French and Belgian Arms

French and Belgian materiel was considered next best to the Enfields, though the types and calibers were more varied than either Enfield or Austrian Lorenz arms. Basic pattern for the best rifles of both France and Belgium was the “carabine” of Captain Minie.
Minie’s designs had exerted profound changes in the world’s small arms armament. That change was ably summed up by lexicographer Thomas Wilhelm after the War when he prepared his military dictionary. Said Wilhelm, “Minie Rifle. A species of fire-arm, invented by Capt. Minie, from whom it receives its name. It is certain in aim, and fatal in its results at 800 yards.”
The claim was, if anything, inferior to the real capability of the Minie rifle.
France in 1861 possessed a surplus of many arms. During the 1840’s the temporary procurement of guns designed by Thouvenin, Pontchara, Minie, and others kept the arsenals busy and the soldiers active testing them. Then came the Crimean War and France’s involvement on the side of Great Britain and Turkey against Russia. Soldiers of the Republique to the number of 309,258 embarked for the Black Sea battlefields, and with them went vast quantities of munitions. Small arms were in production at the factories in France: Charleville, Mutzig, St. Etienne, Maubeuge, Chatellerault. These weapons remained in storage after the Crimean War ended in 1856, and were a constant article of trade among arms speculators who never hefted a gun nor opened a case of muskets personally. Some lots of arms in government arsenals changed hands several times without being being shipped. Three basic rifled shoulder arms were issued to French troops in the Crimea: the rifled musket with tige, the Cara- bine with tige Model 1846, and the Carabine of the Cents Gardes. Other French guns were bought by Northern officers and the Ordnance Department. Exactly 200 “French carbines” for $4,800 were pur- chased, as well as 44,250 “French rifles” for $757,- 416.69, an average of $17.11 2/3. This lot at that price would have consisted of good quality rifles. French long guns were also among 162,533 “Boker’s rifles” bought for $2,267,834, and one single lot of 25,000 “Boker’s rifles, sword bayonet,” purchased for an average of about $5.50; for $139,254.
As with the Austrian arms, the French were evaluated according to caliber as to their serviceability. First class French guns included rifled muskets, French, triangular bayonet, caliber .58. These most nearly con- formed to the Springfield pattern in style and shooting.
Also of first class category were rifles, light French, saber bayonet, caliber .577. Second class arms in- cluded rifled muskets, French, triangular bayonet, caliber .71, and rifled muskets, French brass-mounted, triangular bayonet, caliber .69. Bright-steel mounted muskets of the same caliber were also obtained, graded second class. Third class arms were of decidedly in- ferior grade for military purposes. Among U. S.-made guns so classified were percussion sporting rifles, various calibers, shootable but definitely not of the uniform nature demanded for efficient maintenance in the field. Two types of French smoothbore muskets were in this grade, calibers .69 and .70. In the fourth class “Rifles a tige, French, sabre bayonet . . . calibre .63” and Rifles a tige, French . . . calibre .58” were included, as were the 25,000 Boker rifles described as “Rifles, French, Boker’s Vincennes, sword bayonet, steel scabbards . . . calibre .69.”
The most highly developed shoulder arm from France in 1861 was the Carabine a tige, Model 1846. The Chasseurs de Vincennes, a regiment of skilled marksmen, were among the units armed with this rifle. Zouaves and the Infantry of the Guard were armed with a musket form of the Carabine a tige, up until 1858; then rifled muskets with tige were called in and the Carabine issued.
The French percussion muskets Model 1842, graded as third class guns by U. S. Ordnance, were three-band percussion guns; overall length, 47% inches; barrel length 43 inches; weight about 8V2 pounds. The iron mounted gun had three bands; retained by springs. The rear band was held by a spring before it and the band bottom flared a little to protect the stock where the ramrod entered. The middle band, to which was riveted a sling swivel, was also held by a spring in the stock. The front band was double; the bayonet stud a lug beneath the muzzle, the band held by a rearWard spring locking into a hole in the band. Caliber was .69 and .70, the latter possibly because rusted guns might have been “freshed out” in French service to a slightly oversize bore.
Most distinctive feature of this model and all subsequent French arms imported by Union agencies was the lock. Designed on the back-action principle, it was a common percussion mechanism with a massive hammer, but with the main spring placed at the rear of the tumbler instead of in front as in the Springfield gun. The lockplate was held to the stock by screws fore and aft, the heads of which were drilled for a twopronged split screwdriver.
This type of fitting was designed to discourage the soldier from disassembling his gun unless under the supervision of a noncommissioned officer, who would issue the special screwdriver and call it in again after the cleaning session was over. Since the lock was in- letted entirely into the wood without any part touching the barrel, and could not be contaminated by smoke from firing, there would usually be no need for the soldier to take off the lock. This was a step toward more simple maintenance. A typical lock marking

