Arms, Armor & Militaria

.69 caliber smoothbore. 26" round barrel secured by two flat spring retained bands, the upper double strapped. SN: NSN. Arsenal Bright finish, walnut stock. Single shot muzzleloading percussion musketoon with brass blade front sight and no rear sight and a lug for an angular socket bayonet under the barrel. Barrel marked with a {Spread-Winged Eagle} over US forward of the hammer and in three vertical lines behind the hammer SPRING/FIELD/1847. Breech plug tang dated 1847, and breech with the usual V/P/{Eagle Head} proof marks. Buttplate tang marked US. Counterpane with two weak script cartouches, the first is not fully legible, but the rear is the the script ESA of Erskein S Allin. While uncommon on guns of this period, in US Military Arms Inspector Marks, Daum & Pate note at least two other examples of 1847 dated musketoons with this cartouche. The musketoon retains both the upper sling swivel on the lower barrel band and the lower sling swivel in the toe of the stock. A correct, full-length trumpet head ramrod with threads at the end is present as well.

A total of 5,802 of these guns were produced between 1847 and 1854 with none manufactured during calendar years 1849 and 1852 (Moller). His examination of Springfield records shows that only two of the artillery musektoons were delivered during calendar year 1847 with two more delivered in 1848. The first major delivery of the guns was in calendar year 1850, when 1,800 were finished. It seems possible that this musketoon was one of those four guns made during calendar years 1847 and 1848, as it is also inspected by Erskine Allin. While Allin would not become Master Armorer until 1853, he served briefly as the "Acting Master Armorer" at Springfield from October 1847 until May of 1848, and would have applied his cartouche to arms fabricated during that time. At least one example of an 1848-dated US Model 1842 Musket is also known with Allin's cartouche.