Regulars with M1841's DOes anyone know when the 10th Infantry got rid of them?

[FTrooper]

I have a source that says the 10th US Infantry still has some M1841's in Dec. 1862. I am curious when they finally phased them all out and if there were any other regular regiments that carried the M1841 into the war (I think someone once said two companies of the 4ht did? Can't remember for sure).

Chris Fischer
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[ajroscoe]

Re: Regulars with M1841's DOes anyone know when the 10th Infantry got rid of them?

Chris,

There is a list of the ordnance records for the forth quarter of 1862 for the Army of the Potomac available at: http://www.nps.gov/frsp/historycultu...ericksburg.pdf . This report shows that for all the the "Old Army" Regulars, those in regiments 1-10 that predated the war, for those companies that have weapons listed, all carry the M1855/61 series muskets. Some of the "New Army" Regulars, those in regiments 11-19 that were raised starting in May 1861, carried odds and ends, but generally also carried Springfields. While there are a good chunk of companies that did not types of arms listed (7 of the 44 "Old Army" companies, 11 of the 46 "New Army" companies, and 1 of the 6 in the 10th Infantry in particular), it would stand to reason that generally they would follow the rest of the regiment. While there are numerous example of regiments with mixed arms, the lack of documentation would tend to support that the arms were uniform. As to when Mississippis were phased out in the Regulars, I cannot help you, though would be fascinated to learn more about there use by Federal troops in general and the Regulars in particular, since it is one of my favorite weapons.

[FTrooper]

Re: Regulars with M1841's DOes anyone know when the 10th Infantry got rid of them?

Andrew, Thanks for the link, I didn't realize they had finally put the OR's online in any capacity.

I know a researcher that has the complete quarterly OR's, but he doens't share unless its in a book and then he only gives a superficial overview.

The 10th was originally equipped with M1841 (with 1854 conversions) upon organization in 1855. As they already had "minie rifles" they were one of the last regiments to transition. He shows that the 10th was reporting M1841's in Nov/Dec. 1862. I don't know if that was one company or more, as about half of the regiment had shown up from the prairie and New Mexico. So it is questionable, until I track down the specific companies) if the companies that fought in the Peninsula ever had them, or were already re-equipped with rifle muskets. Just a weird question I have had for awhile.

Chris Fischer
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[FTrooper]

Re: Regulars with M1841's DOes anyone know when the 10th Infantry got rid of them?

It would appear from the link that at least the AOP companies were reamred...oh well.

Chris Fischer
F-Troop

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Regulars with M1841's DOes anyone know when the 10th Infantry got rid of them?

Hallo!

Off the top of my head...

In July of 1861, the seven companies of the 7th U.S., armed with altered M1841's, and 100 or so men of the Mounted Rifles surrendered to Texas cavalry in New Mexico. Later that year, the MR's became the 3rd Cavalry and were still armed with their Harper's Ferry altered M1841's which they were hoping to trade for 865 Sharps carbines which they did sometime in 1862.

I do not recall any documentation for it at the moment, but the 10th U.S. still with the M1841 riifles in November/
December 1862 might have been just the two flanking companies as was often found in regiments at that time?

Curt