Tal's Report

Talmage was required to write a report about something pertaining to Utah Pioneers. I thought I'd post it because it may be of interest to a lot of the family.

Pioneer Gunmaker

By Talmage Cresap

I chose guns because my grandpa showed me a very cool flintlock rifle. One of the cool things was when he pulled back the hammer, pulled the trigger and the spark went off. The spark was made when the flint struck the steel in the gun. That’s probably the main reason why the flintlock rifle got its name. This experience with my grandpa made me interested in pioneer guns.

One of my great-great-great grandfathers, on my Dad’s side, was Jonathon Browning, who was a gunsmith. He was a gunsmith in Nauvoo for six years. Jonathan Browning was once friends with Abraham Lincoln, who stayed at Browning’s house when he traveled through that part of Illinois.

One of his most famous guns was the slide gun. It was one of the first repeating rifles in America. The slide gun allowed you to shoot multiple times. Instead of working so hard to reload it between each shot, all you had to do was slide the magazine, and then you could pull the trigger again.

In 1846 he left Nauvoo and went with all the Mormons to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Then the Mormon Battalion was going to California to fight the Mexicans and Jonathan wanted to join them, but Brigham Young told him, “Brother Jonathan, we need you here.” Mr. Young needed him to make guns for the pioneers going west.

He stayed in Council Bluffs for six years, making as many as 400 guns, while the rest of the Mormons went west. The Slide Repeating Rifle and the Cylinder Repeating Rifle were the products he made. Indians used to attack people when they were reloading their guns, but this strategy didn’t work against Browning’s repeating rifles, so his guns saved lots of lives. The Indians were surprised when the pioneers fired multiple times: bang, bang, bang! Jon Browning’s guns were hero guns.

Sources:

Black, Susan Easton, “Jonathan Browning, Mormon Gunsmith.” Muzzle Blasts Online, August/September 1997, volume 2, Number 4.

Browning, John; Gentry Curt, John M. Browning: American Gunmaker.