Civil War Guns

Generically, the Deringer pistol, or “Derringer” as it came to be known, is a small defensive pistol of large bore. Gun maker Henry Deringer, listed in the Philadelphia City Directories as early as 1811 at 29 Green Street, did not at first achieve fame as a maker of pocket pistols. His Ml808 U. S. military holster pistols are eargerly sought after by collectors; they command prices that now range into the “fabulous” category. He moved to 374 North Front Street in 1813 , remained there until 1823 . Presumably from the Front Street shop he shipped at least a few of the 2,000 Model 1817 flintlock Common Rifles he contracted to supply the United States on April 3, 1821 . This lot was evidently a continuation of business which began with his making Common Rifles of the 1817 pattern on a contract dated July 23, 1819 . Even before this time he had a contract of 1814 to furnish 980 rifles to the Government, while, in December of 1828 , after moving to a new factory “entry from 93 Race Str...

In July, 1863 , General Robert E. Lee ordered that a new muzzle-loading carbine be made for cavalry use. Several ingenious breechloaders had been developed, other than the Richmond Sharps. The Tarpley at Greensboro, Georgia, was being manufactured. A swinging breech design, it is of the mechanical form that the Burton-modified Alender design might have taken, though the actual shape of the missing Alexander model carbine is not known. Alexander obtained a Confederate States patent a month or two after Tarpley patented his gun in February, 1863 . Another oddity, bearing no marker’s name and at present not verified as to location of manufacture, is the “rising breech” model; while another with a tipping breechblock and a board stock like the Maynard is variously called “Confederate Maynard” or “Confederate Perry.” These and other small-production weapons proved unreliable and Lee recommended that all efforts be placed on procuring a good supply of standard muzzleloaders of a fundamental...

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 indus...

While Burton preferred the Enfield, the Springfield influence of the tools at Richmond and Fayetteville persisted in Confederate small arms design. At Fayetteville Armory, the Ml 855 type machinery had been in production. The first issue of arms was put up on the stocks from the Maryland troops, which appear to have been fully finished for the long range rifle; the two-band model with the patchbox mortised out to hold a special front sight ring with crossed wires. This ring slipped over the muzzle, fastened with a set screw, and placed crosshairs on the foresight for super-accurate aiming. As some stocks had been mortised for the Maynard primer lockplates, sufficient profiled but un-mortised lockplates were sent along of the “humpback” variety to finish up these rifles. If a modified 1861 lockplate was fitted to the cut-out Ml855 stock, there would be great danger of water getting into the lock mechanism, to its considerable detriment.

Colonel Burton had a great interest in the Enfields of Cook, and in supplying them with gauges. But the central government had a plan to set up an Enfield works abroad, then ultimately transfer it to the South. Secretary of War Walker, on May 7, 1861 called the attention of Governor Howell Cobb, who was President of the Confederate Congress, to this idea. Referring to the manufacture of arms, he said: At London a complete set of machinery exists, which was made in this country, after the pattern of the machines at Springfield, in the United States. It would, I think, be no difficult matter to get these machines copied and executed on the spot with great rapidity. Triplicate machines should be ordered to ensure the chances of delivery of at least one set. For this purpose an additional appropriation of $300,000 may be needed . . . for the three sets of machinery. Should they all arrive, they will, even if not required by the government, be easily disposed of. The amount already ask...

One of the largest ordnance establishments in the South was the factory of Ferdinand W. C. and Francis L. Cook, known as Cook & Brother. First located in New Orleans, the works was shifted the day before the fall of the city, April 24 and 25, 1862 , and ultimately re-established at Athens, Georgia. While in New Orleans, the firm contracted with the State of Alabama which took the total production of the works, about 25 rifles a day with 400 men at work. Louisiana interests endeavored to increase the production to 100 rifles a day, with the balance to Louisiana, but the capture of the city prevented this expansion.

The “Mississippi Rifle” was a very popular Southern state contract arm. Numerous would-be makers obtained contracts and appear briefly in records. Some of their output has been identified, sometimes only tentatively. One of the best-made copies of the 1841 rifles was that produced by the Shakanoosa Arms Company in Alabama, known more commonly by the name of Dickson, Nelson & Company. Two distinct variations of the Dickson, Nelson & Company short rifle were made, according to Jim Blackburn (Gun Report, October, 1961 ). Superficially both are two-band short rifles, .58 caliber, along the lines of the U. S. Ml841 with Enfield overtones, brass bands. The first type, usually dated 1863 , has springretained bands on a cherry-wood stock. Though esteemed by cabinet makers, cherry is not always as strong as walnut, and the makers preferred walnut in their second “issue.” The nosecap is of Enfield type, not the two-loop band of the Ml841 model. There is of course no patchbox. Rear sig...