Civil War Guns

Richmond authorities for payment of his revolver accounts. In September, 1862 , reference to money for LeMat is made by C.S. agent Edwin De Leon, writing directiy to Judah Benjamin from Paris. His lengthy epistle brings Benjamin up to date on many matters, and to War d the end declares: The establishment of credit here would save the Government from great embarrassment and the enormous loss on exchange which it now suffers, as well as relieve the agents abroad from the difficulties of which they complain. I have been requested by Messrs. C. Girard & Co., who are making LeMat’s revolvers for the Government under contracts with the Navy and Army Departments with Colonel LeMat, a partner in the factory, to forward their correspondence with the agents of those Departments in Europe, and to request that effectual steps may be taken to fulfill the Government obligations in that respect. They complain of the loss of both time and money in consequence of the failure of Captain Huse t...

The “grapeshot revolver” of Confederate Colonel Jean Alexander Francois LeMat was an arm “formidable.” With 9-shot .40 caliber cylinder surrounding a huge central bore taking a 16-gauge buckshot charge, the LeMat revolver was a weapon admirably adapted for the hand-to-hand fighting of the naval boarding party, or the close-in charge of cavalry. It was single action, needing to be cocked for each shot, but a flick of the finger could switch the movable hammer nose to the “shot” position and fire the devastating blast of a short barreled shotgun for close fighting.

Two partners in Memphis need to be mentioned here though their productivity was nil, their influence on the War nothing, so far as military arms are concerned. Two revolvers of Colt 1851 type exist, identified as output of this partnership. One has a full octagon barrel and a brass frame, with “6.” stamped as a serial (?) on cylinder, backstrap, trigger guard, barrel, hammer, and rammer. The top of the barrel is marked schneider & glassick, memphis, tenn. in one line. It is said this marking is with a die, not individually hand stamped.

One of the most ingenious revolvers of the South, rarest, and most impractical was the invention of Thomas W. Cofer. His was one of few Confederate patents on inventions of firearms, and was granted August 12, 1861 . A gunsmith of Portsmouth, Virginia, engaging in selling ordinary sporting guns, Cofer conceived of a pre-loaded metallic cartridge for revolvers which could be used, and re-used, by the soldier in the field. The brass cartridge had an iron nipple screwed into the back, taking a common percussion cap. The cylinder was bored straight through, and when the cartridges were inserted, a rim held them in place. The square-shouldered nipple extended back and these were shielded by a rear plate which fitted over them closely enough to turn the cylinder as the plate was turned. The plate was notched for cylinder stops and had the ratchet. A spring latch on the frame beneath the barrel permitted sliding the cylinder pin forward to remove the cylinder for, presumably, quick loading. T...

While the G & G was purchased at about $50 each by the Confederacy, it was considered, in the eyes of Colonel Burton, to be inferior to the Spiller and Burr. Another brass-framed CS pistol, these were made by Edward N. Spiller of Baltimore and David J. Burr. The latter was owner of a machine works in Richmond, and at first there was some consideration given to setting up the pistol works in the Virginia capital. Chief promoter behind this move was James Henry Burton. That the man in public life most noted for the mechanical excellence of Southern arms should set up a private factory is not too strange. In June, 1861 , he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel of Ordnance in the Virginia military establishment by Governor Letcher; not until December was he commissioned in the Regular Army of the Confederate States, with the same rank, as Superintendent of Armories. His offer to General Gorgas made in November, 1861 , would seem to have had something to do with it. Gorgas had reco...

The factory that the Rigdon Guards fought to save was their competitor, that of Samuel Griswold and A. W. Gunnison. When War came, Griswold converted his cotton gin factory to arms making and by July,  1862 , was in the pistol business. At this time 24 hands Col. E. C. Grier’s brass-framed .36 Army pistol made at  Griswoldville, Ga., was rugged and sturdy supplement to firepower of Southern chivalry. Factory was among most reliable  producers in South in spite of harassment and eventual  destruction by Kilpatrick’s cavalry.

