Miles Greenwood’s Cincinnati War Effort
Last month, while talking about the some of the alterations performed on Austrian Model 1842 Muskets imported for use during the American Civil War, we mentioned the firm of Miles Greenwood. I thought this might be a good time to take a little bit deeper look into Greenwood’s contributions to the Union cause during the American Civil War.
Miles Greenwood was an interesting entrepreneur in mid- 19th century Cincinnati, Ohio. He was born in New Jersey in 1807 and in 1832 he established the Eagle Ironworks along the Miami Canal in the Cincinnati area. The company quickly grew to be the largest ironworks in the mid-western United States, and the second-largest ironworks in the “western” United States. The company produced a wide array of everyday iron items including “pulleys, shutter lifts and catches, sash weights, spittoons, teakettles and tailor shears.” They even produced door knobs and door bells! In 1852 the Eagle Ironworks
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were destroyed by fire, a problem that would continue to plague Greenwood’s operations for decades to come. As a result of the fire, Greenwood, along with Cincinnati residents Abel Shawk and Alexander B. Latta worked to produce a reliable and fully functional steam fire engine. While steam fire engines had existed prior to the trio’s 1852 effort, the Greenwood lead team developed the most successful design yet conceived, and Eagle Ironworks produced the first truly successful steam fire engine which was immediately purchased by the city of Cincinnati and officially delivered on January 1, 1853. Greenwood’s efforts also helped Cincinnati to establish the first professional, paid fire department in the United States, replacing the somewhat unreliable volunteer force. The department came into being on April 1, 1853, and Miles Greenwood served as the first fire chief of Cincinnati. The success of Greenwood’s fire engine was so overwhelming that the citizens
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of Cincinnati raised the funds to purchase a second steam-powered fire engine in 1854.
With the coming of the Civil War, Eagle Ironworks production shifted into high gear, with Greenwood focusing entirely on the Union war effort. One of his first military contributions was to manufacture a dozen iron
Close up of the lock, percussion alteration and rear sight of the Ohio contract Greenwood altered U.S. M-1816 Type III musket by Starr. anchors for pontoon bridges. It was reported that the ironworks produced the needed anchors in only twenty-four hours! This order came from General John C. Frèmont. Interestingly it would be Frèmont who was indirectly responsible for the Federal contract he received to alter 10,000 Austrian M-1842
muskets to percussion via the “Belgian” or “cone-in-barrel” process during the fall of 1861. Greenwood was also contracted to rifle the Austrian smoothbore muskets and add long-range, adjustable rear sights. Earlier that year, Greenwood had undertaken to perform the same type of work for the state of Ohio. Ohio, like many of the states at the outbreak of the American Civil War, had large stocks or obsolete flintlock, smoothbore military muskets in storage. As a result, many states (both North and South) contracted with local gunsmiths, machinists, and manufacturing companies to have their arms upgraded to the percussion ignition system and in some cases to rifle the arms as well. The U.S. arsenals had previously experimented with the rifling of percussion altered U.S. M-1816 muskets during 1856 and 1857 and found that doing so weakened the barrel sufficiently as to make the guns unsafe. The issue was a combination of the barrel being thinned out by the rifling process and the additional breech pressure created by the use of expanding base ammunition. The end result was that enough of the newly rifled M-1816 muskets burst in the field to give the Ordnance Department pause, and the project was abandoned at the national level. Greenwood apparently had more success with the rifling of altered muskets, and a Cincinnati newspaper article noted that Greenwood’s altered .69 caliber muskets had better penetrating power than the standard .58 rifle muskets, with his altered guns being able to penetrate steel plates at a greater
distance than the .58 caliber guns. The guns that Greenwood altered became known locally as “Greenwood Rifles,” and a number of early war Ohio regiments went off to war carrying muskets that Greenwood had modified. “Greenwood Rifles” were carried by the 41st Ohio Infantry at Shiloh and by the 51st Ohio at Perryville, and the guns saw use with many other Ohio infantry regiments until they could be replaced with more modern .58 caliber rifle muskets.
Greenwood entered into a contract to upgrade the muskets in the state of Ohio’s inventory during the summer of 1861. Greenwood’s contract called for the altering of flintlock muskets to percussion, and to rifle them as well. He also contracted to rifle the U.S. M-1842 percussion muskets in the state of Ohio inventories. Greenwood was additionally contracted to install long-range rear sights on 1/20th of the guns (5%) that he rifled. Greenwood charged $1.25 to rifle each of the guns and an additional $1.75 to add the rear sight. It is not clear from the records what Greenwood charged to alter the flintlock muskets to percussion, and it is likely that some of the muskets in the Ohio inventories had been altered to Detail view of the Greenwood rifling in the bore of a state of Ohio altered U.S. M-1816 Type III contract musket. Note also the modified trumpet shaped ramrod with cupped head for elongated ball (Minié) ammunition. The standard U.S. M-1816 ramrod had a button head and was designed for use with round ball ammunition.
percussion during the late 1850s when the Federal Government had undertaken that project in earnest. During the summer of 1861, a local newspaper noted that Greenwood was “rifling 3,000 smoothbore muskets per day”. While this is clearly hyperbole, it seems that the Eagle Ironworks was certainly burning the midnight oil to get the guns out the door as quickly as possible. Greenwood delivered his first 1,000 altered arms to the state of Ohio on July 24, 1861. By the end of the year, his company had rifled a total of 23,482 guns for the state of Ohio (16,918 M-1816 and 8,406 M-1842 muskets), and it is estimated that slightly less than 850 had the new rear sights (Tim Prince) added. When the additional 5,000 Austrian muskets are added to this total (the other 5,000 of the 10,000 he contracted to alter were sub-contracted to Hall, Carrol & Company for the work), it appears that Greenwood rifled some 28,482 guns during a roughly six-month period. This equates to an average of slightly less than 4,750 guns per month and just shy of 1,200 per week. While this is certainly much lower than the “3,000 per day” noted in the newspaper account, it does show that the company was working diligently for the war effort.
