The U.S. Model 1843 Hall carbine was one of the more colorful long arms of the American Civil War era because roughly half the production run was involved in the infamous “Fremont Affair,” sometimes referred to as the “Hall Carbine Affair.” This scandal was partially responsible for removing General John C. Fremont, the “Pathfinder,” from command of United States forces in the Department of the West during the early part of the Civil War. At the time of his appointment as commander, The Department of the West consisted of the area from the Appalachian Mountains west to the Mississippi River.
The U.S. Model 1843 Hall- North breech loading percussion carbine was produced by Simeon North of Middleton, Conn., from 1844 through 1853, with a total of 10,500 being manufactured. The carbine utilized the same rising block, breech-loading system incorporated in earlier Hall breech loading-weapons. The Model 1843, however, used a new side-mounted lever to open and close the breech instead of the various bottom mounted releases used on all previous Hall models. The carbine had a 21-inch long .52-caliber smooth bore barrel secured with two flat, spring retained barrel bands finished with the usual lacquer brown finish on the barrel and most of the furniture.
The breech block and hammer were casehardened as on preceding Hall models. Like other Hall patent firearms, the casehardened breech blocks did not have the brilliant, mottled colors often associated with this metal hardening process, but were rather more muted and often had a deep bluish black color with little mottling or bright color. Many small parts, like the screws, breech block wedges, and operating lever were fire blued as a result of the tempering and drawing processes during production; other parts like the sling bar and ramrod were polished bright. A sling bar was attached to the reverse of the receiver with a sliding ring that could be attached to a carbine sling’s snap hook.
The standard breech block marking was five lines and read U.S. / S. NORTH / MIDLTN / CONN / (date of production). The left angled flat of the chamber was marked with a set of sub-inspector initials. The black walnut stock had an inspection cartouche applied by the arsenal sub-inspector to the left rear of the stock flat, while a final inspection cartouche from an Ordnance Department officer was sometimes applied to the right side of the rear flat as well.
Sights consisted of a simple fixed rear sight and a blade front sight, both of which were offset due to the presence of the hammer on top of the breech block, in the line of the sight. A threaded, buttonhead “ramrod” was included in the channel under the stock, to serve as both a cleaning and clearing rod and for emergency use as a ramrod should the block become seized and unopenable.
The Model 1843 was the primary long arm of the 1st and 2nd US Dragoons through the period of the Mexican American War, and many of these guns saw extensive use during the Civil War as well. The most famous, and in some ways notorious, of these carbines were those involved in the “Hall Carbine Affair” that involved Fremont as well as a number of somewhat unscrupulous East Coast arms dealers and financiers. The story is somewhat convoluted, but the essential details are as follows.
With the commencement of the Civil War, the U.S. Government quickly came to the realization that war would be a longer than anticipated, and more small arms were going to be needed than originally thought. Seeing the opportunity to make a quick dollar, numerous arms dealers and speculators jumped into this market and procured arms from whatever sources were available for resale to the U.S. Government, and in some cases to the various state governments as well.
In June 1861, Arthur Eastman of Manchester, NH, offered 5,000 “altered” Hall M 1843 Carbines for sale. He proposed to have their .52 caliber smooth bores rifled with six grooves, and to have the chambers enlarged to accept .58 caliber ammunition. The bores of the guns were not enlarged to .58 caliber, as the description of these carbines in Flayderman’s leads one to believe; only the breechblock’s chamber was enlarged, from a nominal .564-inches to a nominal .590-inches. The theory was that the larger chamber feeding into a substantially smaller barrel would help reduce the gas leak problem that had hampered the Hall design since the very beginning of production.
