eagle and italic “US” on lock plate to front of hammer; “V”, “P”, and eagle head on barrel near breech.
This musket was produced by the private armory of Asa H. Waters in a very small quantity, probably in or after 1844. The locks were unhardened iron, flat with a beveled edge. The browned barrel was 42" long. Some examples had all-iron furniture, like the U.S. Model 1842 Musket, while others had all-brass furniture. The Type I musket had a standard butt plate, and the Type II a heavily textured brass “Sea Fencible” butt plate.
| GOOD–$950 | FINE–$3,400 |
U.S. “NAVY CONTRACT” MUSKET, .69 CALIBER, PAPER CARTRIDGE, PERCUSSION
Manufactured by A. H. Waters, Millbury, Massachusetts, and Eli Whitney, Jr., New Haven, Connecticut, ca. 1817–36; alterations ca. 1842–51. Total production: unknown.
Overall length: 57-11/16". Weight: 9 lbs. 15 oz.
Muzzleloader, single shot.
Waters version: “US / A WATERS” on lock plate to front of hammer; “MILLBURY / [year]” on lock plate to rear of hammer. Whitney version: “U.S. / [crossed arrow and olive branch] / E. WHITNEY” on lock plate in front of hammer; “NEW / HAVEN / [year]” on lock plate to rear of hammer.
At some point, probably between around 1842 and 1851, one or more arsenals or contractors altered an unknown number of U.S. Model 1816 flintlock muskets, .69 caliber. These muskets incorporate the “cone,” or “Belgian” percussion system, with a nipple set directly on the breech instead of on a bolster, as well as a heavy, curved, brass butt plate (some iron plates have been reported) with a prominent protrusion at the heel. Since the butt plate was noticeably narrower than the stock version, the butt stock was correspondingly narrowed. Various sources have designated this alteration as a “Navy Contract,” “Sea Fencible,” or “Massachusetts Militia” musket.
| GOOD–$950 | FINE–$3,400 |
CHAPTER 2 RIFLED MUSKETS
It is easy to confuse the terms “rifled musket,” “rifle-musket,” “rifle,” and “musket.” So easy, in fact, that the terms were often used interchangeably during the Civil War—and still are today among collectors!
In an effort to equip armies with modern arms, the practice of rifling smoothbore muskets emerged in the 1840s. A smoothbore musket that was subsequently rifled is referred to as a “rifled musket.”
U.S. armories undertook rifling smooth-bore muskets during the 1855s, but these efforts were never really maximized until the prospect of civil war loomed. In February 1861, Colonel of Ordnance H.K. Craig reported that there were 24,300 .69 Model 1822 muskets altered to percussion at the Kennebec Arsenal and more than 100,000 .69 Model 1842 muskets (“much superior to the altered arms”) at other arsenals. Furthermore, he explained to his superior, Secretary of War J. Holt, that preparations to rifle the latter had been begun but were suspended by the Secretary’s predecessor in the late 1850s. He promised Lincoln’s government that the work would immediately recommence.
Meanwhile, northern and southern buyers scoured European arsenals and armories hoping to find quality weapons to purchase and import. The European governments had undertaken the similar strategy of rifling old smoothbore muskets. However, as the European gun manufacturer’s delivered stocks of newly made rifle-muskets and rifles, the old rifled muskets were retired to the gun racks. In most cases, these are the weapons the American buyers were able to purchase.
Rifled muskets remained in the hands of troops right up until the end of the Civil War. Today, they represent an interesting collision of old world linear tactics when the smooth-bored musket was supreme, with the new style of combat of identifying individual targets that is still practiced today.
U.S. MODEL 1842 RIFLED MUSKET, TYPES I AND II, 69 CALIBER, PAPER CARTRIDGE, PERCUSSION
Original muskets manufactured by Harpers Ferry Armory, Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), 1843–55, and Springfield Armory, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1844–55; altered to rifled muskets at the same armories, 1855–59. Total altered: 55,290.
Overall length: 57-13/16". Weight: 9 lbs. 4 oz.
Muzzleloader, single shot.
Eagle over “US” on lock plate in front of hammer; “HARPERS / FERRY / [year]” or “SPRING / FIELD / [year]” vertically on lock plate to rear of hammer; “V / P / [eagle head]” proof mark on left side of barrel near breech; inspector’s initials forward of proof marks on some examples; year on barrel tang; “US” on tang of butt stock.
Government armories and arsenals carried out a program from 1855 to 1859 to rifle the barrels of U.S. Model 1842 Muskets (.69 caliber). The barrels were rifled with three broad grooves, with lands of the same width. In addition, long-range rear sights were installed on most units. These rifled muskets are designated “Type I.”
Model 1842 Type II rifled muskets do not have rear sights.
A subset of the U.S. Model 1852 Rifled Muskets, Type I, were the 500 units that were browned at Harper’s Ferry Armory in 1856.
Type II rifled muskets were the up to 20,074 weapons that were not fitted with rear sights.
| GOOD–$1,200 | FINE–$3,500 |
Model 1842 Type I rifled musket. Rock Island Auction Company
GREENWOOD ALTERATIONOF U.S. MUSKETTO RIFLED MUSKET, .69 CALIBER, PAPER CARTRIDGE, PERCUSSION (BELGIANOR “CONE” TYPE)
Rock Island Auction Company
Muskets manufactured by various national and private armories; altered to rifled muskets by Miles Greenwood & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1861. Total altered: 16,918.
Overall length and weight depend on model.
Muzzleloader, single shot.
Markings according to original maker.
In 1861 Miles Greenwood & Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, converted to rifled muskets 16,918 U.S. muskets which previously had been altered with cone-in-barrel (or Belgian style) percussion systems. The rifling was with four narrow grooves, and a rear sight similar to that on the British P1853
