The arms race is not a modern phenomenon. Long before the Cold
War, cave dwellers stockpiled rocks to use as weapons. And for
one brief moment between the rocks and the missiles, Rochester
made a contribution to the history of weaponry. In 1861, a
dentist named Josephus Requa invented the first rapid-fire
machine gun. The Civil War had just started and he wanted to
boost the Union's advantage. The Requa Battery, as it was
called, was built from 25 .52-caliber rifle barrels that fired
simultaneously. A crew of three men could shoot an astonishing
175 rounds in one minute. The whole town turned out 140 years
ago this month to watch the Requa Battery assault a wooden
barrel target in the Genesee River. It filled the air with
gunsmoke and riddled the barrel with holes. The crowd went wild.
The Rochester Union & Advertiser called the gun a "complete
battery of terrible power." Dr. Requa traveled to Washington,
DC, to meet with President Lincoln. Always on the lookout for
new technology to end the war, Lincoln orde