No arms yet of any amount from Europe; though our agent
writes that he has a number of manufactories at work. The U. S. agent has
engaged the rest. All the world seems to be in the market buying arms. Mr.
Dayton, U. S. Minister in Paris, has bought 30,000 flint-locks in France; and
our agent wants authority to buy some too. He says the French statisticians
allege that no greater mortality in battle occurs from the use of the
percussion and the rifled musket than from the old smooth-bore flint-lock
musket. This may be owing to the fact that a shorter range is sought with the
latter.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 75
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