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Ferguson (PATRICK inventor)

PATRICK, inventor of the breech-loading rifle; born in 1744 in Pitfour, Scotland. Entering the army in 1759, he served in Germany and Tobago. In 1776 he patented his rifle, firing seven shots a minute, and sighted for ranges of from 100 to 500 yards; and with it he armed a corps of loyalists, who helped at the battle of Brandywine (1777) to defeat the American army. Three years later, on Oct. 7, 1780, Major Ferguson fell, defending King's Mountain, South Carolina, with 800 militia against 1,300 Americans.

This affair, which was not unlike that of Majuba Hill, turned the tide of S. warfare.