Re: What exactly was a squirrel gun?
Early Kentuckians "barked" squirrels. They hit the tree near the varmit's head, the concusion knocked it out and it fell from the tree. It was necessary because the Kentucky long rifles were large caliber and if they hit the squirrel there wouldn't be much left to eat.
My grandfather, in Missouri, demonstrated that for me when I was a kid, but he used a .22 to do it.
Jim