To quote the author of the Bill of Rights: "The strength of this Colony will lie chiefly in the rifle-men of the Upland Counties, of whom we shall have great numbers. You would be astonished at the perfection this art is brought to. The most inexpert hands rec[k]on it an indifferent shot to miss the bigness of a man's face at the distance of 100 Yards. I am far from being among the best & should not often miss it on a fair trial at that distance. If we come into an engagement, I make no doubt but the officers of the enemy will fall at the distance before they get [within] 150 or 200 Yards. Indeed I believe we have men that would very often hit such a mark 250 Yds."[1]
[1] James Madison, William T. Hutchinson and William M.E. Rachal, ed., The Papers of James Madison (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962), 1:153.
had to be a Virginian or one from Pennsylvania. The New England colonies didn't have that many Rifles as the Records show going out to the War of 1812. The Virginia Militia code in fact takes into account that west of the Blue Ridge mountains the primary arm is the Rifled Musket.
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