A few sections from William Hamilton's "My Sixty Years on the Plains". There are many fights involving archery in the book, but this is a bit past the musket age, so I'm limiting my quotations to Hamilton's interesting comments regarding archery. Read it for yourself if you want: https://archive.org/stream/mysixtyyearsonp00hamigoog/mysixtyyearsonp00hamigoog_djvu.txt Wet buckskin proof against arrows: All … Continue reading Frontiersman William T. Hamilton’s Thoughts on Archery
Frontiersman Big-foot Wallace’s Thoughts on Archery
This is a section from the biography of the frontiersman and Texas Ranger, William "Big-foot" Wallace. These are Wallace's opinions on archery. While they are a bit after the musket era, Wallace was a veteran Indian-fighter and his comments are interesting. One caveat: these may not be Wallace's exact words. They were "written out from … Continue reading Frontiersman Big-foot Wallace’s Thoughts on Archery
Bow Vs Musket in East-Central Africa- Henry Stanley
From the explorer Henry Stanley's book, "How I Found Livingstone". In 1871 Stanley, with funding from the New York Herald, launched an expedition from the city of Zanzibar on the east coast of Africa with the goal of discovering if the missionary Dr. Livingstone was dead. Stanley caught up to Livingstone at Lake Tanganyika. Stanley … Continue reading Bow Vs Musket in East-Central Africa- Henry Stanley
“The Best Arrow Shot in the History of Indian Warfare”?
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/79/?q=arrow Here is a description of a skirmish between thirty-four Texan colonists and hundreds of Comanche on May 26, 1839. This battle is known as the Bird's Creek Fight. Recoiling under the fire, the Indians again formed on the hill and remained about twenty minutes, when a second charge was made in the same order, … Continue reading “The Best Arrow Shot in the History of Indian Warfare”?
Prices of Weapons in Early 16th C Holland
James P. Ward http://james.wardware.com/J-Europ-Econ-Hist.pdf Halberds were 3-4 times more expensive than pikes. Bows were very cheap: The poor man's other weapon besides the pike was the longbow with its arrows. One hundred longbows cost Gouda 14 stuivers in 1508, the same price as one halberd at Leiden. Although arrows were bought in larger numbers (thousands) … Continue reading Prices of Weapons in Early 16th C Holland
The Spanish Conquest of Mexico, part 1
The main written source regarding the conquest of Mexico is the memoir of Bernal Diaz, written in his old age. Diaz served under Cortes for the entire duration of the invasion. Of all the history books I've read, this one is probably my favorite, and I learned the most from it. If you have any … Continue reading The Spanish Conquest of Mexico, part 1
The Book of the Crossbow by Ralph Payne-Gallwey; Crossbow, longbow ranges compared
https://archive.org/details/Book_of_the_Crossbow_The_by_Sir_Ralph_Payne-Galloway/ Ralph Payne-Gallwey claimed that his Book of the Crossbow, published 1903, was the first to examine the use of the medieval crossbow in detail. He is probably correct. He was able to examine a large number of extant medieval crossbows and provided diagrams along with descriptions of their context, construction, and point-blank and maximum … Continue reading The Book of the Crossbow by Ralph Payne-Gallwey; Crossbow, longbow ranges compared
A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia – Thomas Harriot 1590
Thomas Harriot was a multi-talented associate of Sir Walter Raleigh, the founder of the Roanoke colony (known as the "lost colony" because all of the colonists mysteriously disappeared). Harriot learned the Algonquin language from a pair of Croatan who had been brought back to England by an earlier expedition. Harriot spent a short time attached … Continue reading A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia – Thomas Harriot 1590
Battle on the Ice – John Knight, 1606
The explorer John Knight was shipwrecked off the coast of Canada. Upon going to shore with three men, Knight and his party were killed by natives. A member of Knight's crew, Oliver Browne, took over composing Knight's journal for the remainder of the expedition. While in the process of salvaging supplies from the wrecked ship … Continue reading Battle on the Ice – John Knight, 1606
The Amazons of Cartagena – Antonio de Hererra, 1601
From the chronicles of the Spanish historian Antonio de Hererra, a passage describing "Amazonian women" who fought with poisoned arrows and one who slew eight Spaniards with her bow. The first that saw Carthagena, in the year 1502. was Roderick Bastidas, & the year 1504. Juan de la Cosa or John of the Thing went … Continue reading The Amazons of Cartagena – Antonio de Hererra, 1601
Bow Vs. Musket 