Warrior Conflict: George Washington versus Napoleon Bonaparte, By the Numbers.

Author's Note:  Here it is!  This thing is finally done, and I can move on to bigger and better matches.  Anyway, before you continue on, there's a few things you should know:  the charts may appear small, but you can enlarge them for easier reading by simply clicking your mouse on them.  Secondly, if you haven't caught up with the Warrior Bios and the Warrior Conflict between them both, then follow the links below.

Warrior Bio:  George Washington and the Continental Army

Warrior Bio:  Napoleon Bonaparte and the Grand Armée

Warrior Conflict:  George Washington versus Napoleon Bonaparte

Once you've done that, check out the results!

Images taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/,
and are used and edited without permission.

Primary Weapons Assessment

-Guidelines:  For the Muzzle Velocity subcategory, a score of “5” is equal to 900-1999 feet per second.  For the Clip Size subcategory, we are dealing with single-shot weapons so they automatically score 1 there.  For the Effective Range subcategory, “5” is equal to 100 yards effective range.  For the Rate of Fire subcategory, the number is the same as the average number of shots a weapon can produce in a minute.

-Continental  Army

~Pennsylvania-Kentucky Long Rifle; Muzzle Velocity is 1235 fps, Single-Shot Weapon, Effective Range of 150 yards, Rate of Fire is 2 rounds per minute.

~Brown Bess; Muzzle Velocity is 800 fps, Single-Shot Weapon, Effective Range of 80 yards, Rate of Fire is 3 rounds per minute.

~Charleville Musket Model 1766; Muzzle Velocity is 900 fps, Single-Shot Weapon, Effective Range of 80 yards, Rate of Fire is 2 rounds per minute.

=Average Statistics; Muzzle Velocity is 978 fps, Total of 3 Round Clips (each Single-Shot added together), Effective Range of 103 yards, and Rate of Fire of 3 rounds per minute.

-Grand Armée

~Charleville Musket Modèle 1777 corrigé; The Charleville Model 1777 has two letter designations as it was used at different ranges by the different infantry types of the Grand Armée; “E” corresponds to the Light infantry (who got 3.5 rounds a minute, translates to 4 on the chart) and “F” to the Line infantry.  Muzzle Velocity is 900 fps for both, Single-Shot Weapon for both, Effective Range of 100 and 80 yards each, Rate of Fire is 3.5 and 3 rounds per minute each.

~Charleville Carabine Modèle 1806; Muzzle Velocity is 600 fps, Single-Shot Weapon, Effective Range of 60 yards, Rate of Fire is 2.5 rounds per minute (thanks to shortened barrel reducing reload time).

=Average Statistics; Muzzle Velocity is 800 fps, Total of 3 Round Clips (each Single-Shot added together), Effective Range of 80 yards, and Rate of Fire of 3 rounds per minute.

-Conclusion:  Despite possessing the great range and muzzle velocity of the Pennsylvanian-Kentucky Long Rifle, the inconsistencies of the other primary firearms of the Continental Army held back its score from something that should be much higher given their many, talented marksmen.  Conversely, the good stats of the corrected Chareleville model 1777 were crippled by the ineffectiveness of the carbine; it’s a good thing that those two guns were seldom used in conjunction on the battlefield, being separated in use by the infantry and cavalry.  At the end of the day, both combatants reach a score of fourteen (14) total points, resulting in a tie from the points-perspective.

Secondary Weapons Assessment

-Guidelines:  Considering that these are artillery guns, the “Rate of Fire” is going to account for the number of rounds fired in an hour rather than a minute, with each point .  Additionally, despite the fact that these weapons could hit targets up to 2000 feet away, they were only accurate at distances of nearly half of that.  Therefore, a score of “5” is equal to 900-1000 feet for the Effective Ranges of the guns, with each number lower being worth 1-199 feet, scaling up by 200.  For Clip Size, these were all single-shot weapons, but operated in groups (batteries).  So each gun per battery gets a score of .5, which the final score reflecting the average number of members, and thus number of rounds fired from one battery.  Finally, a score of “3” for Muzzle Velocity is equal to a speed of 1500-1999 fps, which each number higher or lower corresponding at a rate of 500 feet from those numbers.

