Brown Bess Carbine

 18th Century - Napoleonic Wars - War of 1812 - Waterloo

" provided to the movie series Pirates of the Caribbean (see picture below)"

Brown Bess Carbine Reducing the length of the Brown Bess dates to the Seven Years Wars when new Light Infantry Corps and Highland Regiments in North America began cutting down their muskets.  This allowed the soldier freer movement in the dense wooded terrain where many battles of the French and Indian Wars were fought on.  However the first official Brown Bess Carbine of the configuration offered here was the 1796 pattern Heavy Cavalry Carbine.  This Carbine came both with and without swivels.  For example, the 6th Inniskillin Dragoons did not use swivels.  Both an original found on the field of the Battle of Waterloo (now in the National Army Museum, London) and another marked to the 6th Dragoons in the Canadian War Museum collection documents the carbine model offered here.

However its use did not end with the Heavy Cavalry.   Over a thousand carbines were shipped to North America just before the opening of the War of 1812.   Some Canadian militia units are documented using them and the famous Canadian Voltiguers were initially provided with 500 units of them.   Clearly it was expected these carbines would serve well in the forests of North America.   It is suspected they were also issued the native allies and Voyageurs at the opening of the war, when many military stores were cleared out to feed the unquenchable demand for arms.  Clearly it is ideal is a canoe musket, hence the believe it found its way into the fur trade as well.   Many naval historians also contend they were used by the Royal Navy and a japanned barrelled original, for years on display at the Canadian War Museum, seems to support this theory.