In addition to altering, rifling and sighting muskets for the state of Ohio and the Federal Government, Greenwood was also involved in the production of the first six Gatling Guns in 1862. However, another fire ravaged his factories (this time set by southern sympathizers), and the first six guns were destroyed, along with patent models, drawings, plans and samples. In fact, southern sympathizers managed to set his works on fire a total of three times during the course of the war! Greenwood’s other wartime manufacturing efforts included producing turrets for U.S. Navy iron-clad ships, as well as manufacturing cannon (both iron and bronze) and other material for the war effort.
After the war, the Eagle Ironworks fell on hard financial times and eventually failed. Miles Greenwood served on the Cincinnati city council after the war and also served on the Cincinnati Railroad Board of Trustees. Miles Greenwood died of bronchitis on November 6, 1885, at the age of 78, but his name lives on as a strong Union man who put his all into the war effort to preserve the union.
Tim Prince is a full-time dealer in fine & collectible military arms from the Colonial Period through WWII. He operates College Hill Arsenal (www.collegehillarsenal.com), a web-based antique arms retail site.
A long time collector & researcher, Tim has been a contributing author to two major book projects about Civil War era arms including The English Connection and an upcoming book on southern retailer marked and Confederate used shotguns. Tim is also a featured Arms & Militaria appraiser on the PBS Series Antiques Roadshow.
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GETTYSBURG, PA.–Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center was voted the top venue in the state as “Best Historic or Cultural Venue” by the readers of Pennsylvania Meetings + Events, a trade publication targeting meeting, conference and event planners.
The award was presented as part of Pennsylvania Meetings + Events’ annual “Best of Pennsylvania” ceremony October 6 in Philadelphia. Other finalists included the Phoenixville Foundry and the Liberty View at Independence Visitor Center.
“We are proud of this accomplishment,” said Barbara Sardella, Interim President of the Gettysburg Foundation, the organization that owns and operates the Museum and Visitor Center. We have an energetic team that offers exceptional customer service and views every occasion a unique one. This award is evidence of the dedication and hard work of our staff, the multitude of customized options we offer, and the beautiful public and private meeting spaces amidst our rare, historic surroundings.”
Nearly every type of meeting or event at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center can feature an historic aspect for a special occasion, dinner, cocktail hour. Examples are corporate meetings, weddings, rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions, educational seminars, courses on historic/military leadership, retirement parties, business social networking receptions, training sessions, historic lectures, author book signings, and more.
Sardella added, “Event planners and attendees alike love to meet in this venue and its historical setting because it carries appeal to those who are interested in some aspect of history.” The event planning team offers speakers on topics of history, people in Civil War period dress such as Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln, a private viewing of the rare Cyclorama painting of Pickett’s Charge, a private viewing of special film, “A New Birth of Freedom” narrated by Morgan Freeman; or a private viewing of the 12-gallery Museum of the American Civil War.
The Refreshment Saloon is an elegant, charming dining area with a beautiful stone, working fireplace and wall-length window looking out to beautiful wooded scenery.
There is ample space for events and meetings, in-house catering services for buffets, sit-down dinners and cocktail affairs, free parking and motorcoach access and a dedicated events staff ready to help make events a moment in history for all guests.
For more information or to request a quote, contact our facility events and rentals manager, email Debbie Joyner at djoyner@gettysburgfoundation.org or telephone 717-338-1243, ext. 2108.
The Gettysburg Foundation is a non-profit educational organization working in partnership with the National Park Service to enhance preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg. The Foundation raised funds for and now operates the Museum and Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park.
In addition to operating the Museum and Visitor Center, the Foundation has a broad preservation mission that includes land, monument and artifact preservation and battlefield rehabilitation—all in support of the National Park Service’s goals at Gettysburg.
GETTYSBURG, PA.—With the sunshine and 70-degree weather, hundreds of Union & Confederate Soldiers and civilians stepped off down Baltimore Pike and Steinwehr Avenue to honor the soldiers who had paid the ultimate sacrifice in Gettysburg in 1863 along with paying homage to the great President Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address to the delight of thousands of spectators. With brass, reed, and percussion instruments filling the air with great cacophony, all were in attendance for this huge spectacle, save one. One of the greatest adopted sons of Gettysburg, Mr. George H. Lomas, had passed this year on September 19th. His place of honor stood empty; a wooden chair draped with black cotton and his favorite hat. However, all who had gathered and knew and loved him knew that he was watching from above with that wonderfully boyish smile on his face as Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and even civilians in mourning marched past with great love, respect and admiration in their hearts. This year, a special banner was carried in his honor, followed by a rider-less horse. For George and his beloved reEnactors, the weather held out this year, plummeting 22 degrees with high winds and sleet ONLY after the parade had concluded. So, thank you, George, for looking over us this year, and for our fair weather and skies.