An officer had to be clearly definable on the field. His sword or whatever was his badge of office. He was not expected to provide musket power to the ranks, he was meant to keep his focus on the event in question, and to Direct his men.
Nobody suggested they were to add firepower to the volleys. :shake:
Actually an officer was identified by his solid red sash, and most importantly his gorget. Swords were also carried by sergeants, who also wore a sash but it had a contrasting stripe through it matching the facing of the regimental coat, and the sergeant's hat too had metal braid.
[Officers' Coats]
may be without embroidery or lace; but, if the Colonel thinks proper, either gold or silver embroidered or laced button-holes are permitted....The hats to be laced either with gold or silver, as hereafter specified, and to be cocked uniformly...,The sashes to be of crimson silk, and worn round the waist. The King's arms to be engraved on the gorgets; also the number of the regiment. They are to be either gilt or silver, according to the colour of the buttons on the uniforms.
[Serjeant's Sashes]
The sashes to be of crimson worsted, with a stripe of the colour of the facing of the regiment, and worn round the waist. Those of the regiments which are faced with red, to have a stripe of white....The hats of the Serjeants to be laced with silver.
All the Serjeants of the regiment, and the whole grenadier company, to have swords.
Royal Clothing Warrant 1768
So one can plainly see that the only singularly unique items on the Officers were the solid sash and the gorget. Now it's true that within a regiment the officers could have very different coats from the privates, but from regiment to regiment the only universals were those.
"At that time"..... I did not think a question, as we were talking about Officer's fusils, and these are generally flintlock pieces, so Georgian, or broadly, 18th century.
While yes, flintlocks, but The Georgian Era ended post War of 1812 ( George III died in 1820, and the Georgian Era ended with the death of George IV Three full decades into the 19th century) and there were loads of changes between the AWI and the War of 1812, let alone by 1830 and the beginning of Queen Victoria.
I believe many officers took a light fuzee on campaigne, for sporting purposes in slack periods. Many have been well documented for this purpose. It is just that an officer's rank Normally precluded him from carrying a fusil/ firelock into battle, where it would only divert his attention from his main job at hand. (Directing the course of battle)
I've heard that proposed in the past, but in fact it is not so actually, the sword for the Officer as well as the sergeants (not to mention the sergeant's halberd) were for use when the muskets and fusils were put away...they still might need a weapon to maintain the discipline of the privates. Combat was quite a different thing.
The Officers of the grenadiers to wear black bear-skin caps; and to have fuzils, shoulder-belts, and pouches. ...., The battalion Officers to have espontoons....,
That tall spear, contrasting with the sergeant's halberd, identified the officer to the men at a distance in combat..., unless of course he was on a horse but not with a cavalry unit. Yet we see, not only are the officers in one company in every regiment to carry not only fusils, but they carried cartridge boxes so, they were expected to reload and fire. When they reached North America the officers diverged from the clothing warrant, but you will find more fusils than ever being carried by officers, and less uniform embellishments, plus the Sergeants stopped carrying the halberds, the officers stopped the spontoons... (makes it more difficult for the Continental Riflemen to pick them out). They armed all the fifers with muskets and the sergeants too. In fact they ran out of regular muskets, and the sergeants were carrying artillery carbines toward the end of the AWI.
LD
