Richard Gatling Research Paper

On September 12,1818 on a large plantation in Hertford County,N.C. Richard J. Gatling was born.
Working with his father they perfected machines to sow cotton and thin cotton plants.
At the age 15 Richard started working in the county clerk 's office,he worked there until the age 19.
Richard then taught school briefly,and then became a merchant.
Then in the year 1839 he patented his first invention,the rice planter.
He then moved to ST. Louis in 1844 to work in a dry goods store,in which he made a wheat drill,and manufactured seed planters.
In 1850 Gatling studied medicine, although he never practiced.
For a time he promoted railroad enterprises and real estate in Indianapolis, then he established farm-machinery factories in three midwestern cities.
His inventions included a

A few were procured by commanders, sometimes with private funds. Union naval officer David D. Porter used some, and three Gatlings guarded theNew York Times building during the draft riots in 1863.
In 1864 Gen. Benjamin Butler used 12,and then Army Ordnance Department belatedly ordered 100 in 1866. The Colt Company produced these and all Gatlings thereafter.
The gun was not used officially during the war, partly because of Gatling 's affiliation with the "Copperheads," a group of antiwar Democrats who opposed Lincoln 's policies and were suspected of treason.
Also, he had offered to sell the gun to anyone, including the Confederacy and foreigners. Many Gatlings were sold to England, Austria, and Russia and to South American nations.
Until about 1900 they were used in small wars and against small threats such as the American Indians.
To compete with other machine gun manufacturers, in 1893 Gatling developed an electricity-driven gun that fired 3,000 rounds per minute, later he built an automatic gas-operated gun, however, in 1911 the U.S. Army officially declared his weapon