Records of Other Purchases

State of New York, October 1, 1862, 10,737 long Enfield rifle muskets; $185,505.59, plus “Amount of commission and cost of inspection of 10,737 rifles. $3,825.37.”
Frank Otard, New York, 775 long Enfield rifles, June-August 1862.
F. Otard and Arthur Wigert, New York, 2,554 Enfields, between September 30, 1862 and January 1863. Arthur Wigert had obtained an order 5 September 1861, to deliver 10,000 rifles of the Chasseurs de Vincennes pattern at $23.50, in 55 days. Schuyler in Paris wrote to Secretary Cameron October 10, 1861, saying “He cannot, of course, fulfill. Such arms do not exist in the markets at any price.” Wigert asked for an extension of time to eight months, but Ripley refused on 24 October. Wigert then on 26 October wrote to the Secretary, offering 10,000 Chasseurs de Vincennes rifles, in eight months, the same proposal he had failed with in Ripley’s care. Assistant Secretary Thomas A. Scott endorsed this letter with “The Secretary desires the guns referred to shall be secured,” and as Ripley bluntly put it, “and that contract now stands.” Holt and Owen, finding no deliveries, annulled the order under date of April 24, 1862. Wigert turned to Enfields for speculation and it was the popular and historically essential Enfield rifle musket that they delivered.

Perkins & Livingston, New York, 120 Enfields October 15, 1862-March 1863.
John Pondir, Philadelphia, 1,269 Enfields, September, October 1862, January 1863.
H. Simons &; Sons, 480 Enfield rifles, October-December 1862.
John Stuart, 30 Enfield rifles, October 28, 1861.
Searer & Hay, 200 Enfield rifles, January 9, 1862.
Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, New York. Between first delivery of 140 Enfield rifles, saber bayonets, (short) at $26.50 on July 31, 1862, and last deliveries of bayonets for Enfields September 26, 1863, Schuyler, Hartley & Graham delivered a variety of Enfield pattern arms. These included 60 Enfield rifles, short, with saber bayonets, for artillery. The 24-inch barreled twoband artillery carbine which in regiments of Volunteers equipped with regular 33-inch rifles, was sometimes issued to sergeants or color guards. Very few of these short 24-inch barrel sword bayonet Enfields were bought by the North, not more than a few hundred in all. The very high prices which Schuyler, Hartley & Graham realized on their sales suggests that they delivered nothing but the London Armoury interchange- able Enfields, for even in the vastly inflated New York market that August of 1861 the peak prices for Enfields were $26 delivered. That Schuyler, Hartley & Graham did business with London Armoury is proved by their delivery December 13, 1861, of 7 Adams’, 12 “Adams’ revolvers, self-cocking,” 16 Kerr, and 26 Beaumont (Beaumont-Adams) revolvers at $18, for all but the Beaumonts at $19. The suggestion is strong here that the mysterious JS-anchor stamp seen on London Armoury guns of “Southern” origins is the stamp of senior partner J. Rutsen Schuyler, as many researchers have surmised it to be “a shipping house mark.”
Another Enfield rifle of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham’s importation is the mysterious “Suhl rifle (Enfield pattern) and appendages,” of which 1,273 were obtained from them by the New York buying officers. Deliveries were May-July 1862, at $16.25 except the last 275 at $15. We have never seen an Enfield rifle of Suhl manufacture; however, the gun trade in Suhl was much like that of Birmingham, Liege, or even the Vienna-Ferlach complex of artisans. For a price, they would make anything. The Liege trade naturally specialized in the French-style arms, but also fabricated the Enfield, both as private speculation and for government contract work. Many of the smaller nations of the world flocked to these gunmaking centers in historically industrial regions, and a single gunmaker (as the London Armoury Company) might have con- tracts for Warring powers, simultaneously. Evidently Hartley was able to buy up a part of some Enfield-type rifle musket contracts in Suhl. Remotely possible is the notion that he actually had, say, 1,500 Enfields fabricated in Suhl. Aside from our guess they might bear fraudulent “TOWER” marks, there is no information on the marking of these rifles.
William J. Syrus & Brother, New York, delivered 740 regular Enfields and 180 Enfield rifles (Belgian). The probability is that the Belgian Enfields were by August Francotte, who not only was a principal “fitter up” in the Liege trade but one of the largest privately owned machine shops. Francotte, whose initials “Crown over AF” are to be found on a host of widely different Liege-marked arms, was a maker of interchangeable Enfields including some for the British Government. Syrus’ delivery, in May, 1862, of these at $16 and $18, suggests they were good rifles. A Francotte Enfield examined a century later in the shop of the Liege agent of Bannerman, to whom it had re- turned via surplus dealings, was noted as being marked forqard of the hammer with a. francotte & cie.
Sarson & Roberts, New York. On January 22, 1862, long before their first delivery of Springfields under terms of contract, they sold 143 long Enfield rifles at $20 to the Ordnance Department.
Tomes, Son & Melvain, New York. Marcellus Hartley’s old friends and sometime business partner got into the act, Tomes himself serving at Hartley’s agent in Birmingham. Between October 30, 1861 and May 23, 1863, this firm delivered several thousand Enfields. But Tomes found 4,500 ramrods at 60^ plus 714 angular bayonets, for Enfields, at $1.62, were neat little sideline profit makers. A ramrod possibly from such a source is now in the Blunt Pattern Musket (see page . .), marked near the head deeley.
Tiffany & Company, New York. This exclusive Gotham firm more noted today for jewelry than cold steel, delivered a formidable array, though small in numbers, of munitions in the War. Approximately 4,500 long Enfields were received from Tiffany, and 480 short Enfields. But most enigmatic is the item “40 engineers rifles” which were delivered December 2, 1861, priced at $17, in a shipment of short Enfields at $22 and a few second class at $18. The model of gun we suppose is the Enfield, but not adapted for a bayonet, the $1 possibly being dictated by Crispin’s or Whiteley’s concept of the value of a bayonet lug. As a practical measure, we suppose these rifles should complement an earlier invoice of October 9, 1861, which included “10 short swords with saw backs,” at $4.50. Equipping engineer troops, also called pioneers or sappers, with sidearms that could double as tools was an old idea in Europe. What practical use these saw-swords were put to is not known. It is said by men who have used sawbayonets in battle (I have no practical experience, myself) that the saw edge is a damn nuisance as it makes thrusting with the bayonet difficult because the saw edges usually cut on forward stroke. The basic purpose of the saw-sword is as a saw for offense or defense. On the defense, it can be used to cut wood for breastworks; on the offense, it could cut, say, bridge pilings, which then could be pulled away to cause the bridge to collapse. Bridge burning was far more practical a trick for Yank and Reb alike, except when the bridges were of stone. Though used in Swiss and German armies, the saw-sword or bayonet never achieved acceptance by the American armies. These 40 “engineers” rifles are the only such listed, as purchased by the Union.
United States District Court, eastern district of Penn- sylvania, supplied 1,299 Enfield rifle muskets September 30, 1862, and 20 more on October 10, 1862.
Union Defense Committee, New York. 428 Enfield rifles, August 1861, $22.50.
W. W. Woodcock, 809 Enfield rifles, November-December, 1862.
Jeremiah M. Wardwell, November 9, 1861, 4,000 long Enfield rifles, $23.