Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

[mslaird]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

As promised here is a long list of sources that contain a considerable amount of information for you to digest. The sources with an asterix denote primary source documents. These are not just arbitrary sources, they are the works cited for a paper that I have compiled that deals with a number topics, including the one we have been discussing.

Adamson, Hans Christian. Rebellion in Missouri: 1861,Nathaniel Lyon and His Army of the West. Philadelphia and New York: Chilton Company, 1961.

*Anderson, Ephraim M. Memoirs: Historical and Personal Including the Campaigns of the First Missouri Confederate Brigade. Saint Louis: Times Printing Company, 1868.

Angus, Fern. Down the Wire Road in the Missouri Ozarks and Beyond, Revised ed. Cassville, MO: Litho Printers, 2004.

Arkansas Historical Commission. Seven battles fought in Arkansas, 1861-1865. Little Rock, AR: 1960.

*Bailey, Joseph. Edited by T. Lindsay Baker. Confederate Guerilla The Civil War Memoir of Joseph Bailey. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 2007.

Barry, Craig L. The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy – Lock, Stock and Barrel, Modifications for Reproduction Civil War Era Enfield and US Pattern Muskets and Rifle-muskets. Warren, Michigan: The Watchdog Quarterly, 2006.

*Baxter, William. Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove or Scenes and Incidents of the War in Arkansas. Fayetteville, AR. University of Arkansas Press, 2000. Originally Published by Poe & Hitchcock in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1864.
Bennett, L. G. and William M. Haigh. History of the Thirty-Sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, During the War of the Rebellion. Marengo, IL: Prairie State Press, Inc., 1999. Originally Published, Aurora, IL: Knickerbocker & Hodder, 1876.

*Bevens, William E. Edited by Daniel E. Sutherland. Reminiscences of a Private William E. Bevens of the First Arkansas Infantry, C.S.A. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1992

Bilby, Joseph G. Civil War Firearms Their Historical Background, Tactical Use and Modern Collecting and Shooting. Pennsylvania: Combined Books, 1996.

Black, J. Dixon. A History of Benton County. Little Rock, AR: Black, 1975.

Britton, Wiley. The Civil War on the Border: Volume I, 1861-1862. Reprint, Ottawa, Kansas: Kansas Heritage Press, 1994.

Bevier, R.S. History of the First and Second Missouri Confederate Brigades, 1861-1865. St. Louis: Bryan, Brand & Co., 1879.

Bond, John. The History of Elkhorn Tavern. Eastern National, 2000.

Brooksher, William. Bloody Hill: The Civil War Battle of Wilson's Creek. 1st ed. Washington D.C.: Brassey's, 1995.

Brown, Dee Alexander. The Battle of Pea Ridge: "Gettysburg of the West". 1st ed. Gettysburg, PA: Civil War Times Illustrated, 1967.

Burrow, Roy. The Battle of Pea Ridge. 1st ed. Charlestown, IL: Prairie Press Books, 1970.

Cabell, William, Brigadier General, Maury’s Division, Army of the West. Report dated October 10, 1862. Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Series I. Volume XVII. Page 403.

Camp, Elnora. Northwest Arkansas History: Benton, Carroll, Madison & Washington Counties: 9 Flags, Cherokee Trail of Tears, Battle of Pea Ridge, Devastation, Reconstruction. 1974.

Carter, Arthur B. The tarnished cavalier: Major General Earl Van Dorn,

C.S.A. 1st ed. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1999.

Castel, Albert. General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West. Baton
Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968.

Calalfamo-Serio, Chris. The effect of the Civil War on Ozark Culture. Prairie Grove, AR: Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, 1979.

Christ, Mark K., ed. Getting Used to Being Shot At: The Spence Family Civil War Letters. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 2002.

Clinton, Catherine and Nina Silber, eds. Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

*Currie, George E. Warfare Along the Mississippi: The Letters of Lt. Colonel George E Currie. Original is located: Clarke Historical Collection, Central Michigan University, 1961. From a copy in the research files at the Pea Ridge National Military Park.

Cutrer, Thomas W. Ben McCulloch and the Frontier Military Tradition. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.

Cutrer, Thomas W. and T. Michael Parish, eds. Brothers in Gray The Civil War Letters of the Pierson Family. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1997.

*Demuth, Albert. Edited by Leo E. Huff. The Civil War Letters of Albert Demuth and Roster, Eighth Missouri Volunteer Cavalry. Springfield: Independent Printing Co., 1997. Durbin-Dodd, Janice. “’O It Is Distressing Times Here In Missouri:’ The Impact of the Civil War on Civilians in Southwest Missouri.” Unpublished Manuscript. Republic, Missouri: Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, 1995.

