Burton’s Methods

Burton was a talented general engineer, it is true, but there was a reason why McNeill joined with him in contracting to make the Sharps carbine. Burton had special experience in engineering a set up for the Sharps, as experimental Sharps guns had been fabricated under his superintendency at the Enfield Royal Small Arms Factory in 1858. Enfield’s chief contribution to Sharps design had been to omit the Maynard primer, and fit the percussion cone directly into the top of the chamber, avoiding the complicated flash channels through the breechblock. Redesign of the breech linkage was too complicated for Burton to do on short notice, but to omit the Maynard primer was easy, and it was this arm which the Confederate armory ultimately built. McNeill obtained both machinery and cash advances under this contract but seems not to have performed. Burton had been working with Samuel Robinson to set up equipment to make the brass framed

Confederate arms in Smithsonian collection reflect industrial resources of men and machines little suspected by later historians. 1: Mendenhall, Jones & Gardner M1841-55 with Lancaster sword bayonet; 2: Cook short rifle; 3: Richmond rifle musket; 4: Palmetto musket; 5: Morse patent lock muzzle-loading musket; 6, 7, 8; Sharps, Tarpley and Cook carbines; 9, 10: Richmond and Cook carbines; 11: Tallassee C.S.A. regulation carbine combining butt of U.S. rifle form with Enfield lock and barrel; 12, 13: Sharps and “Perry” carbines; 14: long Enfield rifle, maker undertermined but probably English, though lock is without Tower or Crown marks. Leaf elevator sights are uncommon among C.S. guns.

Whitney pistol ultimately built by Spiller & Burr. Regardless of the personal interest which this remarkable engineer seems to have had in too many arms plants, it was a system of merit.
Burton seems to have associated himself with potential manufacturers in an arms contract. He would then develop the tools and get ready to build. But Burton himself was only one man, and it was not to his liking to spend his time exhausting himself in travelling about the country. It was almost easier to transfer the contract, ship the machinery down stream to another group of would-be fabricators, and turn to a new task close to home in Richmond. Thus, he was responsible for the founding of a number of arms factories, without actually having spent much time in them to set up the machinery. With Robinson he built the revolver machinery; then Robinson disposed of it to Spiller & Burr and began anew to make Sharps carbines, a contract for the supplying of which Colonel Burton just happened to have in his pocket. They must have commenced working on it not later than May-June, 1862, for by December 8, 1862, Major W. S. Downer reported to General Gorgas that as the firm of Robinson was about to start turning out arms, it might be to the advantage of the Ordnance Department to rent or buy the works.
Under government supervision, Downer estimated savings on government orders might be made enough to pay for the factory. Robinson seems to have been agreeable to selling out, but Downer was not easily taken in by the high prices Robinson quoted for both the cost of manfacture and the complete factory. Meanwhile, guns were rolling off the line and between December and March, 1863, a production of at least 1,500 Sharps carbines was reached. This production record of 500 guns monthly was fantastic, but not remarkable when the competency of the man behind the scenes, Colonel Burton, is considered. On March 1, 1863, the Confederate States Ordnance Department concluded the purchase of the Robinson factory.
Guns made by Robinson are found marked “S C. Robinson Arms Manufactory, Richmond, Va.,” on the lockplate in four lines, and “S. C. Robinson Arms Manufactory” on the barrel in front of the rear sight and “Richmond, Va. 1862” to the rear. Such a gun, #1642, was once listed by dealer Stephen Van Rensselaer in 1935 as being elaborately engraved. It was said to have been a prize won by a Confederate sniper and later captured by a Union soldier and brought to New Hampshire. The highest carbine bearing Robinson’s name, found by researcher Albaugh, was #1882. While a carbine has been seen the first two numbers of

J. P. Murray rifle, like Mendenhall, Jones & Gardner, is combination of M1841 and M1855 U.S. styles.

which may be read “88—it is believed the stamps are not clear and the numbers are “33—.” On September 30, 1863, Gorgas reported that 3,000 carbines had been made at the now C. S. operated plant since September, 1862.
Though the Robinson shop represented a high degree of efficient mechanization, producing 500 carbines monthly once it got started, the administrative branch of the Confederate Ordnance Department was less effective. Production fell off from conflicts in the program.