Liz Kirchner
Local author, firearms historian and collector, Jim Mullins, will present his book “’Of Sorts for Provincials’: American Weapons of the French and Indian War” at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan.12, at the Christiansburg Library and at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19, at the Meadowbrook Public Library.
It is notable that the firearms, swords, and accouterments Mullins will discuss were used by American provincial soldiers during local manifestations of the French and Indian War at places like Ft. Vause, a rife-shot from Meadowbrook Public Library.
An historian of weapons of the American Revolution and the French and Indian War Mullins was curious about the weapons being used by regular colonial soldiers, but began to recognize a gap in existing literature.
“When I would go to battlefields, seeing archaeological digs, I started noticing patterns, but I couldn’t find a book to tell me what these things were,” he said. So intrigued, he went to Kew, England to find out more, and write the book himself.
Tracking 250-year old weapons shipments, digging through journals, orderly books, and official military records he found shipping invoices from 1755 that labeled the guns destined for the colonies: “Of sorts for provincials” that meant they were “a mixed bag,” Mullins said. “but good enough for the Americans.”
“Instead of the Brown Bess, the 18th century top-tier musket, the backwater colonies got second-rate guns. A mixed lot of guns to fight the French and the Indians,”
Mullins tells the story, breaking it down by year and colony, of the many problems encountered while arming the American colonial soldiers, by using actual quotes from the correspondence of the British officers.
A layered story, the British were battling the French and Native Americans, but they were also occupied on land and sea throughout the world.
“Because wars cost money, this was one of the first world wars, and the British were already engaged all over the globe. Top-of-the-line firearms went to politically well- connected generals or to fights taking place closer to England,” Mullins said.
Interested in the weapons as tangible manifestations of world history, Mullins is a collector and speaks professionally at arms symposia.
“These objects are the material connections that make things a little more personal than campaigns and dates and numbers,” he said. “They’re a way of fixing yourself in an historic moment – fixing yourself to what they would have seeing and hearing and getting a more tangible connection to a period of history I find fascinating.”
This is his first talk to a general audience, which will be fairly informal he said, talking about the why and how he got into writing on this subject.
The premise of the book is geared to firearms historians he said, calling the subject “fairly niche.”
“This book sheds much light on this long neglected area and will be of immense value to historians and collectors alike.” Don Troiani, Military Artist and Historian said in a review.
Mr. Mullins is a retired stay-at-home Dad and graphics designer for the Museum of Colonial Williamsburg. He writes articles about the material culture of back-country America.
For more about the book, visit: www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/267/1/BOOK-OSFP
