by Jim Surkamp on May 31, 2018 in Jefferson County
Made possible with the generous, community-minded support of American Public University System (apus.edu). While intended to promote better understanding and communication on the past, (the foundation of our present-day), any sentiments or opinions in posts of civilwarscholars.com do not in any way reflect the 21st century policies of the University.
VIDEO: Click Here. TRT: 24:27.
My name is Glenn Gravatt. I’m actually not a Civil War re-enactor or Civil War historian. What I am is a “shooter” and what I actually like to do is shoot Civil War firearms – live fire. These are actually originals here that I shoot.
So, the uniform is not necessarily original. Even my cartridge box is here on the wrong side because I load left-handed. An original soldier would have had it over here. This might represent what a late-war soldier might wear. You know, just taking whatever civilian clothes they could get. Basically these firearms here are kind of representative of what you have during the Civil War. Eventually and the one I shoot the most is a Springfield and it was very common.
There’s 1861 and 1863 Springfields.
This happens to be an 1863 Springfield. It’s a “contract” – in other words, it wasn’t made at the Springfield armory it was made by some folks in Boston. This one was made “for Massachusetts.” We don’t know who in Massachusetts.
– (sonofthesouth.net).
It could have been even a unit like the 55th Massachusetts – the black troops that came after *the famous 54th. But we don’t really know who this was issued to. But we do know this is in the style of the 1863 Springfield, actually a “Type 1” for those that are interested in nuance.
Anyway, what made the Springfield special was that they had the rifling in the barrels. This was a development that actually came before the Civil War, but didn’t really come into prominence until they started mass-producing these Springfield rifles during the Civil War. And this rifling, we call, makes this is not so much a musket as it is a rifle. That would be the real technical term, but the term “musket” carried through the Civil War. So these were often called “muskets.”
– (wikipedia.org).
But the rifling caused – with a spiral groove (“lands” we call) – up the barrel that caused the bullet to rotate as it comes out.
So, what did that do? When you rotated the bullet, it gave the bullet basically longer range and more accuracy. It’s almost like spinning a football. There are certain dynamics that are involved there that helped the bullet stabilize when going through air and encountering air resistance.
The bullet itself was also a unique item. We call the “minie” ball that was used in these. Not because it’s small by any means. “Minie” actually comes from “Claude Minie,” the inventor of this. (pronounced “minnie” or “minyay”).
– (wikipedia.org).
Jim SURKAMP – Claude Minie definitely invented the Mini ball. But a vast improvement was made to it by James Henry Burton from Shannondale Springs in Jefferson County and his contribution is explained by gunsmith Eric Johnson.
– (findagrave.com).
– (loc.gov).
– (youtube.com).
ERIC JOHNSON:
But there is something that I need to mention about Mr. Burton that is even more critical. And that is that the first firearms that we showed you were shooting round balls. And if you recall the discussion, we were talking about being able to shoot something three times a minute, if you were very, very fast, maybe four times a minute. That was . . . you found in a cartridge, paper tube, or a ball and powder – again you tear it open, drop it down in the tube and that would almost roll to the bottom by itself. It would fit very loosely. That’s what gave you the rate of fire. Well, as we discussed before, the problem with the rifle was – even though it was accurate – that ’41 was extremely accurate, when it was made. It did not fire three and four times a minute. It was intended to be used by a rifleman.
– (wikipedia.org).
Well, in the 1830s, a French artillery captain named Claude Minie developed a projectile – I’m going to call it that. It was conical like this. And in the back it was hollow. Mr. Minie’s design had a little iron plug or wooden plug in the back of it. And he made this piece so that it was smaller than the interior of the barrel – kind of like that old musket ball. So that you could drop this in the barrel – ideally – and it should almost go to the bottom by itself. Yet, when you fired the gun, the gasses would expand. When the gasses expanded, they would push against the back of this piece. The little plug or iron piece in the back of the piece would ram in to the hollow – you see the skirts? – would force them (skirts) to jump out and grab the walls of the rifle and make it spin like that rifled ball. That became known as the “Minie ball” or the minie ball later in time. Generically, sometimes these are called Minie balls in the Civil War era.
