Weapons of the British Light Infantry during the American War for Independence

A primer on the standard arms used by British light infantry during the American War for Independence.

Lieutenant Dan Center and Serjeant Rob Welch of the recreated HM 40th Regiment of Foot, Light Infantry Company / 2nd Battalion Light Infantry discuss the three basic flintlock arms including:
1. The 1769 pattern musket - commonly now called the "Brown Bess" or "Short Land Pattern" musket. This was the standard firelock of British light infantry and, increasingly but to a lesser extent, regular British troops as well.
2. The Serjeant's Carbine - in this case, we use what was officially a Royal Artillery Carbine as supplies were often limited of specifically Serjeant's (or, more correctly, originally the "Serjeant of Grenadiers") Carbines. This firelock was carried by senior NCOs as a badge of rank as well as a reserve weapon, if needed.
3. The 1776 pattern contract rifle - based off of the classic, effective, and dependable, jaeger rifles of the period, this was a specialty weapon issued in limited numbers to light infantry troops as well as British light dragoons (essentially the mounted version of light infantry). A thousand of these were made and issued to British troops, making it far more common and extensively used than the more famous but much less dependable "Ferguson Rifle."
...and, of course, don't forget about the British Steel that goes on the ends of both muskets - the ever-important and often-decisive bayonet.

For more information on these arms, please refer to the following indispensible books by De Witt Bailey:
Small Arms of the British Forces 1664-1815
and
British Military Flintlock Rifles, 1740-1840
and Goldstein and Mowbray's The Brown Bess; An Identification Guide and Illustrated Study of Britain's Most Famous Musket

Filmed at Monmouth Battlefield State Park, New Jersey, July 2021.
MANY thanks to Chris "the redcoat" Pratt for editing this.

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