Lewis and Clark Played Airsoft

When you take a look at the firearms in the early part of the galleries here at the National Firearms Museum

you might just quickly give this a glance over and walk on.  This rather archaic rifle doesn’t really stand out amongst all the others in the case.  But in fact it’s probably one of the most historically significant guns in the entire collection because this gun that could be said change the entire history of the United States of America in the 19th century and perhaps the history of the world in the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Basically it’s just an Air Rifle and in fact it’s a rather well preserved gun.

It’s called the Girandoni.  It was designed by an Italian that had these manufactured for the Austrians in 1790.

Not long after own American Revolution was over this gun was put into production and used by the Austrians against Napoleon in the wars that were then raging across Europe.

How this gun found its way to the United States of America in 1803 is one of the great mysteries of the time.  But we do know that this particular type of rifle, an air rifle, was carried by Lewis and Clark during their Core of Discovery expedition from St. Louis to the Cascades in Oregon, the Pacific Ocean and all the way back between 1803 in 1806.

This gun itself is fairly simple to work. There is a detachable butt stock right here.  This one is covered in leather.

Why do we think that this gun is perhaps one of the most historically significant in all the world?

Well if you read a great book on the Lewis and Clark expedition called Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose you’ll find out that he asked a question three times during the course of the book that he can’t answer himself.

He says how did these guys managed to get from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back again without any major loss of life?  How is it that any band of Indians didn’t just decide to overwhelm them, take all their rifles their pistols their cannons their powder and shot and then make war on the neighboring Indians with basically an arsenal that could be unsurpassed for perhaps the next 50 years on the planes.

How come the Indians didn’t just go out and squash these guys like a bug and put an end to it and take everything they had?  There are only 36 – 38 of them at any one time.  They could have been easily overwhelmed.

You see it’s well known that Lewis had one air rifle with them on the trip.  In fact he speaks about it and the very first page of the first diary that he wrote during the expedition.

The very first day first entry he says “We stopped at Brunos Island today and I demonstrated the air rifle.  It was a wonderment to the crowd.”

Now if you were to read the 13 volumes and 1 million words of the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition as put together by the University of Nebraska press and Dr. Gary Mountain you will find that the Lewis and Clark air rifle is mentioned 39 times throughout those 13 volumes.

It is interesting to note that nearly every single time the air rifle is mentioned, it’s mentioned being used in the exact same manner every single time.  And therein lies the key as to the usefulness of this gun and why I think and I think you will when we’re done here understand this to be the most important historical gun in the entire history of the United States.

The reason why I say that is if you look at these 36 – 38 guys that are going across the country and and one gal Sacagawea leading the way, you will find out that every time they come across the new tribe of Indians which vastly and overwhelmingly outnumbered them they did the exact same routine for the Indians.

They put on their swallowtail coats, they unfurl the flag, they got the drums beating, the fifes fifing and paraded into the Indian camp in their full “Class A” uniforms.  They gave the Chiefs bolts of cloth, beaded necklaces, large coins and then, each and every single time Lewis demonstrates the air rifle.

He shows the Indians that he has a large caliber, highly accurate, very effective, repeating gun that doesn’t smoke or go bang when it goes off.

To the Indians as he wrote in his own journals “they found it to be of great amazement and great wonderment. Something from the gods.”

This gun the Indians could never see the end of the gun actually firing and every time that Lewis tries to move on from one camp to the other the Indians are always interested in seeing what provisions he brought with them on the

If there were 38 of them each firing 22 shots in less than 30 seconds, there’s a lot of Indians that are going to be hurting if they tried to overwhelm the small band of intrepid explorers.

So when you look at this, you begin to understand the way that this gun was used, it answers Ambrose’s question for him.

These guys went from east to west and back to east again discovering and claiming greater than one half the land mass of North America for the United States and they did it with basically a parlor trick.

It was the perception of peace through superior firepower.  Because if they had been overwhelmed by any of these Indians, those Indians would have had enough guns powder and ball just to basically put up a strong fight for the next 50 years on the plains.

They could have subjugated any of the tribes that they were currently a war with.

These guys were able to go out and back.

They did so by letting and intimidating the Indians into thinking they had a vast arsenal of superior weapons.

And as a result the Indians passed them on from one tribe to another till they got all the way to the headwaters of the Cascades at the Potomac River.  Camped there for the winter and then came back.

A three-year expedition to double the size of the United States of America. Added new stars to the flag and for the first time in our history we truly became the United States of America from sea to shining sea.

All because of the perception of peace through superior firepower.