The problem with Minie’s original design was this: when you load and fire a rifle multiple times with black powder – and that is what we’re using – black powder gets to be very dirty. And it fouls – it throws dirt and grime in the grooves inside. So, each time you go to fire this rifle if you do not clean it every two or three shots, your bullet gets progressively slower and slower because it’s dragging all that crap out of the barrel as its trying to make its way out. Well, what did happen with the original Minie ball was that iron plug which was in the back was lighter than the heavy lead. So, on the fifth or sixth firing of this when it’s good and dirty let’s say, this heavy, lead ball is trying – struggling – to get the dirt out and make its way up the barrel. The lighter piece of iron is not interested in waiting and penetrates the lead ball somewhere in the barrel. The iron piece goes flying out ahead of you. Then you go to load and fire this again, you would have a stuck ball. That was the problem encountered with the early Minie bullet.
– (findagrave.com.
– (dgilbert53.net).
Well, the person we talked about earlier – James Henry Burton – came up with an idea. He said: “You know what? If you take that iron plug out of the rear of this thing, and let’s say if we make it hollow completely and put it in a cone shape – and while we’re at it – if we carve some grooves. . . you could put grease around those grooves which will make this slide down the barrel and come out a lot easier.
– (wikipedia.org).
– (tennesseelead.com).
And, when the gun is fired and the gas expands, that gas will slam up against these hollow skirts and make them jump, grab the rifling, spin and fire. And you don’t need that plug. Why am I telling you this? Because this is a revolution.
“New rifle musket ball Caliber-58-inch” This was the final approved drawing which resulted from lengthy experiments conducted at Harpers Ferry throughout the early 1850s. (Catalogue No. 136, 45, Burton Drawings at Harpers Ferry)
– (dgilbert53.net).
Why is this a revolution? Because you can load this ball and fire it three to four time a minute. In fact, you get extremely good accuracy with these bullets. It’s not like shooting the old round ball where it bounces – up and down the barrel, let’s say. This one fits and conforms to the lands and grooves of the interior of the rifle barrel. It’s spinning folks and it’s extremely accurate. So you may have, perchance, a long-arm – a musket – that acts like a musket, looks like a musket. What you’re really holding in your hand, if it’s a rifled musket – you’re holding a rifle. And you’re getting at close range with an enemy – let’s say maybe fifty yards apart. Loading and firing at each other, there won’t be that many misses.
GRAVATT:
So this item here is a minie ball. It has grooves that were used to hold the lubricant, which helped the bullet going down in and also helped it coming back out (in terms of reducing friction). Also, it had a hollow base, which allowed that base to expand and catch and those lands and grooves – that rifling – and causing the bullet to spin as it came out. So if you find a fired bullet – if you ever find one digging in a Civil War area (with permission, of course) you might find those rifling marks on the bullet showing that it had been fired. Previously to that and actually during part of the War, they were shooting “round balls”, which, you know, all things being equal, you would think a round sphere would go through the air better but in reality, when these came out without the rifling, they would tend to tumble a little bit. They would catch air resistance, and they would tend to curve one way or another. So the range of these round balls and the accuracy was definitely less than the minie ball. So, this is a Springfield. It’s all pretty much original on how it’s been set up. There was a sight for fifty yards, a sight for a hundred yards, and as you see a big lift sight for something much longer than that. The range (laugh) I obviously could probably get it to go 800 yards if I shot it straight up into the air, with a lot of powder. Maybe at six hundred yards you’d start to probably hit something – dropping bullets into an area, so to speak.
Getting to about two hundred yards from a rest, you could start hitting targets. At a hundred yards, you could hit things about the size of a pie plate, or you could hit those things down there, we’re only fifty yards from those. But at a hundred yards, a good shooter, “off-hand” (holding the gun standing) could hit those (targets) with some consistancy, maybe one out of every two shots.
So we talk see a little bit more about how that came into play during the Civil War, but just to show quickly these other weapons here. You had, earlier in the war, the smoothbore guns were used. So this is a model 1842 musket. These were made both at Springfield and at Harpers Ferry armories. Later they shipped them all back and rifled them.
This is a true musket here without any rifling inside of it. You notice there’s no sight on it because of the accuracy issue. This gun was made here in 1845 on the lock plate in Harper’s Ferry and it would have, again, shot that round ball.
This gun would have very commonly been issued to Confederate troops early in the war. Other troops could have used them as well in the North. So, it was common.
In fact, there was a unit that was actually issued some flintlocks. These are percussion locks. So using the modern technique of a percussion cap going here which started the process versus having a pan you have to pour powder into. So the percussion cap was an innovation that had taken hold by the time of the Civil War and made the firing of these muzzleloaders a lot quicker. For firing any of these types of guns, there’s a lot of safety (issues) involved. There’s another video that we might link you to that deals with safety. But again the whole thing is you must follow proper safety procedures when dealing with any of these firearms. I’m always pointing them in a safe direction even when I know these are unloaded. We always treat them as though they are unloaded. So always point them in a safe direction.
