Since my last post, I’ve been accessioning new objects and archives and moving objects and such in storage. I walked into the archives room and saw this rifle and was instantly intrigued. My internship advisor asked me to do some research on it since we were unsure on the model and make of the rifle at the time. When she was gifted the rifle, the donor said that US SPRINGFIELD was engraved on it, but she couldn’t see it, so she was not 100% positive that he was telling the truth. He indeed was.
After careful speculation, I was able to identify the make of the rifle, an United States Springfield Percussion Musket Rifle. You can barely see the engraving, but there is a flying eagle with US Springfield engraved next to it. I didn’t know what year it was because that was completely engraved out. I got some context clues from the rest of the gift. The man that used this was a Confederate Solider. I dug further into my research and found that it was an 1861 US Springfield Percussion Musket. I wasn’t done yet. I researched the battles that Anderson Damewood, the Confederate solider fought in. Damewood fought in the Battle of Middle Creek and Battle of Chickamauga.
One question was bugging me though. How did Damewood get the rifle? US Springfield supplied 99% of the Union. I have my theories. Since the rifle doesn’t look exactly like an 1861 US Springfield rifle, it was definitely damaged during battle. The lower barrel band was handmade and the ramrod is missing. The theory that makes the most sense is that an Union solider was killed with this rifle in an explosion and Damewood got ahold of the rifle and fixed it up so it was usable again, hence the handmade lower barrel band and missing ramrod. The Confederate Army did not have top-notch weapons like the Union; they just used what they owned. By using this rifle, it gave Damewood an advantage.
Shortly, I’ll be creating a mini-exhibit once I return to my internship soon. More updates coming soon.