Thouvenin rifle had a tige in breech. Caliber .69 rifle used round ball. Innovation of early 1840’s, gun was matured in style by French ordnance who held stock and barrel together by bands instead of pins as Thouvenin gun, and called improved model carabine a tige. Minie ball then was used.

would be Mre Rle De St Etienne, indicating the gun was made at the large Government arms factory in the city of St. Etienne, about 200 miles southwest of Paris. As these guns were smoothbore, there were no rear sights; front sights were brass lumps on the front bands.

Predecessors to the Model 1842 percussion backaction lock muskets were those of models extending as far back as the 1777 flint muskets copied by Springfield Armory in designing our own arms of the 1820’s. These guns existed converted to percussion. Their brass trim did not add to their martial usefulness in the mid-1800’s where concealment and tactics as skirmishers made concealment of troops desirable in the field. In 1855, according to Major Mordecai’s report, “The great body of infantry of the line (French Army) are still armed with the simple percussion musket (new or altered from flint-lock), and use the spherical ball. The caliber of this musket has been lately increased to 0.708 inch, and the old arms have been reamed out to correspond with the new one, carrying a round ball of one ounce; but this change is regretted on account of the increased difficulty of altering the arms to rifle muskets for carrying the elongated balls now generally adopted. This alteration has, however, been made in some of the muskets by inserting a tige in the breech pin, and cutting four broad and shallow grooves in the barrel, adding a high sight graduated up to 800 meters. The grooves, which are of equal width with the lands, are 0.02 inch deep at the breech, diminishing to 0.004 inch at the muzzle; the twist is one turn in two meters, or about six and a half feet. The ball weighs seven hundred and twenty grains, and the charge of musket powder is seventy grains. This arm was used by the infantry of the guard in the Crimea. An old soldier said the recoil was not inconveniently great. The in- fantry of the Imperial Guard are armed with a rifle
musket like the above, but without the tige. The ball for this arm is cylindro-conical, with a cavity at the base, but without a ‘culot’ or expanding cup. The Chasseurs are armed with the carabine a tige which is con- structed on the same principle as the tige musket above mentioned. The barrel is thirty four inches long, and the ball and charge are the same as for the musket. The sight is graduated to 1,200 meters.” The musket of course took a triangular socket bayonet of clasp form.
Three years after Mordecai wrote his report, the French Zouaves were rearmed with the Carabine a tige, turning in their three-band rifled muskets.
The Carabine, actually a short rifle with two bands like many rifles of the world’s great powers, was fitted with a sword-like bayonet having a brass hilt and one curved quillon, the quillon opposite the flat of the back being circular to slip over the muzzle. The hilt was grooved to receive a long lug soldered to the side of the muzzle, and a spring catch in the pommel locked the bayonet onto the gun. Its curved blade is variously called “saber” and “sword,” neither description of which is really correct. The French called it more correctly, “yataghan,” after the Turkish sword which it copied. The single edged blade was sharpened sometimes on both edges of the tip. Length of 22Vi inches gave the Carabine a total length which was 3 Vi inches shorter than the infantry musket or rifled musket.
“The weight, length, and form of this bayonet renders it a formidable weapon in hand-to-hand con- tests,” wrote Wilson in his Tactics. “The handling of the carbine in the bayonet exercises is superior to that of the rifle musket, owing to its less length; with bayonet off, the length is only A9Vi inches, which renders it highly favorable for light troops.” The yataghan bay- onet is called by one authority (Liege museum catalog) “Model 1847.”
Boker’s sample guns Nos. 8 and 9, as described in Captain Crispin’s report of February 13, 1862, were French weapons. No. 8, said Crispin, “is of French manufacture, .71 calibre, weight 10.25 pounds, length of barrel 41 inches, rifled with four grooves. The lock is a back action, and the sear and main spring are in one. This is a solid and substantial arm, well made in lock, stock, and barrel. The bayonet is of the angular form, with clasp; the rammer is not cupped for the accommodation of the elongated ball; and a simple notched projection at the breech pin constitutes the rear sight. No appendages are furnished with this arm. The large caliber renders, of course, this arm objectionable; but in other respects it is acceptable. We have received 6,940.”
According to Wilcox, this is the standard French rifle musket, apparently with Delvigne breech, no tige,

