise and smoke in their first encounter with Euro-American firearms. To some degree, these stereotypes are reflected in the scholarly literature. I have always believed that soldiers going off to war would, given the choice, use only those technologies that increased the probability of a successful outcome. David J. Silverman, despite the title of his monograph, thoroughly documents the strategic and rational reasons for the adoption of firearms by native North Americans after contact with merchants from Europe. The acquisition of flintlock muskets (not the matchlocks still in use in European warfare) was enthusiastically pursued by populations with access to European trade in the early seventeenth century. Silverman points out that despite the drawbacks of smooth-bore flintlock technology, these firearms still were more effective on the battlefield than bows and arrows

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• Compulsory Empire

  Open Access•Stephen Tuffnell•The English Historical Review•2024

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