Dr. Josephus Requa - Mt, Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Description: Before becoming a Dentist, Dr. Requa was apprenticed to William Billinghurst, a gunsmith noted for the suburb craftsmanship and accuracy of his revolver rifle (it had a rotating cylinder, like a handgun). Dr. Requa designed the first rapid-fire machine gun with metallic cartridges. He returned to Bilinghurst, and together they built his new design. It had 25 barrels, side by side, mounted on a horse drawn gun carriage. The gun could be fired with all barrels parallel, or spread open. The gun was nicknamed "the street-sweeper". The cartridges were preloaded into a metal clip, and placed into the open breach. Only the center cartridge was fired, with hot gas firing the other cartridges, in a ripple effect. Three men could reload 7 times in a minute. Firing 175 shots per minute, it was extremely effective holding areas like bridges, or roads. The proposed weapon was rejected by the army because it "wasted bullets". President Lincoln was persuaded to authorize tests, which reviewed the gun several times favorably from 1862 to 1864, with the final report published in 1866, after the war ended. The government bought 5 guns. But the gun was used during the war. The 18th Independent Battery, New York Light Artillery, from Rochester NY independently purchased the guns and saw action from 1862 to 1865. The unit was first sent to New Orleans, but the boat with the special ammunition was sunk before the battle. They were later used to great advantage during the recapture of Fort Sumter at Charleston in September, 1863, and the Battles at Petersburg and Cold Harbor. A few years after the war the Gatling gun was invented, and the Billinghurst-Requa Volley Gun was obsolete. Date of birth: 01/01/1833 Date of death: 01/01/1910 Area of notoriety: Military Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: 7:30 Am to various hours, by season Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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