The Last Cartridge
Battle of Fuente Ovejuna
7th September 1810

A Tale of the Napoleonic Wars
Based on a True Story

Authors Note

by Richard "Rifleman" Rutherford-Moore

This action actually happened. Cyr Billot is a real person, as is Morillo. I've tried only to fill in the gaps in the facts. The story was compiled from the records in the French National Army Museum (Les Invalides, Paris) and several other collated small records and notations from individual regimental histories sent into me by my correspondents. The Musee supplied me with Cyr Billot's service record and his regimental papers, his citation for the Legion d'Honneur and his army pension details, and several other useful small notations.

The 51eme Regiment d'Infanterie had its share of both high adventure and deep shame throughout the wars. The 51eme Demi-Brigade it stemmed from can be seen in the two famous paintings by Vernet and Gros - they led the charge across that slender wooden bridge at Arcola swept by fire led by Bonaparte in person and broke through the Austrians. Billot was there - to understand why they did it is to begin to understand the long years of victory that followed through the relationship that Napoleon had with his soldiers. Richard Ransome, long-term sergeant in the 21eme Infanterie (Recreated) suggested most of the technical terms associated with the Armee Reglement de 1796.

A small sketch - an artists impression - is somewhere in the Les Invalides by D. Montetsciou showing several soldiers, including Cyr Billot, of the 51eme Infanterie on the Fuente Ovejuna church roof firing their last cartridges from their muskets. I found out as much as I could about this particular action. I will be visiting Fuente Ovejuna again to seek more out about the actual place. It is very unlikely that any records of this action are available there or from the Spanish Army, but I live in hope that my next visit will add something more to my story.

The action outlined deals mostly with small-arms - all infantry firearms in this period were flintlock muzzleloaders; a cartridge containing a charge of gunpowder and a bullet had to be placed in the gun-tube and rammed down with the ramrod, which was kept under the barrel in a slot, part of the gun-stock. The paper cartridge was opened by ripping it up with the teeth or by striking it across the dog-head, in which was an sharp piece of flint wrapped in lead and held in the dog-head jaws; once the pan was primed, the pan-cover was closed, the rest of the propellant went down the barrel, and the bullet - a soft lead ball - followed it. The paper wrapping prevented the bullet and gunpowder from falling out if the gun was pointed downwards.

After cocking the weapon, pulling the trigger made the cock spring forward; the flint hit the hardened pan-cover and made a spark whilst knocking it back, exposing the powder; the powder ignited and sent a jet of fierce flame through the vent into the main charge in the barrel; this would in turn explode and propelled the bullet up the barrel. About two shots in ten from a veteran on campaign would be a misfire; the soldier would sharpen (or 'nap') the flint with a piece of iron, pierce the vent with a bit of wire, brush out the pan with a feather and continue firing. Flints would be replaced after about fifty shots - this would take about two minutes for a veteran soldier. Each soldier carried around forty cartridges and three spare flints, with a simple forged tool to permit basic maintenance.

A French 'conscript' would be given some training in musketry - the real learning process came with action; the British Napoleonic period soldier was unique in that he practised with live ammunition with a weapon generally of the best quality of all the military issue muskets of the Napoleonic period - as Napoleon proved in 1813 and 1814; one veteran soldier who can stand and shoot his musket consistently is worth fifty conscripts who can't. The author has proved that four shots a minute on target over battlefield ranges is not impossible for a veteran skirmisher armed with a flintlock muzzle-loader - but two was more likely to be the norm over longer periods of firing, particularly over the longer ranges and if you wish to hit anything. The flintlock musket needs to be constantly maintained during firing, as does the user - the gun clogs up with fouling and the flint goes blunt, and the firer himself is driven by the need for drinking water during any action.

Flintlock muskets suffer from several potentially crippling nuisances in their mechanisms that if not properly maintained cause 'misfires' or 'hangfires' as part of their operation. Damp weather can prevent the musket from being fired altogether. Accuracy with a French AN XII pattern fusil and cartridges filled with contemporary gunpowder would be from thirty to eighty yards on a man-sized target, depending on the experience and skill of the soldier; during a wartime rush to arm fresh levies several deficiencies in firearms were caused by shortcuts in manufacture to achieve Bonaparte's production quota. A common saying in this period was that "It took a soldiers weight in bullets to kill him" - far more bullets missed than hit. This is why muskets were fired en masse from lines of men as a crude form of shotgun rather than by individual fire from cover - at least some bullets would find the target and in a number that would disorder the enemy formation.

The infantry bayonet - kept in a sheath on a shoulder belt when not in use - slipped over the muzzle of the musket and clipped into place, allowing the musket to still continue to be loaded. It was known as a socket bayonet and had an offset triangular blade around 17" long, formed into a wicked point.

Individuals also tended to run away when threatened. A soldier in a Line or Column had the immediate support of his comrades all around him; soldiers not trained in skirmish order would not have the benefit of this feeling. All veteran officers understood the power and effectiveness of the first well-loaded, well-timed delivery of the initial volleys, followed by a bayonet charge against disordered troops. For Wellington, it became the battle winner par excellence, et sans pareil.

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