-Continental Army

~Six-Pound Cannons; Muzzle Velocity is 1925 fps, Single-Shot Weapon (average number of six guns per battery), Effective Range of 874 yards, and Rate of Fire is 30 rounds an hour (or one round every two minutes).

-Grand Armée

~Six-Pound Cannons; Muzzle Velocity is 2000 fps, Single-Shot Weapon (average number of eight guns per battery, the established European standard), Effective Range of 920 yards, and Rate of Fire is 60 rounds an hour (or one round every minute).

~Twelve-Pound Cannons; Muzzle Velocity is 2500 fps, Single-Shot Weapon (average number of eight guns per battery, the established European standard), Effective Range of 1280 yards, and Rate of Fire is 60 rounds an hour (or one round every minute).

=Average Statistics; Muzzle Velocity is 2250 fps, Single-Shot Weapon (average number of eight guns per battery, the established European standard), Effective Range of 1100 yards, and Rate of Fire is 60 rounds an hour (or one round every minute).

-Conclusion:  As expected, the artillery corps of the Grand Armée completely outclassed their American opponents in every category – this is not because of any lone reason but several.  The French artillery possessed greater numbers of trained crews, supplies and of course the guns themselves.  Thirty years of evolution and development in the technology of using, firing and maintaining the weapons was also in favor of the Frenchmen.  In this category, the Grand Armée was victorious with a score of nineteen (19) to fourteen (14) total points in this category.

Tertiary Weapons Assessment

-Guidelines:  Let’s face it – the weapons in this category are both very poor.  For Effective Range a score of “2” is equal to 30-59 yards.  As these are single-shot weapons, Clip Size is accounting for the number of guns available for use. For Muzzle Velocity a score of “2” is equal to a projectile moving at 1000-1999 fps.  In Rate of Fire a score of “2” is equal to two rounds fired per minute.

-Conclusion:  I could not find any reliable information for the flintlock pistols used by both sides in this category, so had to work off of educated guesswork in order to grade them.  In the end I wound up grading the American pistols a five (5) and the French pistols a six (6), giving them an edge solely on the fact that they had so many more of them than the Americans did.

Melee Weapons Assessment

-Guidelines and Conclusion:  In this category, I awarded weapons with reach to them (polearms, bayonets, etc) two points and short-distance weapons one point each.  To that end, the Grand Armée had lances, pikes, and uniform use of bayonets at its disposal; in contrast, the Continental Army used swords, hatchets and rifle butts with a few officers using the spontoon.  In the end the Grand Armée won yet another category with eight (8) to the Continental Army’s seven (7).

Variables Assessment

-Guidelines and Conclusion:  As can be seen, the Variables fell in favor of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Grand Armée.  The superior-trained and -equipped French soldiers simply would have gotten the better of most engagements where his quick-pace, aggressive style of warfare worked best.  In this category, both sides were graded on a simple scale of one (1) to five (5), with the total for the Grand Armée winning out at sixteen (16) to the Continental Army’s thirteen (13).

Total Composite Scores

-Conclusion:  As can be seen, the Grand Armée dominated the Continental Army on nearly all fronts – if not for the power of the Kentucky-Pennsylvania Long Rifle, they would have taken the Primary Weapons category instead of hitting even in it.  The reasons that Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces prevailed are their superior technology, training, logistics, numbers and strategy – despite the charisma and leadership abilities of George Washington and the willpower driving the men beneath him, it would not have been enough to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte here.

The superior discipline, training, and equipment of the
Grand Armée sawNapoleon Bonaparte through to a win.

Image used without permission from http://expatsportugal.com/.

So there we have it.  With a composite score of fifty-three (53), George Washington and the Continental Army have fallen short to Napoleon Bonaparte and the Grand Armée’s composite score of sixty-two (62), by a nine-point margin.  Do you agree or disagree with this conclusion?  How does it stack up to the episode of Deadliest Warrior in which these two titans of the Age of Revolutions first crossed swords?  Would you say that both sides were portrayed fairly and accurately?  Let me know in the Comments section below, and as always, feel free to offer suggestions for future warrior-cultures (factual or fictional!) to be featured.  Thanks for reading.