Unit ID stock carving?

[WpnsMan]

Gentlemen,

I am in the process of cleaning and repairing the stock of a M1816 musket I recently acquired. It is an 1823 dated Springfield type I, converted to percussion via the Belgian or Armory cone in barrel method. It has had suffered some extensive damage in the past and at least a couple attempts to repair it have been made over the years.

The insignia in picture #1 is barely visible through the old layers of varnish on the left side of the butt. For some reason this insignia looks familiar to me but I can’t remember where I’ve seen it or something similar.


More details emerged in picture #2 of the insignia. In addition, the remains of the initials W.O. M. became apparent after cleaning off the grime, varnish and putty from a previous attempt at repair.


The remnants of the inspector’s cartouches also appeared in picture #3.


Picture #4 shows the extent of the damage after cleaning and removing the old repairs which were badly done and had come loose.


I have already repaired the broken breech section and am in the process of making a new comb for the stock as the old repair was very poorly fitted to the stock. When that is complete I will attempt to reproduce the missing sections of the W.O.M initials.

Can anyone attribute the carved insignia to a known military organization?

I appreciate any insight,

[Dan Wambaugh]

Re: Unit ID stock carving?

Bryan,

I may be WAAAAY off here but that distinctly reminds me of the patch for the 30th ID:



Perhaps there is something in the origin of the patch that might lead to a CW era unit? Or at the very least this could be why the symbol looks familiar.

[WpnsMan]

Re: Unit ID stock carving?

Dan,

I am familiar with the 30th ID patch but, I swear I've seen this or something similar carved into musket stocks while cruising on line auction sites over the years.

To me, it "may" indicate something along the lines of an Ohio unit marking as it appears to be possibly a V within an O (Ohio Volunteers?) or, a Roman numeral V (5) within an O perhaps indicating a Corps or Division number. If not those maybe a Militia organization?

Regardless of the origins, it looks very neatly and deliberately done as do the initials. As opposed to the crude or haphazard carvings one normally encounters. Or, I may be totally off base.