The gun is pointed by a lever just as one
points a garden hose or sprinkler, with the advantage that the gun can
be clamped at any instant, and will then continue to sprinkle its
drops of death over the same row of plants until the clamps are
released. The axle is hollow and will hold about a thousand
cartridges. It is horizontal, and on its ends are heavy Archibald
wheels. There is also a heavy hollow trail, in which tools and
additional ammunition can be stored. The limber resembles that used by
the Artillery, and is capable of carrying about 9600 rounds of
cartridges. The whole gun, thus mounted, can be drawn by two mules,
and worked to good advantage by from six to eight men. It is built of
various calibers, and can fire from 300 to 900 shots per minute. The
guns used by the Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, were built
by the Colt's Arms Co., were the latest improved model, long
ten-barrel gun, and fired the Krag-Jorgenson ammunition used by the
Regular Army.
The attempt to obtain authority to organize a machine gun battery met
with many discouragements and repeated failures. No one seemed to have
thought anything about the subject, and Tampa was not a good place nor
climate in which to indulge in that form of exercise, apparently.
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