forward observer
Member
I had been looking for one of these for quite some time and finally, in the third week of June, I snagged what I think is a pretty nice example in a live online auction. It just arrived today via UPS.
It's a US model 1841 "Mississippi" rifle made by Robbins & Lawrence still in the original .54 caliber. The lock date shows made in 1848 but the barrel tang has a later date of 1851. This is not uncommon for contract rifles which were manufactured intermittently as needed. From 1842 until about 1855 somewhere around 25k of these were manufactured by the Harpers Ferry arsenal while another 50k or so were produced during this period by contract manufacturers such as Eli Whitney, Remington, Tryon, and Robbins & Lawrence.
It didn't arrive until around 6 PM so there really wasn't enough light left but I was eager to get some photos anyway.
Here's the rifle with a Mexican Ameican war-style cartridge box. The straw hat is one of those Pennsylvania quaker styles but looks exactly the same as the hats I've seen depicted as part of the unique uniforms worn by the 1st Mississippi regiment of volunteers. See the pictures at the end.
The M1841 was the first designed percussion rifle to be used by the US military--although they were never intended to be issued as a main battle weapon--hence they had no provision to mount a bayonet. They instead were intended for skirmishers, scouts, and what were sometimes referred to as flanking units. During this same period, the main battle musket of the US was the model 1816 flintlock smoothbore musket. Many of the M1816s were modified starting in the late 1830s to percussion and were still in service in the South at the start of the ACW. Once the .58 cal Minie ball was adopted in 1855 by the US military, many of the "Mississippi" rifles were reworked by reboring and re-rifling to .58 cal along with adding improved sights plus adding several systems to mount already existing bayonets.
The M1841 was reportedly first used in combat by the 1st volunteer Mississippi regiment commanded by Jefferson Davis during the Mexican-American war (1846 to 1848). Davis had requested the new M1841s for his Mississippians but Winfield Scott the commanding general of the army refused-indicating that they were untested for battle. Davis went over Scott's head to President Polk and got the rifles anyway.
Davis and his Mississippi regiment were instrumental in turning the tide of the battle of Beuna Vista and became heroes of the war. Thus the rifle earned the "Mississippi" sobriquet.
My example escaped any of the later revisions but appears to still have a usable bore.
Here's a close up of the lock plate showing the Lawrence & Robbins stamp in the middle of the plate while just behind the hammer is the manufacture date of 1848 under Windsor, VT
Amazingly, the inspector's cartouche is still mostly intact on the side opposite of the lockplate. I haven't researched this yet.
I could not find my drop-in bore light, but by using the old method of wrapping the shiny side of some tinfoil around the base of an empty 44-40 casing, dropping that down the barrel, and then using that to reflect light shone down the barrel I could see that the lands appear bright and shiny while the grooves are mostly dark. I'll give it a good scrubbing tomorrow, but I think this one will make a decent occasional shooter. The nipple is also not very eroded but I would probably get a new one if I decide to shoot it.
If you want to read a quick history of the 1st Mississippi regiment in the Mexican American war, check out the following link:
Mississippi and the Mexican-American war
Lastly, here are a couple of depictions of the uniforms of the 1st Mississippians including their bright red overshirts and wide-brimmed straw hats.
Cheers
It's a US model 1841 "Mississippi" rifle made by Robbins & Lawrence still in the original .54 caliber. The lock date shows made in 1848 but the barrel tang has a later date of 1851. This is not uncommon for contract rifles which were manufactured intermittently as needed. From 1842 until about 1855 somewhere around 25k of these were manufactured by the Harpers Ferry arsenal while another 50k or so were produced during this period by contract manufacturers such as Eli Whitney, Remington, Tryon, and Robbins & Lawrence.
It didn't arrive until around 6 PM so there really wasn't enough light left but I was eager to get some photos anyway.
Here's the rifle with a Mexican Ameican war-style cartridge box. The straw hat is one of those Pennsylvania quaker styles but looks exactly the same as the hats I've seen depicted as part of the unique uniforms worn by the 1st Mississippi regiment of volunteers. See the pictures at the end.
The M1841 was the first designed percussion rifle to be used by the US military--although they were never intended to be issued as a main battle weapon--hence they had no provision to mount a bayonet. They instead were intended for skirmishers, scouts, and what were sometimes referred to as flanking units. During this same period, the main battle musket of the US was the model 1816 flintlock smoothbore musket. Many of the M1816s were modified starting in the late 1830s to percussion and were still in service in the South at the start of the ACW. Once the .58 cal Minie ball was adopted in 1855 by the US military, many of the "Mississippi" rifles were reworked by reboring and re-rifling to .58 cal along with adding improved sights plus adding several systems to mount already existing bayonets.
The M1841 was reportedly first used in combat by the 1st volunteer Mississippi regiment commanded by Jefferson Davis during the Mexican-American war (1846 to 1848). Davis had requested the new M1841s for his Mississippians but Winfield Scott the commanding general of the army refused-indicating that they were untested for battle. Davis went over Scott's head to President Polk and got the rifles anyway.
Davis and his Mississippi regiment were instrumental in turning the tide of the battle of Beuna Vista and became heroes of the war. Thus the rifle earned the "Mississippi" sobriquet.
My example escaped any of the later revisions but appears to still have a usable bore.
Here's a close up of the lock plate showing the Lawrence & Robbins stamp in the middle of the plate while just behind the hammer is the manufacture date of 1848 under Windsor, VT
Amazingly, the inspector's cartouche is still mostly intact on the side opposite of the lockplate. I haven't researched this yet.
I could not find my drop-in bore light, but by using the old method of wrapping the shiny side of some tinfoil around the base of an empty 44-40 casing, dropping that down the barrel, and then using that to reflect light shone down the barrel I could see that the lands appear bright and shiny while the grooves are mostly dark. I'll give it a good scrubbing tomorrow, but I think this one will make a decent occasional shooter. The nipple is also not very eroded but I would probably get a new one if I decide to shoot it.
If you want to read a quick history of the 1st Mississippi regiment in the Mexican American war, check out the following link:
Mississippi and the Mexican-American war
Lastly, here are a couple of depictions of the uniforms of the 1st Mississippians including their bright red overshirts and wide-brimmed straw hats.
Cheers
Attachments
Last edited: