September 2022
As far as the numbers rifled and sighted, Tim states “Between 1855 and 1859 slightly less than 44,000 M1842 muskets were rifled at five U.S. arsenals and armories, including the Springfield, and Harper’s Ferry armories, and the Saint Louis, Frankford, and Benicia Arsenals. Of the 43,759 muskets rifled, 23,683 received long-range rear sights. The rifled and sighted alterations took place at both Harper’s Ferry and Springfield, as well as at Saint Louis and Frankford. Benicia Arsenal did not apply long-range rear sights to any guns they altered. Between 1856 and 1859 Springfield rifled and sighted Harper’s Ferry rifled and sighted 11,060 M1842s.
Arsenal rifled and sighted 1,313 between 1857 and 1858 while the Saint Louis rifled and sighted 1,381 in 1857.”
Summarizing production American Military Arms vol. 2 and vol. 3, by George D. Moller, are listed in the production numbers table.
Moller further between 1856 and 1859, 20,076 U.S. Model 1842 Muskets were rifled and a further 23,683 rifled and fitted with a ladder rear sight.
Craig L. Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from UNC (Charlotte). Craig served The Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003–2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013). He has also published four books in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on Accoutrements, stores and imports.
Left: During the production life, between 1855, Harpers manufactured 100,000 muskets and Springfield produced around 172,000. This .69 caliber smoothbore musket fired a spherical lead ball. (Arston Grant collection)
Quartermaster other European