Ferguson, PATRICK

Ferguson, PATRICK, inventor of the breech-loading rifle, was born in 1744 at Pitfour, Aberdeenshire, and, entering the army in 1759, 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. He himself had a chance there of picking off an officer, but 'let him alone, disgusted with the idea of firing at the back of an unoffending individual, who was acquitting himself very coolly of his duty.' Next day he learned that the officer was Washington. Three years later, on October 7, 1780, Major Ferguson fell, defending King's Mountain, South Carolina, with 800 militia against 1300 Americans. This affair, which was not unlike that of Majuba Hill, turned the tide of southern warfare. See James Ferguson's Two Scottish Soldiers (Aberdeen, 1888).