M1855 Springfields

[James Brenner]

I came across a snippet in the Cincinnati Gazette from 1 February 1862 that I found interesting. I know that flank companies frequently carried weapons different from the line companies, but I'd never come across an instance where variations of the same musket were carried within a regiment. "The 64th and 65th OV (Ohio Volunteers), the two regiments raised by Senator John Sherman, are well armed and equipped. The arm is the new Springfield rifled musket with the Maynard primer and raised sight. The flank company sights are for nine hundred yards, the other for five hundred yards."

FWIW.

Jim

[Ken Cornett]

Re: M1855 Springfields

Hey Jim,

I never thought about the flankers with longer range weapons, but that makes all the sense in the world. Thanks for info.

[MarkTK36thIL]

Re: M1855 Springfields

I think if you look back through historical documentation, the early war units did this more commonly than we think. The 36th IL was issued in Oct. of 1861, m1841 Rifles and another company was issued Enfield rifles. The other eight-companies were issued a mix of Belgium cone alterations of 1816 muskets.

Arming the Suckers has been a great resource in figuring out who had what early on as they tried to issue the rifles to skirmish companies and the bulk of the regiments carrying smoothbores.

[Palmyra Possum]

Re: M1855 Springfields

I think if you look back through historical documentation, the early war units did this more commonly than we think.

Mark,

I think you and Jim are talking about two different things. You are describing one type of weapon being issued to the bulk of the regiment, while another type of weapon, generally a rifled weapon, is issued to the flank companies. You are correct that this was fairly common early war. In "History of the Fifty-third regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, during the war of the rebellion, 1861 to 1865," by John Duke, it states:

At the organization of the regiment at Camp Diamond, Jackson, Ohio, Companies A and B were the only one ones honored with arms, and they of the Springfield pattern. About the time the regiment was to depart from Paducah, Ky., the remaining companies were armed with the Austrian rifles, these being of a different calibre from the Springfield. On October 10th we were relieved of these old guns and given the new Springfield, which did away with the embarrassment of having to be served with two sizes of cartridges.

I've also attached some pages from Annual Reports Made to the Governor of the State of Ohio for the Year 1862, Part II, (1863), which details the initial issues of Ohio regiments. While it doesn't specify companies, note how many regiments have about 700-800 of one type of weapon and then have about 180-200 Enfield or Springfield rifle muskets.

However, this is not what Jim is describing. He describes a regiment where everyone is issued M1855 Springfields, with the flank companies apparently having the sights adjusted to a different distance than the rest of the regiment. That was a new one for me.

And, yes, Arming the Suckers is an awesome book for info on the arming of Illinois troops. I recently drove about two hours to the nearest library to me that has a copy just to review it regarding some specific Illinois regiments. Well worth the trip and cheaper than the $350 on up you're going to pay for a copy nowadays.

[MarkTK36thIL]

Re: M1855 Springfields

Ah yes, reading that more clearly, I see that now.

Are they saying m1855s with 900 yard sights then, and then another batch of m1855s or m1861s with 500 yard sights? Am I reading that right?

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: M1855 Springfields

While reading through the history of the 17th Tennessee, I also discovered that the flank companies were armed with rifles, while the rest had outdated smoothbore flintlocks. It was kinda funny to read because when they enlisted they were promised the newest and most advanced weaponry. Much to their chagrin, they retained these weapons all they way up until arriving in Corinth.

[Ambrose Bierce]

Re: M1855 Springfields

Seems the practice was European as well.

The Austrian Lorenz was issued in two versions; one with an adjustable leaf sight for flank companies and one with a fixed sight for line companies.

I doubt these variants affected how they were issued to forces in the Civil War, but it supports the theory.

[Palmyra Possum]

Re: M1855 Springfields

Are they saying m1855s with 900 yard sights then, and then another batch of m1855s or m1861s with 500 yard sights? Am I reading that right?

That's the way I took it, but to be honest, I'm not quite sure what the writer meant by that since I'm not aware of 55s that have fixed sights. Maybe someone with a greater knowledge of weaponry (ahem, cough, Curt, Craig) could shed some light on that.