Eastman successfully arranged to purchase the 5,000 carbines from the U.S. Ordnance Department in May and June 1861, paying $3.50 each and taking them from stores held at the Governor’s Island Arsenal in New York, and from Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia. Eastman arranged to sell the carbines to a Simon Stevens who agreed to pay Eastman $12.50 each for them in their newly altered, rifled state. Simon proceeded to contact Major General John C. Freemont in Saint Louis, Mo., on 5 August 1861, and offered the carbines for sale to him. His initial letter read:
56 Broadway, New York, August 5, 1861
I have five thousand Hall’s rifled cast-steel carbines, breechloading, new, at twenty-two dollars, government standard, fifty-eight. Can I hear from you?
Freemont responded the very next day via telegram, saying in part:
“I will take the whole five thousand carbines. See agents, Adams Express, and send by express not fast freight. I will pay all extra charges. Send also ammunition. Devote yourself solely to that business to-day.”
The most scandalous part of the deal was that Eastman did not even obtain the carbines from the Ordnance Department until August 7, 1861. Since Stevens did not have the money necessary to pay Eastman, he arranged financing through JP Morgan. The alteration of the carbines did not take place until later in the month, with most of the work being performed by the WW Marston Company and the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company. The first of the altered carbines arrived in St. Louis by the end of August with the balance arriving by mid-September. The guns were being issued to the troops in the field by the end of September 1861.
By September 1861, Colonel J.W. Ripley of the Ordnance Department had seen the initial documents relating to the purchase of the carbines at $22.00 each, and immediately realized that these were the same guns he had authorized selling out of inventory at $3.50 each! The story hit the newspapers, and in a very short time a Congressional inquiry was convened. By November 2, 1861, Freemont had been relieved of command. Although his removal has often been seen as the result of this purchasing debacle, in the greater scheme of things his inept leadership and the fact that he ran the Department of the West as his own private fiefdom had much more to do with his loss of command than the arms scandal. This very public embarrassment was certainly one of the final straws that resulted in his removal from command by President Lincoln.
The rifled M1843 carbines were issued to several Western Theater and Trans-Mississippi cavalry units, including the 4th Arkansas, 2nd, 3rd, 9th & 10th Illinois, the 1st Indiana, 4th & 5th Iowa, 2nd & 5th Kansas, 2nd Battalion Militia, 6th Militia, 10th Militia, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th & 10th Missouri, 8th & 9th New York, 3rd & 4th US and 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry. Many altered carbines remained in service through the majority of the war; as such they tend to be encountered in rather rough and heavily used condition. The smoothbore carbines saw use for a more limited amount of time, but like their rifled brethren, a service life of some two decades means that surviving examples tend to be well used and crisp, high condition examples are quite scarce in collections today.
Tim Prince is a full-time dealer in fine and collectible military arms from the Colonial Period through WWII. He operates College Hill Arsenal, a web-based antique arms retail site. A long time collector and researcher. Tim has been a contributing author to two major book projects about Civil War era arms including The English Connection and a book on southern retailer marked and Confederate used shotguns. Tim is also a featured Arms & Militaria appraiser on the PBS Series Antiques Roadshow.
Overall reverse view of a Model 1843 Hall-North carbine.
Hall-North receiver with the breech block closed, showing the side-mounted action operating lever. Note that no Ordnance Officer’s final acceptance cartouche was applied to this carbine, which is not uncommon on these arms. Note the fire blued operating lever that is toning towards straw with age and handling.
Reverse of the receiver showing the sling bar and ring. The inset shows the script NWP cartouche of arsenal sub-inspector Nahum W. Patch.
Hall M1843 breechblock opened for loading.
Overall obverse view of a Model 1843 Hall-North carbine. All photos by Tim Prince.
Right: Smooth bore of the 1843 Hall-North carbine showing the guns as originally produced.
Close up of the standard 1843 Hall-North carbine breechblock markings.
Below right: Rifled bore of one of the “Fremont” Hall carbines. Externally there is no indication of whether a M1843 Hall is in its original smoothbore configuration or if it has been modified. Only examining the bore for rifling and measuring the diameter of the chamber can confirm whether it is a modified gun or not.