Document for August 21st:
"Battery Gun" By Richard Jordan Gatling, 1865
"Battery Gun" By Richard Jordan Gatling, 1865, Ink and watercolor on paper, 18 3/4" x 14 1/4"; Records of the Patent and Trademark Office; Record Group 241; National Archives.
Officially adopted by the U.S. Army on August 21, 1866, the Gatling gun was the first successful rapid-fire repeating gun. Invented by Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling, a physician, the first model of his "Battery Gun" was patented on May 9, 1865, and had six barrels revolving around a central axis. It proved superior to other rapid-fire guns of the time and, for more than 40 years, the Gatling gun was used by almost every world power.
More Civil War Inventions
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Walruses in an Arctic Pool
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"Radishes! Penny a bunch!"
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