One more gun I want to show you here – this is an Enfield. Enfields are made in Britain. There’s literally hundreds of different types of guns used during the Civil War – the Springfield being the most common. Enfields also are extremely common They were used in the North.
I mentioned 54th Massachusetts. This would have been a gun that was used by them, but a lot of Confederates used these.
No English Crown markings. So this was likely a Confederate gun. It’s hard to tell how it made it to the South.
JIM SURKAMP:
Jefferson County native James Henry Burton – a co-founding genius of the American Factory System of mechanized production and interchangeable manufacture, was discovered by British arms-makers
after the tumultuous Crystal Palace Exposition in London. They hired him in 1855 to come to England and he set up their Enfield rifle factory. He returned to the U.S. just as the Civil War was breaking out. He was made the head of all the armories in December, 1861 serving the Confederacy, that produced Enfields but without the Royal Small Arms Manufactory marking.
The Enfield is very similar. It would shoot a minie ball just like the Springfield. It would have a better sight arrangement with a sliding sight situation. But, again, the English style stock comes up a little higher so a little more kick when you’re shooting it. So that’s basically the three guns I have here to show you. One question gets asked is how did I get interested in shooting these firearms and I have to say it was my father. My father was into Civil War guns back in the 1950s and was one of the early joiners of an organization that promotes the shooting of and the history behind these Civil War firearms, and I just followed in his footsteps.
VIDEO NOTES:
Researched, videotaped, and produced by Jim Surkamp in conjunction with Glenn Gravatt and Eric Johnson of Southward Forge Farm, Inc, Kearneysville.
Music:
Acoustic music by Shana Aisenberg (shanasongs.com),
Compositions by Cam Millar (cammillar.com)
Rule, Britannia!
Date: 28 April 2014
youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
Author United States Army Strings
This image is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018.
END VIDEO NOTES
References:
1. Abbot, Jacob. (July, 1852). “The Armory at Springfield.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. New York, NY: Harper and Bros. Vol. 5, Issue: 26. pp. 145-162. Print.
Abbot, Jacob. (July, 1852). “The Armory at Springfield.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. Parks as Classrooms, Springfield Armory. babel.hathitrust.org 6 December 2009 Web. 20 May 2018.
2. Name: Col James Henry Burton
Birth: 17 Aug 1823 Shannondale, Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States of America
Death: 18 Oct 1894 Winchester, Winchester City, Virginia, United States of America
ancestry.com 28 October 1996 Web. 20 May 2018.
findagrave.com 5 December 1998 Web. 20 May 2018.
3. Fitch, Charles H.; W. P. Trowbridge. (1880) Report on the Manufactures of Interchangeable Mechanism.” Report on the Manufactures of the United States at the Tenth Census Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office. pp. 611-704.
practicalmachinist.com 2 March 2009 Web. 20 May 2018.
4. Back to Basics: Rifling by Dave Campbell – May 15, 2017
americanrifleman.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 May 2018.
For more than 400 years rifling was cut into a barrel, each groove being cut one at a time. The process of broaching—having a tool with progressively deeper buttons along its axis—allowed barrel makers to cut all of the grooves in a barrel in a single pass. This cut down the manufacturing time of making a barrel a great deal making rifled barrels more accessible to the masses. A somewhat similar process called “button rifling” was developed. The main difference between button rifling and broaching is that broaching cut metal; button rifling simply pushes the metal out of the way.Eventually some European gunmakers developed the idea of forging a barrel complete with chambering and rifling. Forged barrels start with a blank with a central hole. A mandrel with the reverse profile of the rifled barrel’s interior is slipped into that hole. The blank with the mandrel is placed into a machine with hundreds of little hammers that beat the blank quickly and repeatedly. This heats up the metal in the blank, allowing it to soften a bit and be forged into the profile desired. When the finished barrel exits the machine, the mandrel is removed, and the result is a finished and chambered barrel. A forged barrel is usually quite accurate and has a somewhat longer longevity in service than other barrels.A few manufacturers use flow forming to make their barrels. Like the forged barrel, a blank with a mandrel is placed into a machine with rollers that operate under high pressure to roll the barrel metal into plasticity. Flow-formed and forged barrels are not as common because the machinery used to make them is expensive to purchase and maintain.
