This cut-down flintlock fowler is associated with John Aiken of Bedford, New Hampshire. During the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) he raced with hundreds of other New Englanders to intercept a British invasion force from Canada intending to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies. Aiken and other militiamen pummeled a German relief column at the Battle of Bennington in 1777. However, this could not have been the weapon he carried. It is of a style associated with the 19th century. “W. Ketland & Co.” appears on the lock plate. This is a London, England, firm that existed from 1804-1831, well after the Revolution.