Billinghurst Requa Battery patent, 1862-09-16

The Billinghurst Requa Battery gun was an early rapid-fire gun used during the American Civil War. It was invented by a Dr. Josephus Requa (1833–1910), a dentist by profession, who had at the age of 16 spent three years as an apprentice to William Billinghurst (1807–1880), a New York riflemaker.

Design

The gun consisted of twenty-five heavy .58 caliber rifle barrels, each long and mounted together in a secure frame, which could be elevated for range. The frame was then mounted on a two-wheeled carriage. Ammunition was loaded as a long magazine of twenty-five rounds, which were fired by a single percussion cap in a single volley. With a crew of three, it could be reloaded and fired seven times a minute, giving a rate of fire of 175 rounds per minute. The .58 caliber bullets were conical and weighed approximately one ounce. It was also possible to adjust the spread of the guns to make them diverge for use at close range.

History

In 1861 on the suggestion of an Albert Mack, Requa began thinking about the design of a rapid-fire gun. Requa talked with Billinghurst, who he remained friends with and came up with a scale model of a design by 11 July 1861. After it was received favorably, Billinghurst and Requa decided to build a full-scale prototype, which cost approximately $500 to build. Requa met with General

James Wolfe Ripley James Wolfe Ripley (December 10, 1794 – March 16, 1870) was an American soldier who served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1861, he was selected to be the 5th Chief of Ordnance for the United States Army Ordnanc ...

on 22 April 1862 to propose the idea. Ripley however dismissed Requa with the argument that such a weapon would consume expensive ammunition at such a rate that it would cause logistical problems. Requa then approached President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

on 1 May 1862, who listened to Requa's explanation of Ripley's dismissal. He gave Requa a note which said: ''Gen. Ripley, please see Mr. Requa A. Lincoln, May 1, 1862''. Ripley, however, would not move from his position. Requa went back to Lincoln, who then ordered Ripley to arrange a demonstration of the weapon. Two tests were arranged on 12 May 1862 and 24 May 1862 with favorable results. Requa and Billinghurst needed financial backing to proceed with production of the weapon, and arranged for a public demonstration of the weapon as proof to backers. This was conducted on 12 August 1862 at

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

. At the demonstration, the gun blasted holes in a wooden barrel target setup away in the

Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hy ...

. The backers were impressed, and contracts were drawn up to produce 50 units. A patent numbered 36,448 was also issued on 16 September 1862. The battery was never officially accepted into service, yet it saw action at the Siege of Port Hudson,

Fort Wagner Fort Wagner or Battery Wagner was a beachhead fortification on Morris Island, South Carolina, that covered the southern approach to Charleston Harbor. It was the site of two American Civil War battles in the campaign known as Operations Agai ...

Fort Sumter Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island protecting Charleston, South Carolina from naval invasion. Its origin dates to the War of 1812 when the British invaded Washington by sea. It was still incomplete in 1861 when the Battl ...

and

Siege of Petersburg The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a cl ...

as well as the

Battle of Cold Harbor The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses ...

. A final test of the gun was conducted at the Washington Arsenal in August 1864, with a report issued in 1866 indicating that the gun was reliable and performed well during the testing. As a result, an additional five guns were ordered, but advances in firearms technology soon rendered the weapon obsolete.

References

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External links

* {{youtube, cx_ar4B_MPo, 1862 Billinghurst Requa Volley Battery Gun Early machine guns Multi-barrel machine guns American Civil War weapons