Denny, James. The Civil War's First Blood: Missouri, 1854-1861. 1st ed. Booneville, MO: Missouri Life, 2007.

Dougan, Michael B. Confederate Arkansas The People and Policies of a Frontier State in Wartime. 2nd ed. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1982.

Engle, Stephen D. Yankee Dutchman: The Life of Franz Sigel. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1993.

Fields, Ron. The Confederate Army 1861-65 (4) Virginia and Arkansas. Osprey, Men-at-Arms Series. Volume 435. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2006.

Ford, Harvey S. “Van Dorn and the Pea Ridge Campaign.” The Journal of the American Military Institute. Volume III. Number 4. Washington DC: American Military Institute, 1939.

Gerdes, Edward. "Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Home Page." April 1996. http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/ (accessed Sept 18, 2009)

Hammers, Clyde. The Pea Ridge Battle: a Keetsville Skirmish and Blockade
Hollow. Kansas City, MO: Westport Print Co, 1962.

Hartje, Robert G. Van Dorn The Life and Times of a Confederate General. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1967.

Hatcher III, Richard W. and William Garrett Piston, editors. Kansans at Wilson’s Creek: Soldiers’ Letters from the Campaign For Southwest Missouri. Springfield, Missouri: Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation, 1993.

Herrmann, Jason. Interpreting Leetown through the integration of aerial and ground-based remote sensing techniques. 2004.

Hess, Earl J., Richard W. Hatcher III, William Garrett Piston, and William L. Shea. Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove: A Battlefield Guide with a Section on Wire Road. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2006.

Hess, Earl J. The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat Reality and Myth. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2008.

Holcombe, Return I. and W.S. Adams. An Account of the Battle of Wilson's Creek, or Oak Hills. Springfield: Dow & Adams, Publishers, 1883. Reprinted in 1988 by the Springfield Public Library and the Greene County Historical Society.

Houp, J. Randall. The Twenty-fourth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, the "Lyon Legion”, Alma, AR: J. Randall Houp, 2007

Huff, Leo E. Confederate Arkansas a History of Arkansas During the Civil War. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas, 1953.

Hulston, John. "West Point and Wilson's Creek." Civil War History, December 1955. Reprinted by the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Foundation, 1991.

Ingenthron, Elmo. Borderland Rebellion: A History of the Civil War on the Missouri-Arkansas Border. Branson: The Ozark Mountaineer, 1980.
Johnson, Robert Underwood and Clarence Clough Buel, eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Volume I. New York: Century, 1887. Reprint, New York: Thomas Yoseloff, Inc., 1956.

*Matthews, R. P. Edited by Jeff Patrick. Nine Months in the Infantry Service: The Civil War Journal of R. P. Matthews. Springfield, MO.: Independent Printing Co., 1996.

*Maury, Dabney, Major General, Army of the West, Provisional Army of the Confederate States. Report dated October 10, 1862. Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Series I. Volume XVII. Pages 393-395.
McCoy, Patrick. Elkhorn Tavern 1860: the Pea Ridge Community. Miami, OK: Three Sons Publishing, 2005.

*Mitchell, Benjamin. "Confederate Participant Describes the Battle of Wilson's Creek." Ozarks Mountaineer, Feb., 1959.
Monaghan, Jay. Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1955.
Moody, Claire N. Battle of Pea Ridge, or Elkhorn Tavern. 1st ed. Little Rock, AR: Arkansas Valley Print Co, 1956.

*Moore, John C. Brigadier General, Maury’s Division, Army of the West. Report dated October 13, 1862. Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. Series I. Volume XVII. Pages 397-400.

*Mudd, Joseph A. "What I Saw at Wilson's Creek." Missouri Historical Review, January, 1913.
Nosworthy, Brent. Roll Call to Destiny The Soldier’s Eye View of Civil War Battles. New York: Basic Books, 2008.

Pea Ridge National Military Park Centennial Committee. The Battle of Pea Ridge, 1862. Published in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Pea Ridge and the dedication of the Pea Ridge National Military Park to be held May 31, 1963. Rogers, AR: 1963.
Phillips, Christopher. The Battle of Wilson’s Creek. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: Eastern National, 2008.

Piston, William G. and Richard W. Hatcher III. Wilson’s Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

Rettig, Polly. "Robbins and Lawrence Armory and Machine Shop/American Precision Museum." National Register of Historic Places, Vermont. Available from http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V09-60.htm. Internet; accessed 18 September 2009.

