The Enfield in the Civil War
Geoff Walden
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The Enfield in the Civil War Geoff Walden
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Soldier Images with 2nd Model P1853 Enfields
Federals Echoes of Glory: Arms & Equipment of the Union (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1991), p. 203 (an Ohio soldier) William C. Davis, Touched By Fire, Vol. 2 (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1986), p. 173 (3rd New Hampshire Infantry, 1862) National Historical Society, The Image of War, Vol. VI (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984), p. 133 (4th Vermont Infantry, ca. 1862 -- this image shows a unit with mixed 2nd and 3rd Model P53s) An image in the Library of Congress shows a group of presumably early-war Federal infantry in front of their tent; two are holding 2nd Model P53s, one is unclear, and one appears to be a 3rd Model P53.
Confederates Confederate Calendar, June 1997 (unidentified Confederate) William C. Davis, Fighting Men of the Civil War (New York: Gallery Books, 1989), p. 16 (3rd Georgia Infantry ... this famous Museum of the Confederacy image has seen wide publication - Albaugh, Confederate Faces, p. 78; Wiley and Milhollen, They Who Fought Here, p. 10; NHS Image of War Vol. 1, p. 137; Military Images Vol. 5 No. 6, p. 5, &c.) Ron Field, American Civil War: Confederate Army (London: Brassey's Ltd., 1996), p. 44 (4th Georgia Infantry, ca. 1861; see also the Confederate Calendar, November 1997); also p. 41 (14th Alabama Infantry, ca. 1861) Rod Gragg, The Illustrated Confederate Reader (NY: Harper & Row, 1989), p. 7 (another 3rd Georgia Infantry soldier, with a blued 2nd Model P53 with an unusual bayonet - see the image on main page) Michael A. Grissom, When the South Was Southern (Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub. Co., 1994), p. 122 (31st Alabama Infantry, ca. 1863) Wiley Sword, Firepower from Abroad (Lincoln, RI: Andrew Mowbray, 1986), p. 8 (also published in Civil War Times Illustrated Vol. 28, No. 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1989), p. 34 (unidentified Confederate) William A. Turner, Even More Confederate Faces (Moss, VA: Orange Publications, 1983), p. 207 (unidentified Confederate)
In addition, there is good evidence that the 1st Georgia Infantry was issued 2nd Model P53 Enfields made by Robbins & Lawrence of Windsor, Connecticut. These guns had been contracted by the British Board of Ordnance as part of their Crimean War purchases, but Robbins & Lawrence experienced difficulties, and only produced some 16,000 of the 25,000 ordered in 1855. It is apparent that some Windsor Enfields were never shipped to England, as agents for the states of Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia purchased over 1200 of these in New York in early 1861. When finally delivered, the 700 bought by Georgia apparently went to arm the 1st Georgia Infantry at Savannah (William J. Hardee's regiment). Note the three images listed above of soldiers in the 3rd and 4th Georgia Infantry regiments with 2nd Model P53s. Windsor Enfields seen in collections today generally bear British Government marks; it is unknown if these leftovers did also. (See C.H. Roads, The British Soldier's Firearm (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1964), pp. 89-90; John M. Murphy & Howard M. Madaus, Confederate Rifles and Muskets (Newport Beach, CA: Graphic Publishers, 1996), pp. 368-371; Petersburg (Va.) Daily Express, 9 Feb. 1861, page 1 (my thanks to Dave Hunter for this reference.) It must be noted, however, that these 1st Georgia muskets may have been the so-called "Whitney Short Enfields." These were made by Eli Whitney Co., apparently partly from leftover Robbins & Lawrence parts. A photo that has been identified as a soldier of the 1st Georgia Regular Infantry shows what appears to be one of these "Whitney Enfields." (Leslie D. Jensen, Johnny Reb: The Uniform of the Confederate Army, 1861-1865 (London: Greenhill Books, 1996, p. 27) An unidentified soldier carried a 2nd Model P53 Enfield into battle at Antietam in September 1862. This musket was picked up off the Sharpsburg battlefield after the battle, and ended up in the John Graham collection. (Ken Baumann, "Illinois Enfields," North South Trader, Nov-Dec 1984, p. 19)
These photos show the characteristic wider
upper barrel band of the 2nd Model P53 Enfield. Compare to the normal 3rd Model
upper band in the photo on the right.
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