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Title:	RIFLE, PLAINS -  LEMAN PLAINS RIFLE PERCUSSION .56
Maker/Manufacturer:	LEMAN, HENRY E.
Date of Manufacture:
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 703
Measurements:	OL:104.1CM 41" BL: 67.3CM 26 1/2"

Object Description:

LEMAN PLAINS RIFLE PERCUSSION .56
Manufactured by Henry E. Leman, Lancaster, Pa. - Standard type of Leman plains rifle. Percussion with drum type percussion bolster. Stock runs all the way to muzzle. Small raised cheekpiece left side stock. Patchbox in stock. Stock ornamented with 46 brass tacks. Missing barrel tennon. Light pitting on barrel lock and barrel. According to Army records this weapon was captured from "Hostile Indians."

Markings:
Barrel: H.E. LEMAN/LANCASTER PA. WARRANTED.
Lock: LEMAN/LANCASTER PA.
Inside of lock, underside of barrel, and breech plug all stamped with 13.

1909 Catalog #0094 - "Rifle. Muzzle Loading Percussion Rifle. M'f'd by H.E. Leman, Lancaster, Pa. Barrel shortened, sights altered. Captured from Hostile Indians."

Notes: "The term 'plains rifle is a modern one, coined by collectors to designate the short heavy rifle favored by fur traders and frontiersmen of the American West in the years from 1820 to 1860. Contemporaries usually called them 'mountain rifles' or sometimes 'Hawkins rifles' in corruption of the name of the Hawken brothers, who were the most famous maker of these arms.
Whatever the name, the plains rifle was a distinctive arm developed for a specific need. The long Kentucky rifle with its small bore had suited the needs of the wooded East where most hunting was done on foot and most game was small. In the West distances were greater, men travelled on horseback, and animals such as the buffalo and the grizzly bear took a lot of killing. Thus a new gun was needed. The long barrel was a nuisance on horseback. It was shortened to a length of 28" and 38". Calibers were increased for greater stopping power to an average of .50 to .55, and the barrels were made heavy enough to withstand a minimum service charge of 100 grs. Stocks were sometimes full-length to the muzzle, sometimes short half-stocks. Either way they were made strong - thick in the wrist and wide in the butt. The grace of the slender, long rifle stock disappeared, but here was a stock that would not break at the first fall from a horse's back. The familiar brass and silver mountings of the eastern rifle usually gave way to simple iron furniture, less perhaps, for functional reasons than to reduce cost although there may have been some thought of sunlight reflecting from the softer metals.
There were other distinctive characteristics as well. Most noticeable was the weight. The huge powder charges, sometimes reaching 215 grs., would have kicked unmercifully in a light gun. Thus many plains rifles weighed 12 to 15 lbs., or possibly a little more.
....The first plains rifles were flintlocks, but by the time the type had reached its full development the percussion system was in almost universal use. From 1830 through the close of the Civil War the percussion plains rifles reigned supreme among frontiersmen in the West. Then, with the end of hostilities, the big Sharps breech-loaders superseded the muzzle-loading rifles for long range buffalo hunting, and the Spencer, Henry, and Winchester repeaters became the popular light rifles. By 1875 the plains rifle had all but disappeared." - H.L. Peterson, The American Rifleman, August, 1963

"Trade muskets by Leman - Henry E. Leman learned gunmaking under the tutelage of Melchior Foundry about 1828-1831. From 1831 to 1834 he was with George W. Tyron, the noted rifle maker of Philadelphia. In 1834 he established his own factory in Lancaster at East Walnut and North Duke streets, 'manufacturing largely for the Indian trade.' His first government contract, in 1837, is said to have been for 500 Indian rifles at $14.00 each. In 1842 he made 500 trade guns for the U.S. Indian Department at $7.00 each.
In 1843 Leman wrote to Ramsay Crooks, head of the American Fur Company, a letter in which he referred to his experience in making trade guns for the government and asked that his efficient plant devised for this special purpose be maintained. 'It would be doing the Indians justice and it will be a credit to the Department to continue with me as the manufacturer,'
LOAN HISTORY:
Army# 0676 - Loaned to Mr. Reid, Carlisle Hardware Store, Springfield, Ma. from 11 May to 20 May 1959.
Army# 0676 - Weapon loaned to Don Scott, Forbes & Wallace Dept. Store, Main St., Springfield, Ma., from July 7 to July 13, 1959.
Army# 0676 - Weapon loaned to the Sahara Antique Gun Show, Hotel Sahara, Las Vegas, Nev. from 20 January 1969 to 2 February 1969. At that time weapon was appraised at $250.00.

References:
Dorsey, R. Stephen. GUNS OF THE WESTERN INDIAN WAR. Collectors Library. Eugene, Or. 1995.
Frasca, Albert J. & Robert H. Hill. 1909 CATALOG OF THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY MUSEUM ARMS & ACCOUTERMENTS. Revised. Springfield Publishing Co. Carson City, Nv. 1995.
Russell, Carl P. GUNS ON THE EARLY FRONTIERS: A HISTORY OF BLACKPOWDER WEAPONS FROM COLONIAL TIMES TO THE MEXICAN WAR. Barnes & Noble Books. N.Y., N.Y. 1996.