In January, 1864 , Rigdon, Ansley & Company was formed, but in the South things are done, as Mrs. Margaret Mitchell said, “more leisurely.” By a curious coincidence, the production delay in a baby and in a Colt-type revolver (the author has reason to know from making some thousands of the latter recently) is nine months. But in the South, as in Mrs. Mitchell’s great book, the gestation period for both babies and revolvers apparently was longer. It was not until March 13, for example, that water power was arranged for the shop; when at last Rigdon began to put up finished revolvers is not known but apparently he began cutting metal in March for power would not have been needed before then.

Rigdon floated his gear downriver to Memphis. There he found Thomas Leech, gunsmith and sword maker doing business as the Memphis Novelty Works. Leech’s “novelties” consisted of cavalry swords, rolled armor plate, and gun repair; of the latter, presumably making hammers and percussioning was the principal activity. Rigdon may have been engaged in setting up a revolver works, for the Memphis Daily Appeal, November 15, 1861 , states that the “Eagle Foundry” of Streeter, Chamberlain & McDaniel was preparing to make “Colt revolvers.” A “Colt revolver” was what Rigdon was eventually to make under his own name. Navy-type revolvers by Leech & Rigdon and Rigdon 6    Ansley were probably the best-manufactured massproduction revolvers of the South. In partnership with Thomas Leetch, the name of the firm Leech & Rigdon first appeared in print May,  1862 , advertising swords for sale. But the threat of Federal forces and the War on the Western waters...

The original Confederate Colt is considered to be the brass-framed revolvers of Colonel Griswold made near Macon, Georgia. But to touch on the original, it is necessary to backtrack to a period, as in the militia musket confusion, immediately prior to the War . Militant nervousness, distance from protection of the Federal forces in the East, and a spirit of taking care of one’s own problems oneself, brought William Abel Shawk, of Pennsylvania, J. K. McLanahan of Cincinnati, and William Tegethoff, loan broker of St. Louis, together in Carondelet, Missouri. There was produced for a very short time the Shawk &  McLanahan preCivil War Missouri revolver . A brass-framed .36 sixshooter somewhat resembling the Whitney, the “usual” specimen is marked on backstrap of butt, Shawk & McLanahan, St. Louis, Carondelet, Mo. But S & McL pistol serial No. 2 bears the mysterious stamping william tegethoff, a neat die stamp, on barrel, frame, and cylinder. Research by St. Louis guns...

Beware of any “unknown” Confederate revolver, for though aspirations and contracts or offers of arms to be delivered in the future were many, the actual number of going gunmakers who fulfilled their responsibilities were few. The modem home handyman with more junk pistol parts and an equal helping of junk ethics is turning out Confederate pistols in quantity quite equal to the wistful cupidity of the collectors. There is more money around for Confederate sidearms than there are C.S.-made revolvers to buy. A typical Confederate revolver that in 1957 was referred to in awe as worth $300-$500, today cannot be bought for $1,500. One gun not even considered by many authorities to be “Confederate” (though it will be seen that we differ in this point of view) is the St. Louis-made Shawk & McLanahan. In 1958 we were queried as to the value of one; refused to say more than it is worth “several hundreds of dollars.” When we checked into the status of the gun a year later, we were informed...

At a meeting of the Texas Gun Collectors Association several years ago this author got a terrible shock. He stopped at a table upon which were a number of percussion revolvers purported to be Confederate. They were not for sale; their proud owner had spent a pretty penny in amassing what is recognized as the best collection of Confederate revolvers in the world. But the shock came because the author, having some handiness with a file himself, was forced into the realization that if he couldn’t do a better job of butchering up a pistol conglomeration composed of bits of Manhattan, Metropolitan, different vintages of Navy Colt, and turn the barrel round, ad nauseum, he would quit! The statement is not to give offense to the collector—he knows who he is, and he knows that his fellow collectors regard him with sincerity as a gentleman and a scholar. The statement is to point out three morals:

