For two hundred years the great wilderness of the American West was being opened up and slowly destroyed by settlers from the east. Their prime tool was the gun, and the longarm and pistol have achieved legendary status in the folklore of the Wild West. Firearms of the American West tells the story of the guns used in the West during this period, which included the Indian Wars, the Civil War and the Gold Rushes. Copiously illustrated, no Western fan or gun enthusiast will want to be without this book.

In 1803 Lewis and Clark set out on their epic expedition across the American wilderness west of the Mississippi, armed with the typical weapon of their day, the single-shot muzzle-loading rifle. By 1865, a variety of breech-loading and repeating arms had been invented there were both easier to use and more accurate. This encyclopaedic study, part one of a two-part book, traces the development and uses of firearms on the frontier during that period, drawing on primary sources such as correspondence and diaries, newspaper accounts, government reports, and patent materials. Then, as now, most of the advances in weaponry were made in response to the military's needs, becoming available somewhat later to civilians, and then to Indians. The authors thoroughly cover the refinements and adaptations of weapons for employ by these three groups and by explorers and trappers, describing in detail each gun, its modifications, operations, and uses. In many ways the history of firearms on the frontier parallels the history of the development of the West.

This is the second volume of a two-part encyclopedic reference to firearms in the 19th-century American West, offering both technical information and historical narrative. Covering the period from the close of the Civil War to the modern period, it draws on advertisements from newspapers, catalogues, and other primary sources to discuss the military and civilian firearms used in the settling of the West, including rifles, shotguns, and handguns, as well as the guns used by the Native Americans. Illustrated with some 500 photographs of the weapons and of the people who used them. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Explores the development of the weapons used by the pioneers of the American West.

On t.p.: The handguns, longarms and shotguns of the Gold Rush, the American Civil War, the Wild West and the Armed Forces.

Joseph G. Rosa's vivid and expertly written tale of this violent time combines contemporary accounts with meticulous historical research and an unjaundiced appraisal of the facts. Telling the story of every major gunfighter, peace officer, and outlaw of the West, Rosa places them within the context of a violent frontier and the coming of law and order. Complementing the text are twenty-seven outstanding color spreads featuring firearms from the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum (Los Angeles) and the Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Cody). Many of the spreads contain guns owned and used by such well-known individuals as Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, John Wesley Hardin, Frank James, and Harvey Logan.

"Guns on the early frontiers is concerned particularly with the arms used in the West during the first half of the nineteenth century, but since the guns used in the earlier settlement of the eastern half of the continent were the antecedents of the western arms, these too are discussed. And in order that the story of guns in the West may be better understood, the roots of the gun trade are traced to their seventeenth-century origins on the eastern seaboard and on the St. Lawrence. Dutch, French and English traders, especially, laid the groundwork for the gun trade in the New World two hundred years before the Americans started to trade in guns. Consequently, European arms and European influences are given some attention"--Page viii.

The History of America—And Our Guns The history of the United States is, like it or not, interwoven with the history of firearms. The young colony needed technologically advanced arms to hunt for food for survival and to maintain a secure base in the face of Native American opposition to European settlers. As the Vikings discovered several centuries earlier, the Indians were tough opponents expert in the use of bladed weapons and bows. The advent of firearms gave European settlers an advantage, although it was only a matter of time until the Native Americans gained access to firearms themselves. Ironically, this was often through unscrupulous white traders. Because these superior weapons gained them their freedom, the principle of the right to bear arms remains etched into the American psyche to this day. Since then, the US has been through a terrible Civil War, at which time many different guns were invented and deployed against brother Americans, each one playing a part in the eventual outcome of the war. After the Civil War came a period of frontier establishment when the country consolidated itself from coast to coast. The outside world knows this best as the Wild West, and again guns played a big part in civilizing unruly parts of the nation. Two world wars also tested America's ingenuity in ensuring that its troops were competitively armed. The invention of automatic weapons by John M. Browning made this a reality. In the post Second World War period the country has had to fight its way through Korea, Vietnam, and numerous other conflicts in the Middle East and Asia. Gun development has not stood still at any time in United States history, and this book illustrates fifty examples that form essential parts of that story. 50 Guns That Changed America will explore the most significant American weapons from the early days of firepower to the amazing modern guns in use today, including: Simeon North/Hall pistol Dimick plains rifle Spencer carbine rifle Winchester Model 1866 Smith & Wesson Army revolver Colt Peacemaker M60 machine gun ArmaLite AR-18 machine gun Each firearm is illustrated in full color with archive photography of the manufacturers and the guns in action where possible.

'Firearms in American History' describes firearms development and use in America from colonization in the 1500s to the end of the 1800s in the hands of the military, American Indians, and civilians.