Incidentally, as variation on this flankers with different weapons theme, the 14th Connecticut was issued Springfield rifle muskets, but the flank companies got Sharps Rifles. They seemed to have kept this arrangement throughout the war.

[Jimmayo]

Re: M1855 Springfields

May bear in mind that was the established practice until enough arms were available to arm the rest of the regiment with rifled arms. In 1863 the US government canceled all further purchases of Enfields since enough Springfields were available to arm the troops. I would suspect that the above practice went out of use as the war progressed.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: M1855 Springfields

Hallo!

"The arm is the new Springfield rifled musket with the Maynard primer and raised sight. The flank company sights are for nine hundred yards, the other for five hundred yards."

If we accept it as written, and not a Rifle-Musket versus Rifle thing,, then yes. It would appear to state or imply that they had the earlier M1855 RM's with the long range rear sight (topo: Type I). And the later Type II or Type III with the short range rear sight change.

This is the first time I have heard of it- the NUG early on being smoothbore armed line companies with rifle armed flank (skirmish) companies which most all later evolved to everyone with the same rifle-muskets or rifles as the case may be.

Curt

[Craig L Barry]

Re: M1855 Springfields

First time I have seen that referenced with the same model. As I read it, the "raised 900 yd sight" would be the ladder type, not any type of fixed sight. Interesting find.

[Silas]

Re: M1855 Springfields

Although it is generally the same weapon, it seems like an application of the standard concept of skirmish companies verses line companies. These skirmish companies may be more drilled in long distance firing and skirmish drill than the other companies. Nice plan, but I wonder how well it worked in practice and for how long.

[Savannah Republican Blues]

Re: M1855 Springfields

A lot of your pre-war militia companies were issued the M1855 Springfield Rifled musket.

Several companies of the Savannah militia corps. was issued with them.

The Savannah Volunteer Guards(one battalion of three companies), Savannah Republican Blues(two companies), City Light Guards(one company), Oglethorpe Light Infantry(one company) just a few confirmed and had them as of 1857 - 1858.

You have the Type I and Type II. You have the Type I with a ladder sight similar to the P53 Enfield that could be raised up and too 800 - 1,000 yards and the Type II with a leaf sight set for 100, 300 and 500 yards.

Regards,
Savannah Republican Blues

[thomas aagaard]

Re: M1855 Springfields

Nice plan, but I wonder how well it worked in practice and for how long.

(as Iam sure you know) In the early pages of Casey we see this system mentioned... but the § are marked with a 0 telling us that they are to be ignored.
So by the time his book was approved it was apparently decided to drop the system by the Union. Think this give us some idea about if it worked...


Some European armies did it somewhat differently. With the Austrians the rear rankers had Lorenz with the adjustable leaf sight.The two other ranks didn't.
In the danish army in the 1850ties everyone was first drilled with smoothbore muskets. (mentioned in the 1852 drill book)
Then after they finished "basic training" the best 20% was also issued rifled muskets.
So they actually had two weapons during peace time. The smoothbores for drill, exercises with blank fire and similar. And the rifled weapons only to be used when live fire was done.
The men with rifle muskets was evenly spread to each of the 16 platoons in the battalion (of four companies), so they all had some "riflemen."

Around 1860 the army rifled its smoothbores so everyone could get one, even when the army mobilized.
But the idea that each 50 man platoon had some"good shots" was still used and they are mentioned in the 1863 drill book.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: M1855 Springfields

Hallo!

I have not had one in some years and all of my reference books are unavailable due to house remodeling, but if IIRC...

The "Type I" M1855 RM with the long range rear sight was graduated on the ladder to 800, and by sliding the slide all the way to the top made it 900 yards.

It is interesting that with the change to the "short range" (100, 300, 500 yards) rear sight with the Types II and III after 1858 that the vision of skirmishers being any of the companies and armed say with an M1861/63/64 RM would not be concerned with ranges beyond 500 yards for the "line" or the "skirmishers."

Curt