[hga]

"Yes, I sometimes wonder what a veteran of the American Revolutionary War thought when he first saw the Gatling gun."

Compared to e.g. canister shot from canons I don't think it would have awed them that much (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canister_shot).

Since at least the Napoleonic Wars, which followed shortly after our Revolutionary war, artillery has generally been the biggest killer on the battlefield.