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Title:	MUSKET -  CONFEDERATE MUSKET MORSE INSIDE LOCK .71 SN# 93
Maker/Manufacturer:	MORSE, GEORGE W.
Date of Manufacture:	1863
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 1138
Measurements:	OL:148CM 58 3/8" BL:106.6CM 42"

Object Description:

CONFEDERATE MUSKET MORSE INSIDE LOCK .71 SN# 93
Manufactured by State Military Works, Greenville, S.C. - A very unusual Confederate smoothbore muzzleloading percussion musket characterized by a completely internal lock mechanism and external hammer. Unique inside lock mechanism reduced to bare essentials. Three bands, spring fastened, with upper-band double-strapped. Brass furniture; full length walnut stock. Specimens are extremely rare and may be considered semi-experimental.

Markings:
Barrel: M. SJ XX.VIII.
Stock: XX.VIII.
Triggerguard: 1863. MORSE'S LOCK. STATE WORKS/GREENVILLE S.C./93.
Buttplate: 122 (possibly earkt museum rack number).

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. MUZZLE-LOADING MUSKETS AND RIFLES. PERCUSSION LOCKS. No. 16. "Rebel musket; caliber, .70. State Works, Greenville, S.C., 1863. The principal feature of interest connected with this gun is the lock, which is known as Morse's, and is of the back-action, center-lock variety. It forms an exceedingly simple and ingenious lock, well protected from the weather, and capable of manufacture by unskilled labor. The lock-frame consists of a strap of one-eight inch iron one-half inch wide, and about 12 inches long, bent double, with its branches about three-eights inch apart. The contains the pivoted main-spring, trigger-spring, and trigger. Its forward end, where it is bent, is widened and pierced for the bearings of the tumbler shaft, which supports the tumbler between the two sides of the frame. The hammer on the outside end of the tumbler-shaft completes the list of the essential components. There is also a main-spring swivel, two tumbler (?) screws, and two brass bearing plates at each end of the tumbler-shaft with their screws. The whole lock is bedded about the trigger-guard in the small of the stock."

1909 Catalog #2067 - "Musket. Smooth Bore Percussion Musket. Cal..68. M'f'd 1842. Guard and guard plate, brass. Lock concealed in stock."

Notes: The State Military Works in Greenville, S.C. was also known as the Confederate Armory. George W. Morse was the nephew of S.F.B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph.

"The Morse 'inside-lock' muskets and rifles are among the rarest of the arms made in South Carolina. According to an abstract of fabrications at Greenville for the second quarter of 1864, the factory turned out 80 muskets and rifles during the months of April, May and June of that year....
These arms are unique in that the lock mechanism is centrally located within the stock, and is attached to a bar or shaft running horizontally through the stock. This shaft is fastened to an oval brass plate on the left side of the stock, and to a similar brass plate and to the hammer on the right side of the stock, thus giving the name 'inside lock' to these arms. It was one the most unusual designs to come out of the Civil War, and is distinguished by the economy of mechanism reduced to its barest essentials." - Murphy & Madaus

References:
Murphy, John M., M.D. & Howard Michael Madaus. CONFEDERATE RIFLES & MUSKETS. Graphic Publishers. Newport Beach, Ca. 1996.