Extremely Rare Confederate Inventory Numbered Enfield Rifle with Post-Civil War Roberts Conversion to Cartridge

American Civil War

.58 Roberts. 30.75" barrel. SN: 5136. Blued and color casehardened finish, brass furniture, walnut stock. Single shot breechloading cartridge alteration of a British Pattern 1853 Type III Enfield Rifle Musket, shortened to rifle length during the conversion process with a saber bayonet lug added to the barrel. Lock marked 1863/TOWER forward of the hammer and with the usual {BRITISH CROWN} without a "VR" at the tail of the lock. Reverse of breech block marked in two lines: ROBERT'S PAT./JUNE 11, 1867. Counterpane stamped with the number 5136, possibly a Roberts alteration serial number, with the rear of the lock mortise stamped 717, likely a parts mating number from the alteration. Tang of buttplate engraved with the Confederate inventory number 6805 with a capital letter "B" stamped in the stock comb, indicating the gun was delivered to the Confederacy by the London gun making firm of E.P. Bond, one of the "Five Furnishers" for the 2nd Sinclair, Hamilton & Co contract with the Confederacy. The rifle retains a correct pattern 900-yard Enfield ladder rear sight, a Barelycorn front sight, a saber bayonet lug on the right side of the barrel, 4" from the muzzle, and both sling swivels. The gun retains an appropriate ramrod for use in cleaning and clearing.

This gun was originally part of the 2nd Sinclair, Hamilton & Co contract with the Confederacy to deliver 30,000 Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle Muskets. The engraved number indicates it was part of the first group of 10,000 guns which were numbered 1 to 10,000, with the second group using the same numbering over again but with an "A" suffix and the third group using a "B" suffix. The gun's inventory number places it in a range of a group of guns that were captured from their blockade runner while trying to get to the south, with period documents and extant examples suggesting that the guns with the inventory numbers 6801 through 7200 were captured by the US Navy and several were subsequently used in Navy firearms tests. Enfield #6817, which was in the same case of 20 guns as this gun, was used in Naval ordnance trials on September 26, 1862 and is discussed in a letter from Lt. Commander WW Queen to Cast. J.A. Dahlgren. Enfield #6896 survives and was altered to the Berdan breechloading system, likely for Board of Ordnance testing. This example was altered to the Roberts breechloading system circa 1869-1870 with the alteration work performed by the Providence Tool Company. The system was developed by Brig. General B.S. Roberts as a potential alternative to the Allin conversion system to convert muzzleloading percussion long arms into breechloading metallic cartridge arms. The large majority of Roberts alterations were preformed on US Model 1861/63/64 Rifle Muskets, as well as a few Model 1855 Rifle Muskets. 5,000 of those Roberts altered guns were sold to the state of South Carolina for militia use in 1870 and most remained in service for a decade or so before they started to be replaced with purpose made breechloading arms. This example was almost certainly altered for Board of Ordnance testing, and was also shortened from rifle musket to rifle length during the alteration process and had a saber bayonet lug added to the barrel. This is a very scarce example of a captured Confederate purchased Enfield that was later altered for US government testing and use, and is an example of what happened to some of those southern guns after the Civil War.