French flintlock carbine of 1822 has been transformed to percussion by a German gunmaker using clean-out screw type cone seat. Bottom arm is French musket of 1825 transformed to percussion 1842 and then rifled with long range 800 meter rear sight fitted 1857. Called Mousqueton de gendarmerie, or “State Police Musket,” long gun with full charge and Lyman .69 Minie ball seems to shoot point blank up to 100 yards. U.S. Minister Dayton obtained such arms from Belgian fabricants who wanted to sell older models first before such experts as Hartley and Huse got around to demanding Enfields.

firing a round ball. He said, “The rifle musket has no elevating sight; the rear sight is fixed. To aim at 200 yards, or under, the rear sight is used; but beyond that the soldier places his thumb across the barrel, and sights over the nail, or, to give a greater elevation, aims over the joint of the thumb.” According to Wilcox, writing in 1859 with the storm of War brewing, and rushing to get his manuscript off to Van Nostrand and into print to sell to militia officers, the French feared the elevating rear sight in the hands of infantry would cause them to fire beyond the accurate range of their rifled muskets. Wilcox noted that this seemed a difficult thing to justify, by implication referring to the entire field of improved arms and tactics being developed, but recognizing also that the French had studied the elevat- ing rear sight thoroughly in battle, he cautioned that “it would be well to study the matter thoroughly before venturing to disapprove.”
The Delvigne musket with round ball developed 1408 fps MV, while the heavier cylindro-conical bullet fired from the tige musket of the same caliber reached only 1023 fps MV. A thousand of Wilcox’s books were bought from Van Nostrand by order of June 29, 1859, from the Adjutant General, and it would be strange if Crispin was not thoroughly familiar with the shooting lieutenant’s opinions and information, so handy to him as inspecting Ordnance officer at the small arms bottleneck of the Port of New York.

Sample No. 9 appears to have been an altered flintlock with front action lock. According to Crispin: “This is the same style musket as the French rifle muskets a Liege, being the same calibre. (.71 inch); about the same weight, (10.5 pounds); and the same length of barrel (41 inches). It is equal in make and finish to No. 8, and differs but little from it, except the lock, which is front action. The rammer is cupped to suit the elongated ball. No implements are furnished with them.
1,320 of them have been received.”

It is very probable that this gun is the model known in France as the Mousqueton de gendarmerie, model 1825-42-57, caliber 17.6mm, an iron mounted 3-band musket of the latest flint pattern. The gun was converted to percussion in 1842, subsequently rifled, and fitted with a new rammer adapted for elongated Minie bullet. The gun was probably newly breeched as well, with a tige, though Crispin does not seem to have pulled the plugs on any during his cursory inspection. In France, due to the age of the gun and the number of alterations it has passed through,- the type was not classed as fit for front line service. Instead, it was issued to the gendarmes who, in the 1850’s, were auxiliary troops composed of ex-soldiers who had served their tours of duty in the Regular Army and were now in the active reserve. With the adoption of new rifles, and the realization by the French authorities in 1861 that breechloaders were just around the comer, large quantities of these obsolescent rifled muskets were made available in Government Warehouses to eager Federal and Confederate arms speculators. Unpacked in New York, inspectors graded them as arms of the second class.