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THE GATLING AND GARDNER ON CAMPAIGN

‘The first use of Gatlings on land was in the Ashanti campaign, when of 3 January 1871 one of the two Gatlings taken on campaign was fired at Prahsu, in a demonstration to impress Ashanti envoys. Apparently, this had such an effect that one of the envoys (named ‘Quamina Owoosoo’ by Captain Henry Brackenbury) shot himself on the following day! The Royal Artillery manned the two Gatlings employed in the Jowaki expedition in 1877 and the two in the Second Afghan War, but they were not successful in the latter. At Charasia, the two guns fired only 150 rounds; as Lord Roberts remarked, ‘At the tenth round one of the Gatlings jammed and had to be taken to pieces…. being found unsatisfactory, [they] were made but little use of’.

Naval Gatlings were used in the early stages of the Zulu War, and the four RA Gatlings in the later stages, two of which were quite effective (despite jamming) at Ulundi. In the following campaigns most machine-guns were manned by the Royal Navy including six Gatlings in Egypt in 1882, and Gardners in the Nile expedition and Suakin campaign; their jamming had serious consequences at Tamai and Abu Klea. A pack battery of four Gardners was crewed by the Royal Artillery in Burma in 1885, but these were on loan from the navy.’     

Source: The Colonial Wars Source Book, PJ Haythornthwaite, Caxton Editions, London, 2000. A fascinating and highly readable text with a significant amount of useful detail for the wargamer.

Jacklex Miniatures Colonial Nineteenth Century 20mm metal wargame figures.