Pikes? The start of poor
decisions by Lalor and co.
Carboni, for whatever his testimony is worth, attempting, as it was, to both inflate himself, while deflating his role in the rebellion, wrote that on the way Lalor, noting the significant lack of gunpowder weapons, told him that what they needed was what were called "pikes". These were principally an anti-cavalry weapon, with a long heavy pole, and a nasty sort of knife or bayonet on the end, and sometimes an equally nasty hook at the base of the knife. Gunpowder weapons had effectively spelled their doom.
The great benefit of the weapon for the situation Lalor found himself in was that it could be very easily made, and indeed many stories tell of a German blacksmith who set to making heaps of the pointy ends for the miners - although one source says he didn't give them out for free, but sold them to the willing pikemen.
Whether money was charged, we don't know, although it does seem a little unlikely, as in fact there were several blacksmiths offering competition, not just the German usually mentioned. Some sources specifically name and/or describe these additional blacksmiths, at least one of whom was apparently a black American. Presumably the miners combed the goldfields for metal to melt down, while also looking for any guns and ammunition they could find.
The government reports say miners were also holding up travellers on the main roads, looking for guns and ammunition. There are a number of reports of them taking horses as well, although it very much appears some of the more crooked goldfields inhabitants were also doing the rounds, with no intention of making donations of takings or lives to the stockade.
In its day, several centuries earlier, the pike could be a deadly weapon. In this regard, a very elderly bloke gave evidence after the battle. He claimed he took part in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and was stone deaf, so was not much of an ear witness, but also claimed to have been an eye witness to the Eureka affair.
As an eye witness, this bloke said the pikemen's marching was pretty clumsy. No surprise there. We'll get to the marching shortly. As an ear witness he reckoned he heard the fellow training the pikemen telling them to "poke your pike into the guts of the horse, and draw it out from under their tail". Whether he heard it in reality or in his mind as a result of previous training is unknown. But what he "heard" was, in fact, a description of one of the grand uses of a pike, at least for people with great strength, and who can stand the squealing of a dying horse.
Other uses were, of course, stabbing the bloke on the horse, cutting the leather bits and pieces to destabilise the rider and/or make him, it was usually a him, lose control of the horse. The hook, if they had one, usually had a sharpened inside edge, which was excellent at cutting the leather bits and pieces, and was a handy device for hauling or shoving the rider off the horse while maintaining a relatively safe distance.
Of course, that was before the arming of horsemen with gunpowder weapons. Highly inaccurate they may have been, but from the sort of distance they would be fired at a pikeman they could be deadly, and certainly quite capable of causing a very disabling wound. And this is what faced the Eureka pikemen.
One would have thought an Irishman like Lalor, or several of the many Irishmen around Eureka would have known this major failing of the pike. After all, Irish rebels had been fighting uselessly with the things over and over again.
The great benefit of the weapon for the situation Lalor found himself in was that it could be very easily made, and indeed many stories tell of a German blacksmith who set to making heaps of the pointy ends for the miners - although one source says he didn't give them out for free, but sold them to the willing pikemen.
Whether money was charged, we don't know, although it does seem a little unlikely, as in fact there were several blacksmiths offering competition, not just the German usually mentioned. Some sources specifically name and/or describe these additional blacksmiths, at least one of whom was apparently a black American. Presumably the miners combed the goldfields for metal to melt down, while also looking for any guns and ammunition they could find.
The government reports say miners were also holding up travellers on the main roads, looking for guns and ammunition. There are a number of reports of them taking horses as well, although it very much appears some of the more crooked goldfields inhabitants were also doing the rounds, with no intention of making donations of takings or lives to the stockade.
In its day, several centuries earlier, the pike could be a deadly weapon. In this regard, a very elderly bloke gave evidence after the battle. He claimed he took part in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and was stone deaf, so was not much of an ear witness, but also claimed to have been an eye witness to the Eureka affair.
As an eye witness, this bloke said the pikemen's marching was pretty clumsy. No surprise there. We'll get to the marching shortly. As an ear witness he reckoned he heard the fellow training the pikemen telling them to "poke your pike into the guts of the horse, and draw it out from under their tail". Whether he heard it in reality or in his mind as a result of previous training is unknown. But what he "heard" was, in fact, a description of one of the grand uses of a pike, at least for people with great strength, and who can stand the squealing of a dying horse.
Other uses were, of course, stabbing the bloke on the horse, cutting the leather bits and pieces to destabilise the rider and/or make him, it was usually a him, lose control of the horse. The hook, if they had one, usually had a sharpened inside edge, which was excellent at cutting the leather bits and pieces, and was a handy device for hauling or shoving the rider off the horse while maintaining a relatively safe distance.
Of course, that was before the arming of horsemen with gunpowder weapons. Highly inaccurate they may have been, but from the sort of distance they would be fired at a pikeman they could be deadly, and certainly quite capable of causing a very disabling wound. And this is what faced the Eureka pikemen.
One would have thought an Irishman like Lalor, or several of the many Irishmen around Eureka would have known this major failing of the pike. After all, Irish rebels had been fighting uselessly with the things over and over again.