Many new weapons were invented during the Civil War. This is an
early machine gun. The gun had 25 barrels and could fire 175
shots a minute. It was invented by a dentist named Josephus
Requa. Wlliam Billinghurst, a gun maker, helped him. This
specific gun was one of two Billinghurst-Requa guns bought by
Kentucky in 1864. They were never used during the war. This gun
is missing a barrel. Supposedly the missing barrel was used as a
fireplace poker in the office of the head of the Kentucky army.