At the time this arm was discovered, it was assumed to be a good long Enfield, and was sold as such by the finding collector at the Columbus, Ohio, gun collectors’ show in October, 1961 , to a dealer who priced it as a good shooting Enfield. The author had passed this display several times and seen nothing to interest him, when on the final pass he was asked by another customer if a spare parts sling swivel being offered for sale would fit an Enfield. In responding, “Yes, it fits on the guard like this Southern pistols included specimens of U.S. issue from  early days. Most found were probably Johnson M 1836  flintlock cal. .54, (top), but some North M 1816  arms could be  found (2d). Half-stock US M 1806  pistol made at Harpers  Ferry was popular and same model was made at Virginia  State Armory early in century. Arm shown has been restocked,  with country repair to ramrod guide. Major supplies of single  shots were Aston or Waters U.S. ...

Closer to the form of Ml841 rifle as manufactured in the South is the militia rifle of J. H. Krider, Philadelphia. Somewhat more common than others of this breed, the Krider rifle was “an exceptionally wellmade piece, but does not conform to any U. S. Model.” The patchbox is the Sharps-form of Justice and Henry. Brass mounted, with white-metal stock tip, the rear sling swivel is attached to the guard bow like the Enfield. The 33-inch barrel has seven-groove rifling, caliber .58, the fixed rear sight, no proof marks, a cone seat like the Ml841-2 pattern, is browned finish, and is stamped philadela. The Enfield-type lock is

A similar rifle was made by J. Henry & Son, which was all-brass mounted. This 35-inch barrel short rifle is .58 caliber. The stock nose cap is of 1855 form, but the barrel is turned at muzzle for socket bayonet; the Sharps-style brass patchbox is let into the right of the buttstock. The cone seat resembles either an Enfield or an Austrian, and is notched into the lockplate. Two brass bands are screw-clamping. The lockplate, somewhat of Colt Special Model form, rather rounded and short, is stamped with maker’s name which also is on the left side of the barrel, that is octagon at breech. A specimen is shown in Golden State Arms Company’s sales catalog World’s Guns; another specimen sold by Kelly & Malloy, July, 1962 , has a Justice trigger guard.

A second type was the Justice Harpers Ferry Rifle, caliber .58, 35-inch barrel rifled with three shallow grooves, fitted with Ml855 style rear leaf sight and bayonet stud without guide, on right of muzzle. Brass mountings, oval screw-clamp bands, and Justice special trigger guard; length overall 4 feet 3 inches; weight 9 pounds 2 ounces. Lock appears to be a Harpers Ferry transformed flintlock of 1822 , with original flying eagle and also stamped P. S. Justice/Philada. No proof mark; Justice’ name only. Serial number on trigger guard tang surmounted by a “P.” The specimen Fuller illustrates is No. P/315, early in the manufacture of the Justice special model guns. The cone seat bottom is carved to fit pan-cut in the lockplate, but other Justice guns have the nipple holster of 1841 -2 percussion form.

Kicking off the parade south seems to have been Eli Whitney who, under a contract with the state of Mississippi June 6, 1860 , agreed to deliver 1,500 Mississippi Rifles with sword bayonets. By October 15, he expressed some fear at having the arms inspected. He sent 60 to Adjutant General W. L. Sykes of that state who reported to Governor John J. Pettus on January 18, 1861 , in explaining why the state was short of arms, that “The arms were received and examined and proved to be old guns fixed up.” None of the arms were received under the contract and “The affair is now being adjusted between a U. S. senator and said Whitney, but owing to the bad faith of Whitney the arms will probably never be received and the (volunteer) companies will have to resort to whatever can be furnished.” No specimen of these Mississippi State 60 Whitney rifles, unquestionably conforming to the pattern of the U. S. Rifle Model 1841 , with sword bayonets attached, has so far been identified. The short and l...