The first rifles shot round balls of lead. Rifling did induce a spin on these projectiles, though it did so via the patch used as a bore sealer. Because of this, early rifles could not induce a perfectly repeatable spin unless the shooter’s technique and materials were identical. When elongated projectiles came about, thus eliminating the patch, accuracy was enhanced.
5. Forging a gun barrel by David Hammer
Published on Apr 23, 2014
youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
This is my first attempt at forging a gun barrel as a colonial gunsmith would have. It’s forged from a section of a wrought iron tire off a wooden wagon wheel. This effort is only the first couple steps for forging a barrel. Additional steps include forging (and filing) the barrel to an octagon shape, drilling the center hole larger, then reaming it to a final bore size, putting in the spirals, adding a breech plug and forging and adding the sights and hardware to mount the barrel in the stock. at 6:37 – The next step to make a complete gun barrel would be to drill the hole close to the desired size. Then you’d use boring tools to get a precision bore of the right inside diameter. Then, finally it would be spiraling grooves would be cut into the bore to cause the bullet to spin, which would make it more accurate than a smoothbore firearm.
6. “A Musket Recipe & the Rifling Revolution” – Eric Johnson
POST: civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 June 2015.
VIDEO: “A Musket Recipe & the Rifling Revolution” – Eric Johnson
youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
7. Eric Johnson Discusses the Burton Bullet.
POST: civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 June 2015.
Eric Johnson: Jefferson did secede with the state of Virginia and become part of the Confederacy, he became, in a sense, one of the founding engineers and armorers for the Confederate armory system. If you look at his history, he helped to found Macon. He helped to found Fayetteville, the Richmond armory, Spiller & Burr. Oh my gosh I could think of lots and lots and lots of other Confederate small-arms ordinance that Burton had a hand in. But his knowledge and his engineering opinions were valuable.
VIDEO: “Eric Johnson Discusses the Burton Bullet.” {Video} (23:06). Retrieved 10 Sept. 2011. youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
8. Eric Johnson Discusses the 1841 Model Rifle.
POST: civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 June 2015.
VIDEO: “Eric Johnson Discusses the 1841 Model Rifle.”
{Video} (13:08). Retrieved 10 Sept. 2011. youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
9. Johnson, Eric. “Eric Johnson Discusses the 1855 Rifle.”
POST: civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 June 2015.
VIDEO: “Eric Johnson Discusses the 1855 Rifle.”
{Video} (6:45). Retrieved 10 Sept. 2011.youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
10. “Eric Johnson Discusses the Sharps, Enfields and Colt Weapons.”
POST: civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 June 2015.
VIDEO: “Eric Johnson Discusses the Sharps, Enfields and Colt Weapons.” {Video} (11:39). Retrieved 10 Sept. 2011. youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
11. The Man Who Changed The World – You Never Heard Of – Part 1
POST: civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 June 2015.
VIDEO: The Man Who Changed The World You Never Heard Of – Part 1 by Jim Surkamp
youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
12. The Man Who Changed The World You Never Heard Of – Part 2 by Jim Surkamp
POST: civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 June 2015.
VIDEO: The Man Who Changed The World You Never Heard Of – Part 2 by Jim Surkamp
youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
13. The Man Who Changed The World You Never Heard Of – Part 3 by Jim Surkamp
POST: civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 June 2015.
VIDEO: The Man Who Changed The World You Never Heard Of – Part 3 by Jim Surkamp
youtube.com 28 April 2005 Web. 20 June 2015.
14. Rifles Manufactured by the Springfield Armory During the Civil War
forgeofinnovation.org 5 September 2008 Web. 20 May 2018.
Image Credits:
1-3. Jim Surkamp showing Glenn Gravatt
4. Close-up of Glenn Gravatt’s 1863 Springfield percussion rifle – Jim Surkamp.
5. “Marching On!” – The 55th Massachusetts Colored Regiment singing John Brown’s March in the streets of Charleston, February 21, 1865.
Harper’s Weekly March 18, 1865, p. 165. sonofthesouth.net Start date unavailable Web. 20 May 2018.
6 & 7. Inside rifled cannon barrel
This photograph was taken with a Olympus E-P5.
Date: 3 November 2016, 14:53:34
Author: Petar Milošević
Rifling wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018.
(For use outside of Wikipedia I would appreciate it if You let me know by sending e-mail to petarmslo@gmail.com Nuvola apps email.png Thank You in advance.- Petar Milošević).
8-9. Montage Claude Minie
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018
Minie bullet with hollow design
Ken Price @ Civil War bullets and a few other relics Mosheim, Tennessee
tennesseelead.com 30 October 2007 Web. 20 May 2018.
