What kind of Charleville is correct for 1775 New England?
None. It is well documented that so-called “Charlevilles” were shipped to New England via a straw company set up through Ben Franklin’s contacts in France. They arrived in the spring of 1777. The war pretty much left New England around that time. Specifically, the “Battle Road” stuff happened in the spring of 1775, two years before the French muskets arrived in Portsmouth, NH. When the French muskets did get here, they certainly didn’t go to the local town militias. They were intended for the Continental Line troops and would all have had unit markings. I recently got to handle an original 1763 Charleville that has N.H. regimental markings on the barrel. It was different in many ways from the Italian repros. The French guns in the hands of the militia in the 1775-1777 period would have been earlier military muskets, like the 1717, 1728 or 1754 patterns. There would also have been plenty of fusils and civilian style fowling pieces obtained in trade with Canada in the odd periods when we