It was into this spirit that the Yankee private militia musket makers wandered. During the Cold War grand plans were laid for armories and arsenals all over the south. And oddly, the ones to suffer most when War finally came were the Northern munitions makers! The pattern of rifle most affected by these firms was a Arms transferred to Southern U.S. armories or issued to States prior to  1860  included basic types shown here. Majority  were flintlocks of  1821 -22 pattern (top) but some had been converted to percussion in  1840 ’s by U.S. (2d from top). M 1842   smoothbore muskets, original percussion, were also in lot and same model had been made in Dixie in  1852  (3d). Rifles  included the popular “Mississippi” (shown elsewhere in this book) and earlier standard arms such as this .54 “common  rifle” M 1817 . Shown is rifle by contractor N. W. Starr, Middletown, Ct., transformed to percussion by “French method”  with cone di...

The Confederate Rifles and Rifle Muskets were of eight basic categories. Early in the War both the U. S. Rifle and Musket Model 1855 -61 became standard issue as made in Southern armories. Copies of the Mississippi Rifle in .58 caliber, often adapted to take a sword bayonet, were another state ordnance favorite. The British Enfield, of both imported and domestic-made origins, had its influence. And to a limited extent the continental features appeared in some long guns, such as the Texas “Tyler” Rifle known as “Austrian.” In front band-nose cap assembly and details of lock form and cone seat, it appears this gun (from one surviving specimen) was inspired in design by the Austrian Lorenz Rifle mated with a light French Minie. Such a cross of types also appeared in the Tallassee Carbine manufactured in Tallassee Armory, Alabama, and adopted in 1864 as the standard pattern for Confederate cavalry. In lock and fittings, it resembled the Enfield; but in the small of stock to butt plate i...

Hailing from Baltimore, and originally from England where he apprenticed as a clockmaker, John Pearson made his mark on history when he and Sam Colt came together in 1834 . As a practical gunmaker in Baltimore on Center Market Place, Pearson was called on by Colt to make models of firearms in perfecting the Colt revolver. While The Story of Colt’s Revolver (W. B. Edwards, Stackpole Company, 1953 ) contains the first mention of John Pearson, and he is ignored by lists of gunmakers compiled by various authorities, Pearson was described in a brief obituary in the Fort Smith Elevator of Friday, August 3, 1883 , as follows:

Salvage from the field was a major item in resupply: the Battle of Fredericksburg had material compensations for the Southern side. Lieutenant Colonel Briscoe Baldwin, Chief of Ordnance of the Army of Northern Virginia, reported 9,091 rifles and muskets with 255,000 rounds of assorted small-arms cartridges were recovered by Confederate scavenging parties after the battles of the 12th and 13th of December, 1862 . The breakdown illustrates somewhat the equipment of the Union forces thrown against the Gray lines at the crest of the hill.

Perhaps one of the most authoritative opinions of Confederate preparedness came from “An Impressed New Yorker,” otherwise unnamed, who published in 1862 Thirteen Months in the Rebel Army. The prevailing attitude was one of great optimism, the success of Southern arms, and ultimate recognition of the Southern Confederacy by the great nations of Europe: During the six weeks I was attached to the Ordnance Department (as a brevet second lieutenant) I learned some facts which it were well for the North to know. Since reaching home I hear wonder expressed at two things: the vast energy of the South; and their unexpected resources, especially in the procuring of cannon, small-arms and ammunition. How have they secured and manufactured an adequate supply of these, during such a protracted and destructive struggle?