Shea, William L., and Earl J. Hess: Pea Ridge Civil War Campaign in the West. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1992

Shea, William L. War in the West: Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove. Abilene, TX: McWhiney Foundation Press, 1998.

Sifakis, Stewart. The Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Florida and Arkansas. Westminster, MD: Willow Bend Books, 2004.

Smith, Robin and Ron Field. Uniforms of the Civil War An Illustrated Guide for Historians, Collectors, and Reenactors. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2001.

Snead, Thomas. The Fight for Missouri: From the Election of Lincoln to the Death of Lyon. New York: Scribner's, 1886. Reprinted, Independence, Missouri: Two Trails Publishing, 1997.

Spencer, John D. The American Civil War in the Indian Territory. Oxford, U.K.: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2006.

Time-Life Books. Echoes of Glory Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1991.

Time-Life Books. Echoes of Glory Arms and Equipment of the Union. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1991.

*Tunnard, W. H. A Southern Record The History of the Third Regiment Louisiana Infantry. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1997. Originally published Baton Rouge, 1866.

Upton, Lucille Morris. Battle of Wilson's Creek. Springfield: Wilson's Creek Battlefield Foundation, 1950.

*Voelkner, Henry. Letter written on March 18, 1862. The original letter was written in German and was transcribed and translated by staff at the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Photostatic copy and translation are available in their collection, Western Historical Manuscripts.

Ware, Eugene F. The Lyon Campaign in Missouri. Topeka: Crane, 1907. Reprinted by the Press of the Camp Pope Bookshop, 1991.

*Watson, William. Life in the Confederate Army. London: Chapman and Hall, 1887. Reprinted by Louisiana State University Press, 1995.

Wayne, Jeannie, Thomas A. Deblack, George Sabo III, and Morris S. Arnold.
Arkansas A Narrative History. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 2002.

*Woodruff, W.E. With the Light Guns in '61-'65. Reminiscences of Eleven Arkansas, Missouri and Texas Light Batteries in the Civil War. Little Rock, Arkansas: Central Printing Co., 1903. Reprinted by Eagle Press of Little Rock, 1987.

* Indicates a primary source document.

For all of the newspaper articles and circulars, I looked through the archived microfilms in the periodicals at the University of Arkansas. It took me over 70 hours of research to compile this list of sources for my work on Leetown and the list is still only partially complete. The information you were looking for is contained within this list of works.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

You two can take this squirrel rifle tidbit off line if you like...Anybody else know of another name for the US 1841? We have quite a few bonafide monikers here. I will challenge anyone to produce another US Model Civil War-era rifle or musket with more different "names." I'd like to read that paper when you get it finished, sounds like something I might enjoy...

[mslaird]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

I was just trying to help, Craig. :D I would also love to hear some more names, this thread has been very enlightening and the discussion has been interesting.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

No. 9 - REPORT OF MILITARY STORE KEEPER MILLEDGEVILLE ARSENAL.
STATE ARSENAL, Milledgeville, Oc(tober) 21, 1863,

Maj. L. H. McIntosh, Ordnance Officer:

Sir: - In compliance with the law regulating my duties I herewith submit my Annual Report of the Ordnance and Ordnance Stores now in the Arsenal and Magazine.

Very respectfully,

T. M. Bradford,


Inventory of Ordnance (&) Stores in the State Arsenal and Magazine at Milledgeville, Oc(tober) 21, 1863.


400 Austrian rifles, cal. 54 - 100.
230 Mississippi rifles.
52 Flint lock muskets, 69 - 100.
20 Belgian rifles, 57-100.
20 Muskets, 69-100.
16 double barrel shot guns.
100 Muskets (not fit for service) 69-100.
39 Maynard rifles, with appendages.
13 New Country rifles.
...2,680 belts.

Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.
Call # E484.C655R.39, No. 1581.

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

What about some documentation, some quotes to go with any of these 'pet' names for said rifle???

Paul B.

[Pvt_Sullivan]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

Garrison,

Thank you. That documented report is very illuminating about what was actually availabe in Georgia in late 1863. One thing I have a question on, is the added "- 100" to the servicable rifle and musket calibres. For example...

400 Austrian rifles, cal. 54 - 100.

I wonder if you or anyone else knows the reason for the additional notation. Is it to do with the rifles and muskets that were gauged true?

Now back to the subject at hand... "New Country Rifles", new manufacture from local gunsmiths? Or civilian rifles that had been procured or accepted and then repaired/modified to meet a minimum military standard?

