At first weapons were few and ammunition was scanty, but in time there were importations from France and also supplies from American gun factories.

The standard length of the barrel was three and a half feet, a portentous size compared with that of the modern weapon.

The loading was from the muzzle, a process so slow that one of the favorite tactics of the time was to await the fire of the enemy and then charge quickly and bayonet him before he could reload.
The old method of firing off the musket by means of slow matches kept alight during action was now obsolete; the latest device was the flintlock.

But there was always a measure of doubt whether the weapon would go off.

Partly on this account Benjamin Franklin, the wisest man of his time, declared for the use of the pike of an earlier age rather than the bayonet and for bows and arrows instead of firearms.