Later reports pro and con confused the issue in retrospect, but the merits of different arms was questioned by many soldiers at the time. As Carlton McCarthy of the Richmond Howitzers, Army of Northern Virginia, wrote later in the Southern Historical Society Papers:

Two of the most important men in the Confederacy assumed their posts during April. On April 8, 1861 , Special Order No. 17 issued by C. S. Adjutant General Samuel Cooper at Montgomery declared “Major Josiah Gorgas, of the Corps of Artillery and Ordnance, is assigned to duty as Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance.” Placed under his command on April 15, was Captain Caleb Huse, directed to proceed to Europe to buy arms. About December, 1861 , arms began to come in through the purchases of Huse, and there were a good many Enfields in the hands of Confederate troops at Shiloh. The shipment of arms resulting from Commodore Bulloch’s work in England, via the Fingal, was among the most important single boat-loads of arms to be sent over. Aboard the Fingal were: On Account of the War Department —10,000 Enfield rifles, 1,000,000 ball cartridges, and 2,000,000 percussion caps; 3,000 cavalry sabers, with suitable accouterments, a large quantity of material for clothing, and a large supply of medical...

On the day Virginia signed the Ordinance of Secession, Adjutant General Richardson reported to Governor Letcher on the condition of the state forces. Seven troops of cavalry had been formed, armed with sabers and cavalry percussion pistols, 350 men in all. One hundred men, two troops, had sabers and cavalry musketoons. Thirty-six troops, 1,800 men, had sabers and revolvers, almost certainly the Colt Navy pattern of 1851 , while 22 troops, 1,100 men, had sabers only; and 29 troops had been formed, 1,450, which had no arms at all. The artillery was in an equally irregular state so far as equipment went. Twelve companies of 600 men were armed with 6-pounder field guns with carriages and implements complete, but only 11 companies had artillery swords. One company, 50 men, had 6-pounders, swords, and sappers and miners’ musketoons. One company, armed with 6-pounders, had artillery musketoons, while one was a full battery of six 12-pound howitzers, the men equipped with light artillery sabe...

Even before organization of the Tredegar Works of Joseph R. Anderson, Virginia had a long history of efficient arms fabrication from Revolutionary times. The South was undergoing by 1860 an industrial revolution which the War accelerated . More than 1,600 mechanics were employed in iron works in Richmond by 1860 ; by 1855 at least 41 locomotives built in the Tredegar works were running on Southern rails; three other locomotive shops existed in Richmond, while in the western part of the state, at Wheeling, were two rolling mills. Five more rolling mills plus one at the Tredegar existed in the Southern states; two of these had been completed in Georgia in 1856 and 1858 . The South was not, as is often parroted by grade school children and their teachers, a purely agricultural society under “King Cotton,” fighting the industrial North. During the decade preceding 1860 , Southern politicians promoted Southern industry; the Norfolk Navy Yard was a ship factory of major importance, with...

When Abraham Lincoln stood aboard the Federal gunboat steaming up the James River to Richmond, he glimpsed along the shore the broken shells of long brick buildings which had lately housed one of the world’s most formidable ordnance establishments: the Richmond Arsenal, the Carbine Factory, the C. S. Laboratory, Richmond, and the great Tredegar Iron Works. In addition to private gunsmith contractors like Samuel Sutherland of Richmond, or fabricators large and small like the man at Wytheville who is thought to have remodeled the Hall rifles to muzzleloaders, the Virginia capability to wage War was equal to the capacity of any ordnance establishment of like size in any nation on the globe.

About 7 a.m. February 5, 1864 , a fire was discovered in one of the drying lofts where wood cured under the skylighted roof of the Old Armory. The flames glinted through, shattered the skylights and the draught roared like a Bessemer, light spattered against the dark winter’s dawn. Within the armory, the hungry tongues of flame raced as fast as a man could walk along the oilsoaked floors, curled in hot embrace around the riveted wrought-iron columns, and blistered the buff-colored Portland stone. The great steam flywheel slowly spun to a halt as smoke and flame crossed to the power house roof and licked avidly at the tallow-soaked oxhide belting. A veritable fuse pattern throughout the building, daubed with lubricant and tracing a lane from flammable roof to floor to each machine, the belting burned. In the parts room heat rose to melt brass, but not iron. Handle straps, bullet moulds, loading plungers, and trim, fused into glowing putty that meshed in the matrix cylinders from Dragoon...