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

It could be another method of noting caliber. Rather than "0.54", they used "54/100", but for some reason used a "-" instead of a "/".

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

Hallo!

I would agree. One sees the "decimal" point that makes a number a "caliber" sometimes expressed as hundreths. Meaning .58 caliber IS
58/100ths of an inch.
(Caliber/calibre was an improvement over the previous centuries "balls to the pound.")

In brief and to over generalize...

"Squirrel" rifles were an evolution of the frontier "longrifle" (PA rifle, VA rifle,
Carolina rifle, etc.,) that had once been larged bored say roughly between
the high forties and the seventies in caliber.
As the environment changed and hostile Indians disappeared from the East; large game animals such as bison, elk, and bear vanished, and damgeorus animals such as wolves and mountian lions were gone, the large rifles started declining in bore to be more suited to deer and squirrels. And hunting became a part time past time for laborers and farmers.

A .62 ball tends to turn a squirrel into a red mist and a few strands of meat.

"Squirrel" rifles tend to run smaller than the .40ish deer rifles, often between say .30ish and .36ish.

One of the more famous "squirrel" rifle armed groups were the Ohio civiilans organized into militia when called up by Governor Tod in 1862 to counter fears of Confederate movement into Covington and Cincinnati. They arrived with their deer and squirrel hunting rifles.
(Deer and squirrel bore sized rifles being considered as better than nothing but inadequate, Tod ordered 5,000 arms to be issued by the State.)

After being discharged, later in 1863 Ohio issued a "discharge/service" certificate to the Ohio "Squirrel Hunters."

Curt

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

Garrison,

Thank you. That documented report is very illuminating about what was actually availabe in Georgia in late 1863. One thing I have a question on, is the added "- 100" to the servicable rifle and musket calibres. For example...



I wonder if you or anyone else knows the reason for the additional notation. Is it to do with the rifles and muskets that were gauged true?

Now back to the subject at hand... "New Country Rifles", new manufacture from local gunsmiths? Or civilian rifles that had been procured or accepted and then repaired/modified to meet a minimum military standard?

I too find the topic interesting. The arming of the early military components and those pesky home guard types in the south is perhaps my favorite.

Based on other rare documents* containing the term, it appears that Country Rifle is a loosely used name and this particular arsenal document refers to the fact that they are New. MA Baker in Fayetteville NC still made hunting rifles after 1860**. But again one can only speculate what they were called in the community at the time.

I briefly participated a thread on another forum that discussed Georgia Rifles and North Carolina Rifles in the same context as “Mississippi Rifles”. My heavily criticized reply was that they are not so-called “Mississippis” but were generic names given to arms purportedly made in the Georgia penal system*** and those muskets converted to common rifles by Baker et al, (or those fine rifles made at the Fayetteville Arsenal) for NC.

__________________________

*UGA main Library microfilm docs.
*Goldsboro News Argus archives.
** NCDoA&H
*** Daily Constitutional. UT-Tyler, Vicky Betts, admin

[Philo]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

http://books.google.com/books?id=wYRKWd1ORqgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=george+crook+autobiography&source=bl&ots=W-odzkJ9yC&sig=52T0glXc6lllVVR9q139Tp9DOCo&hl=en&ei=Gw9eS9uhH5OV8AbzyYj-BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Yaeger%20rifle&f=false

Check out pages 46 and 58 for George Crooks use of the M1841 rifles in action against the Indians before the war. Interesting, especially page 58.

I have used a M1841 in NSSA competition for the last 26 years. Calibre .54, but rifled to shoot a minie, not a patched round ball. Shot one with an original barrel using a Minie or Burton ball, and found it very hard to get a good group.

Phil

[mslaird]

Re: Names for the US 1841 Percussion Rifle

That is a good document Mr. Beall and thank you for sharing it. Finding references like those are absolutely gold. I have some microfilm scans of receipts and the like from the Military Board in Arkansas and some from the files of the Trans-Mississippi Department. I am still compiling a digital file of this type of information with the intention of making it available to everybody as soon as I can get it categorized and properly formatted and cited. So far I am limiting myself to this theatre as there is a mountain of material to sift through but I am diligently working on it.

Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.
Call # E484.C655R.39, No. 1581.

Another quote comes to mind from either the 1st or 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles where the author mentioned carrying a Mississippi Rifle with a Merril breach loading system. I have seen only one original Mississippi Rifle so made. It was interesting. I will see if I can dig up that quote as well.