, Timeless
Firearms
BY JIM LAMB
Alongside a two-lane country road, east of Philadelphia as the crow
flies, stands a modest-sized rough-hewn stone structure where the
birth of firearms in America took place. The small gun shop was
built in 1719. It belonged to Martin Meylin, a Mennonite gunsmith
from Zurich. A historic marker on the side of the building reads:
“Birthplace of the Pennsylvania Rifle. Martin Meylin 1670-1749
gunsmith of Switzerland settled here in the Pequea Valley in 1710
and made in this gun shop the earliest known Pennsylvania or
so-called Kentucky rifle. He was the first of a group of Lancaster
County rifle makers who prior to 1745 originated and gave to
America that historic and colorful firearm.”
The last line on the plaque says “Presented by the Willow Street
Woman’s Club.”
In his book The Kentucky Rifle, published in 1924, Captain John GW
Dillin called the weapon “A rifle which changed the whole course
of world history; made possible the settlement of a continent; and
ultimately freed our country of foreign domination.”
Here’s how Dillin described this game-changer of a gun:
“Light in weight; graceful in line; economical in consumption of
powder and lead; fatally precise; distinctly American; it sprang into
immediate popularity; and for a hundred years was a model often
slightly varied but never radically changed.”
How did it come about?
The New World’s expansive territory, thick forests, and challenging
terrain forced craftsmen to adapt, resulting in guns with longer
barrels for accuracy and a smaller bore that provided more bang for
the buck, in terms of the relative weight of ammo vs. the number of
shots available.
No less a folk hero than Daniel Boone – pioneer, explorer,
frontiersman – owned a Pennsylvania Long Rifle. Boone’s success
with the firearm in Kentucky ultimately re-branded the weapon and
helped make it a legend as the Kentucky Rifle.
So accurate that it was used by snipers, the Kentucky Rifle was
nicknamed “The Widow Maker” for its ability to take down highvalue
targets such as British officers. One such example: British
General Simon Fraser, shot by a frontiersman named Timothy
Murphy on October 7, 1777. John Danielski, author of the popular
Pennywhistle series, called General Fraser “a well-liked and capable
leader,” adding that a victory by Fraser at that time “might well have
delayed the decisive American victory at Saratoga.”
Murphy was a sharpshooter with Gen Daniel Morgan’s Corps of
Riflemen during the American Revolutionary War. His weapon: The
Kentucky Rifle, a legendary firearm that eventually worked its way
into popular culture. Here are just a few examples:
James Fenimore Cooper’s 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans
featured the character Hawkeye, who is nicknamed La Longue
Carabine, which means “Long Rifle.” (Oscar-winner Daniel Day-
Lewis played the role in Michael Mann’s 1992 film adaptation).
The movie Kentucky Rifle (1955) centers on a wagon train in which
one of the wagons carries 100 long rifles and their safe passage is
in doubt because of Comanche Indians.
In his Oscar-winning Revenant performance (2015) Leonardo
DiCaprio portrays Hugh Glass who owns a Bucks County long rifle
which is stolen by his nemesis John Fitzgerald. Two rifles
The TRUMP RALLY Publication 57