10. Montage James Henry Burton
a. JHB image 2 by SheWalkstheHills
findagrave.com 5 December 1998 Web. 20 May 2018.
b. Title: Map of Jefferson County, Virginia
Summary: Shows Jefferson County before the formation of West Virginia in 1863.
Contributor Name: Brown, S. Howell.
Created / Published
[S.l., s.n.,] 1852
loc.gov 16 June 1997 Web. 20 M.ay 2018.
11. Eric Johnson – Southwood Forge Farm Inc. by Jim Surkamp
12. Minie Balls – rifled musket bullets. From left to right: .557 Enfield Minie Bullet, Burton Pattern Minie Bullets .58 Springfield (x 2), Williams Bullet missing zinc base, .69 Caliber Minie Bullet for modified 1843 Springfield Musket.by Mike Cumpson
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018.
13. James H. Burton in 1860 (James Henry Burton papers, Manuscript and Archives, Yale University Library)
dgilbert53.net 17 December 2014 Web. 20 May 2018.
Also
JHB image 1 by EFB III
JHB image 2 by SheWalkstheHills
findagrave.com 5 December 1998 Web. 20 May 2018.
14. “New rifle musket ball Caliber-58-inch” This was the final approved drawing which resulted from lengthy experiments conducted at harpers Ferry throughout the early 1850s. (Catalogue No. 136, 45, Burton Drawings at Harpers Ferry)-
dgilbert53.net 17 December 2014 Web. 20 May 2018.
15-17. Montage Inside rifled cannon barrel Petar Milosevic
Rifling
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018.
18. “New rifle musket ball Caliber-58-inch” This was the final approved drawing which resulted from lengthy experiments conducted at harpers Ferry throughout the early 1850s. (Catalogue No. 136, 45, Burton Drawings at Harpers Ferry)-
dgilbert53.net 17 December 2014 Web. 20 May 2018.
19. Battle of Wilson’s Creek by N. C. Wyeth from mural at Missouri State Capitol
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018
20-22. Jim Surkamp with Glenn Gravatt
23-26. Ca. 1825-1829 Harper’s Ferry Armory – Maryland Historical Society
Cover and p. v.
nps.gov 13 April 1997 Web. 20 May 2018.
From the Harpers Ferry NHP Historic Photo Collection (HF-628)
nps.gov 13 April 1997 Web. 20 May 2018.
27. Don Tokar by Jim Surkamp.
28. Sine bar rifling machine – Industry Mueum – Harpers Ferry Historic Park – Jim Surkamp
29. Drawing of Robbins & Lawrence Sine Bar rifling machine
Fitch, Charles H.; W. P. Trowbridge. (1880) Report on the Manufactures of Interchangeable Mechanism.” Report on the Manufactures of the United States at the Tenth Census Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office. pp. 611-704.
practicalmachinist.com 2 March 2009 Web. 20 May 2018.
30-31. two images: down the barrel of a smoothbore and down the barrel of a rifled barrel
thomaslegion.net 12 March 2007 Web. 20 May 2018.
32. “Battles and Leaders. Vol. 1.” (1887). Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buel (Ed.). New York, NY: Century Co. Internet Archives: archive.org 27 Oct. 2009. Web. 26 Sept. 2010.
p. 262 – A Very Raw Recruit.
33. Flintlock Mechanism
Date: 19 February 2009 (original upload date)
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018
34. “The 54th Massachusetts regiment, under the leadership of Colonel Shaw in the attack on Fort Wagner, Morris Island, South Carolina, in 1863,” mural at the Recorder of Deeds building, built in 1943. 515 D St., NW, Washington, D.C. Contributor Names
Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer; Created / Published: 2010.
loc.gov 16 June 1997 Web. 20 M.ay 2018.
35. Original U.S. Civil War P-1853 Enfield Three Band Rifle Dated 1856
ima-usa.com 12 December 1998 Web. 20 May 2018.
36. James H. Burton Papers – Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives
library.yale.edu 14 February 1997 Web. 20 May 2018.
37. Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations – 1851
View from the Knightsbridge Road of The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park for Grand International Exhibition of 1851. Dedicated to the Royal Commissioners., London: Read & Co. Engravers & Printers, 1851.
Author Read & Co. Engravers & Printers
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018.
38. Royal Small Arms Factory
English: en:Royal Small Arms Factory
Date January 2000
Source see below
Author Christine Matthews
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. May 15 2018.