Machine Guns are repeating firearms that when triggered will load and fire automatically until their ammunition is exhausted. In 1861, the U.S. Army was offered its first machine gun: Wilson Ager's single‐barrel, hand‐cranked weapon, often called the “coffee mill” gun due to its resemblance to a coffee grinder. At the order of President Lincoln, a few Ager guns were purchased; however, mechanical problems and the opposition of chief of ordnance, Brig. Gen. James W. Ripley, blocked adoption of the gun.
