Weapons, throughout time have been the source of war and also the deciding factor in them. Dr. R. J. Gatling, an American inventor would come to change history as we know it with his invention of the Gatling Gun. On May 29, 1898, The New York Times published an article entitled The Gatling High Power Heavy Gun. The article goes into detail about the purpose behind the creation of the Gatling Gun and its inventor following his success. This paper will analyze the change Dr. Gatling and his invention has had on history.
This newspaper article begins by describing the factors that led up to the design and manufacture of the Gatling Gun. The current gun of high power of the time known as the “built-up” gun had a number of issues when it came performance. The “built-up” gun possessed two major defects, one being that a series of hoops made of steel would shrink too tightly on the guns bore causing extreme tension. The second defect was the tendency of the multiple parts of the gun becoming warped and unable to work properly due to its own firing. Upon hearing the flaws and failure of the “built-up” gun, Dr. Gatling was prompted to replace this gun with one of his own invention that better suited the United States government. The real cause of Dr. Gatling’s ambition to create this gun was brought on by his grief from watching the homecoming which refers to the arrival of the dead from war.
Dr. Gatling was granted $40,000 by the Senate Committee to begin the construction of his proposed 8-inch caliber gun. Dr. Gatling’s gun was constructed completely different from the “built-up” gun in a way that it could fire continuously without failure due to its absence of strains, joints and different casting/manufacturing process. On 1961, Gatling finished the new high power heavy gun commonly referred to as the Gatling Gun. The Gatling Gun not only performed better than its predecessor but was also able to be manufactured at a faster rate and at a fraction of the cost. The Gatling Gun would change over the next few decades, but its main design would remain the same due to its quality performance.
The Gatling Gun was a crank operated and featured around four to ten barrels which surrounded a center shaft and a magazine which fed each barrel before the next turn of the guns crank which fired the weapon. With each turn of the crank a barrel fired, and the rate of fire depended on how fast the individual operating the gun could crank it. The early models of the Gatling Gun could fire up to 200 rounds per minute while later models rate of fire increased to 700 to 1,000 rounds in one minute. The performance specifications of the Gatling Gun although clearly superior to that of the “built-up” gun was not instantly put to use. It would not be until 1866 that the U.S. government would officially adopt the Gatling Gun putting it to use during the American Civil War.
Dr. Gatling designed and manufactured the Gatling Gun to help save the lives of Americans but in the end it was the cause of mass death and destruction. The Gatling gun played an key role during and the Civil War, giving U.S. troops a huge advantages in firepower over the western Indians. In certain regions of Africa and Asia, the Gatling gun provided the Europeans with easy victory over local forces. The Gatling gun was used in many battles and wars including the Zulu War of 1879, Battle of Ulundi, Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, Russo-Japanese War on 1905, and the War of the Pacific. By 1880, Dr. Gatling’s Gatling Gun had been bought and used by individuals and nations around the world also spreading his name.
First praises spoken about the Gatling Gun came from a British commander. Lord Chelmsford, leader of that Zululand campaign, wrote warmly of the weapons: On the advance to the relief of Ekowe, two Gatling guns accompanied the column, and at the battle of Ginginhlovo did considerable execution among the Zulus at the opening of their attack…At Ulundi we also had two Gatlings in the centre of the front face of our square. They jammed several times in the action, but when in work proved a very valuable addition…Machine guns are, I consider, most valuable weapons…where the odds against us must necessarily be great…” (Smith 71). This statement would be the first of many toward the Gatling Gun in the 19th century, due to the guns large quantity of firepower which proved very effective against numerous amounts of enemies.
The most impressive use of the Gatling Gun came with the use of its improved model during the Spanish-American War. The improved model was lighter, had a higher firing rate and were made to be more reliable. Lieutenant John Parker during the Battle of San Juan Hill used the Gatling Gun to fire over 18,000 rounds on Spanish positions while American troops attacked. This line of heavy fire prevented the Spanish from firing on the American troops halting their counter-attack. This triumph proved to the U.S. that the Gatling Gun could be used effectively on offense and defense.
The long use of the Gatling Gun and improvements over the years led to others designing and manufacturing their own high power weapons. Even though the Gatling gun was thought to be the perfect weapon, future weapons would prove this otherwise. The Gatling Guns success had a drastic and undeniable effect on future heavy guns. Although the Gatling Gun was used until the 1890s, the Gatling was soon replaced by a new automatic machine gun made in 1886 by Hiram Maxim. The introduction of the new automatic machine guns made the Gatling Guns obsolete leading to the U.S. to recall all of its Gatling on 1911.
A hundred years after the fact, the Gatling Gun is still one of the most famous and unmistakable weapons. The Gatling owes a great deal of its popularity to its one of a kind task and appearance, one made even more famous through television shows, movies and comics. Today Dr. Gatling's designs and guns live on through electrically controlled M134 Minigun and fearsome auto-guns like the GAU-8. Dr. Gatlings invention of the Gatling Gun would carry his name as well as his gun throughout history. The Gatling Gun is the most popular of all 19th century manual machine guns assault rifles, which offered remarkable performance. Indeed, even today, a century and a half after its invention and use, the weapon holds its famous status.