His suit is of a heavy madder red wool, lined with un-dyed wool. The soldiersí coat is of a simple and economical design with a stand-up collar and his britches are narrow by the standards of the time, with green linen ties at the knees. These suits are said to have been issued in two sizes only - too big and too small.
Both coat and britches are fastened by a series of large pewter buttons. There are contemporary accounts that describe musketeers running out of bullets and shooting their buttons at the enemy!
This musketeer wears a montero cap in red wool, adorned with green and white ribbons, a reference to the old Welsh Tudor favours and a symbol of loyalty to the Crown. These hats were issued to many Oxford Army units during the Civil War, and were perhaps a forerunner to the balaclava. They could be folded up, as is shown in this photograph, or rolled down in cold or inclement weather.
He wears a pair of grey worsted hose and over these a secondary pair of knitted stockings worn loose, as was the fashion of the time.
On his feet are the standard leather latchet shoes. These shoes were straight lasted, which meant there was no left or right foot and they were issued in sets of three. The three shoes were worn in rotation, with one stored in the snap-sack. This meant the shoes wore down evenly on either side, and by adding one extra shoe to the issue the men could get many times the wear out of them.
The musketeer carries a snap-sack, a square of tough linen or leather, sown or tied into a sausage shape and attached to the back with leather straps. In this bag he would have to carry everything he needed on the march, including his spare shoe, a spare shirt and stockings, spare match, musket balls and gun oil, dried or preserved food, water, a knife, a wooden bowl and drinking vessel, and perhaps a spoon, sewing kit, tinder box, some soap or a comb, rags or bandages, candles, a blanket, a little money and anything else he may have bought, stolen or won at gambling on his travels.
He carries at his waist a cartridge bag. This would have carried small paper cartridges containing a measure of gunpowder, and is where we get the modern-day term; 'cartridge paper'. This bag would have also contained musket balls, wadding and perhaps a pricker, a small pin made of non-ferrous metal used to clean out the touchhole on his musket.
The musketeer is armed with a short, basic soldiers sword that is carried on a girdle and hangar, the name for the belt around his waist.
His gun is a matchlock musket. This means it was fired using match, a long length of rope soaked in saltpetre, which made it burn slowly and steadily. It was an old and basic gun design, relying on a simple trigger mechanism that brings the end of the burning match into contact with the powder pan, which in turn throws a spark through the touchhole and into the barrel to light the main charge.
At this time the wheel lock, dog-lock and ultimately the flintlock musket were all superseding the matchlock in both speed and reliability, especially in rain. However, the matchlocks were much cheaper to produce and were supplied to most Oxford Army musketeer.
The musket has a total length of approximately five foot, and was a very heavy weapon. At the outset of the war it was still commonplace for musketeers to use musket rests when firing; a long pole about 4 feet long with a metal fork at the top in which the end of the barrel could be rested. It helped musketeers hold their guns straight and support the weight when firing. However, these rests often got in the way during battle and there are no records of them being issued to the Oxford Army.
The weight of the musket could be turned to the musketeerís advantage, and the butt of the musket was deliberately designed in a fishtail shape that meant it could be used as a crude club once the musketeers had run out of ammunition and had to go in hand-to-hand.
At close range, a musket-ball could take off a mans head. At long range it could hit the body, the lead expanding on impact, and causing horrific exit-wound injuries. This lead to a slow and painful death from blood-loss or infection. A musketeer wore no armour as such and casualties were high.
© Copyright 1998-2007 Sir John Owens Regiment of Foote.
