Skip to main content

Eli Whitney

Kicking off the parade south seems to have been Eli Whitney who, under a contract with the state of Mississippi June 6, , 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, , 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 , with sword bayonets attached, has so far been identified. The short and long “Enfield” rifle miscalled “Confederate Whitney” is described under “Enfields” (Chap. 21). Among Pennsylvania makers there seems to have been some contract current which we strongly suspect was a Southern order, from the style of the arms. Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania
“Average” militia rifle of the late 1850’s or 1860 is this J. Henry & Son short rifle cal. .58 with muzzle of barrel turned round for socket bayonet. Same bayonet adaptation is noted on S. Carolina marked Kentucky rifle though coincidence is not enough to justify claiming the Henry was intended for that Southern state. Similar arm was made by J. H. Krider with Sharps-type patchbox, but using Enfield-style lock.
“Average” militia rifle of the late ’s or  is this J. Henry & Son short rifle cal. .58 with muzzle of barrel turned round for socket bayonet. Same bayonet adaptation is noted on S. Carolina marked Kentucky rifle though coincidence is not enough to justify claiming the Henry was intended for that Southern state. Similar arm was made by J. H. Krider with Sharps-type patchbox, but using Enfield-style lock.
stated definitely November 26, , that his state had no contracts for arms. Guns of P. S. Justice, J. Henry & Sons, and J. H. Krider, all Philadelphia makers, have a basic resemblance one to the other. All use a Sharps-form brass patchbox which is not Robbins & Lawrence or Sharps make, although it is remotely possible some of the Sharps British Model Carbine tools might have gone into shaping the patchboxes. All resemble the rifle titled “Harpers Ferry Rifle.”
Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gatling Gun

Ager, Williams, Vandenberg, these have faded into history. The repeating gun most remembered from the war, and yet one which had a very confusing record of use therein, is that of Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling. I had the pleasure of witnessing how effectively Dr. Gatling had builded when I attended a meeting of the American Ordnance Association at Aberdeen the fall of 1957 . Mounted on a testing stand was a small bundle of barrels, dwarfed in seeming firepower by the huge cannon flanking it. But when the gunner pushed the button and that mighty mite whirred into action with a high-pitched snarling roar so rapidly that no individual explosions could even be sensed, I knew I had witnessed not only the world’s fastest-firing machine gun, and the world’s heaviest gun in weight of metal fired (a ton and a half in one minute), but a gun that was directly inspired by the Civil War special artillery General Butler bought from Dr. Gatling. First of Gatling’s guns was bulky wheeled carriage “c...
Post a Comment
Read more

CHAPTER 6 Rifle Muskets: Civil War Scandals

You place me in a most embarrassing position, Mr. Secretary. How is that, Mr. Wilkeson? the gaunt-faced Penn sylvanian queried, the lines of his expression amplified by the fatigue and, somewhat, disappointment with which he laid down his role as Secretary of War for Mr. Lincoln. Because, Mr. Cameron, the newspaperman re sponded, your contract for rifle muskets with the Eagle Manufacturing Company of Mansfield, Connecticut is for only 25,000 arms, and my friends there, whom I induced to engage in this business in expectation of your issuing a further order, as your assistant Mr. Scott assured me you would, will be sorely embarrassed in their operations on this small amount. Indeed this is bad news to me, Mr. Wilkeson, War Secretary Simon Cameron sympathetically observed, as he stuffed papers from his desk drawer into a large portfolio, scanning them briefly, consigning some to the waste basket. But as you can see, I am leaving office today; I believe Mister Stanton, who repla...
Post a Comment
Read more

CHAPTER 7 Injustice to Justice

In justice to Justice, it must be said that a recent examination of one of the muskets, for the supplying of which to the Union he was so villified, proves to be a reasonably well-assembled hodgepodge of surplus parts and at least as strong and reliable as the American parts from which it was built. But when Philip S. Justice, gunmaker-importer of Philadelphia, tried to get aboard the Federal musket contract gravy train, he both got more than he bar gained for—and Holt and Owen conversely gave him less.
Post a Comment
Read more