I have been searching for information on a story I was once told. During one of the early Jacobite rebellions, but not the '45, reports were sent back to London from Scotland about a secret weapon.
As well as the terrifying Highland charge which often sent Hanoverian troops scattering in panic, it was reported that there were great volleys from a number of muskets which seemed to outnumber the Jacobite rebels that they were facing.
It had seemed to several company commanders, who had been forced to retreat, that they had faced a sustained musket assault. This was taken so seriously that spies, such as Daniel Defoe, were sent to find out about this secret Jacobite weapon.
Was this a very early machine gun? Was there a genius secretly at work with the Jacobites? Why did these reports suddenly stop and what happened to this devastating weapon?
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