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Title:	MUSKET -  U.S. MUSKET MODEL 1842 PERCUSSION .69
Maker/Manufacturer:	SPRINGFIELD ARMORY
Date of Manufacture:	1852
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 1183
Measurements:	OL:145.5CM 57 3/8" BL:106.6CM 42"

Object Description:

U.S. MUSKET MODEL 1842 PERCUSSION .69
Manufactured by Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. in 1852 - Standard Model 1842 single-shot, percussion, muzzleloading musket. Flat, beveled edge lockplate. Round barrel with bayonet lug below near muzzle. Iron furniture, bright finish. Three iron bands, spring fastened with upper blade double strapped. Brass blade front sight on upper strap. No rear sight. Steel ramrod with trumpet shaped head. First arm produced at Harpers Ferry and Springfield Armory with completely interchangeable parts, and also last of the .69 caliber smoothbores. Springfield Armory manufactured 172,000 of these arms. This is one of 21,500 weapons manufactured at Springfield Armory in 1852 at a manufacturing cost of $8.74 each.

Markings:
Lock: SPRING/FIELD/1852 rear of hammer. Eagle/US forward of hammer.
Barrel tang: 1852.
Stock: Faint inspectors' marks opposite lock.
Buttplate: 49 (possibly old museum rack number).

1909 Catalog #2076 - "Musket. Sp'f'd Smooth Bore Percussion Musket. Cal..69. M'f'd 1852."

Notes: Although it was always the desired goal, the actual proof of interchangeability did not really come until a flood at Harpers Ferry in 1852. In a letter to then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, Colonel H.K. Craig describes what happened: "As applicable to the question concerning the quality of the arms made under the superintendence by military officers, I subjoin the following extract from an official report by the United States inspector of armories of his inspection of Harper's ferry Armory in July, 1852: 'The completeness of the present system (of superintendence by military officers,) so fas as uniformly in construction is concerned, is made manifest by the late submersion of 20,000 arms during the highest flood ever known at the place. In cleaning those arms 9,000 percussion muskets have been stripped and completely dismantled, their parts being thrown into great masses, and after being repaired the arms are reassembled from these lots of 9,000 components having no disguisedly mark, every limb filling and fitting its appropriate place with perfect exactness. Had not this perfect uniformity existed, the parts of each arm must have been separately distributed, boxes must have been provided for these several and numerous parcels, great care would have been requisite to avoid mixture. Every limb of every musket must have been numbered and the expense of the operation would have been greatly increased.
All these inconveniences have been obviated by that system of uniform dimensions, even in the simplest and minutest components of the arm, which obtains in such perfection at this armory.
To determine whether this general uniformity extended to the fabrication of both national armouries, I caused a musket of the manufacture of 1851 of each armory to be taken to pieces, and then applied all components of one to the other, mixing them in almost every possible manner and applying the parts likewise to the receiving gauge. The result was, the components, as well as the whole, were identical for every practical purpose. Only one almost inappreciable variation in the length of the front end of the lock-plates being detected, and this did not prevent a perfect assembling of the arms.'"
General Winfield Scott, not surprisingly, recommended continued use of the flintlocks during the Mexican War. Scott was somewhat skeptical of this new percussion arm. Despite his misgivings, the M1842 was issued to some units who participated in the Mexican War.
During the Civil War many soldiers on both sides preferred this arm to a rifled one. These smoothbore muskets were capable of firing the buck-and-ball ammunition. In fact, since the American Revolution, buck-and-ball ammunition remained part of the American military inventory. By 1835, it was standard for a soldier to carry three times as many buck-and-ball cartridges, as single ball loads. At 50 yards, and with little marksmanship required, buck-and-ball was a devastating load.

Although loading a single-round ball seems to have been stanAlthough Champlain used full-sized balls, by the time of the American Revolution it was common practice to load smaller buckshot, averaging around .30-caliber, along with a musket ball in the paper cartridges used in .69 and .75-caliber muskets. The number of buckshot per cartridge varied, and, in the 1775 attack on Quebec, General Henry Dearborn carried a musket 'charged with a ball and Ten Buckshott.' In October of 1777, General George Washington recommended that his men deliver their first volley with a load of 'one musket ball and four or eight buckshott, according to the strength of their pieces.' In October 1777, Washington ordered that 'buckshott are to be put in all cartridges which shall hereafter be made.' Some Revolutionary War cartridges were purchased from contractors, while others were made up by the soldiers themselves. Maryland issued troops bullet molds casting both buckshot and musket balls.
Single-ball, buckshot-and-ball, and straight buckshot loads of from twelve to fifteen pellets remained part of the American military ammunition inventory after the Revolution. Those men on the Lewis and Clark expedition who carried muskets were issued one hundred balls and two pounds of buckshot each and cartridges loaded with both buckshot and ball were standard issue during the War of 1812. Single-ball loads for the .69 caliber United States musket fired undersized .64-caliber projectiles to facilitate quick loading, at the expense of accuracy. The addition of buckshot made a hit more likely.
As the nineteenth century progressed, firearms theorists in both America and Europe demonstrated that the accuracy of the smoothbore musket could be improved by increasing the size of the ball and decreasing the weight and improving the quality of the powder charge. In the 1840s the diameter of the American musket ball was increased to .65 and the gun's powder charge reduced from 130 to 110 grains. Although the accuracy improved somewhat, most military men continued to rely on multiple projectiles to improve combat hit ratios.
Due to the limited effective range of straight buckshot loads, they were largely used as guard cartridges, and buck and ball became the military's favored combat round. Between 1835 and 1840, three times as many buck-and-ball cartridges, loaded with a standard musket ball and three buckshot, were issued as single ball loads by the United States Ordnance Department....
The Confederate corpses littering what came to be called 'Bloody Lane' at Antietam were mute testimony to the efficiency of Civil War infantry weapons. Many, if not most of them had been laid low by the Irish Brigade's buck and ball. Interestingly, combination loads of buckshot and round balls and the smoothbore muskets which fired them. were, by all official standards, obsolete before the outbreak of the war." - Bilby

"The private, sitting with his legs spread apart and the contents of his cartridge box poured out on the ground before him, was busy repacking the cartridges for his caliber .69 musket. Each of the issued cartridges, big hefty things, contained one round ball, slightly small than the bore of the musket. On top of these balls, in each cartridge, were three buckshot pellets. This type of cartridge, known as buck and ball, was meant to compensate for the incredibly short range of the percussion-cap muskets." - Captain Kevin Bannon, 4th N.J. Volunteers, First Division, Sixth Corps, Army of the Potomac. July, 3, 1863, Gettysburg, Pa. near Brian's farm west of Cometary Ridge.

Visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park should note the buck-and-ball load atop the monument honoring the 12th New Jersey.

References:
Ball, Robert W.D. SPRINGFIELD ARMORY: Bilby, Joseph G. CIVIL WAR FIREARMS: THEIR HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, TACTICAL USE AND MODERN COLLECTING AND SHOOTING. Combined Books. Pa. 1996.
Clark, David C. Ed. ARMS FOR THE NATION. Scott A. Duff. Export, Pa. 1992.
Flayderman, Norm. FLAYDERMAN'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS...AND THEIR VALUES. 6th Ed. DBI Books Inc. Northbrook, Il. 1994.
Fuller, Claud E. SPRINGFIELD SHOULDER ARMS 1795-1865. S and S Firearms. Glendale, N.Y. 1986.
Gluckman, Arcadi. IDENTIFYING OLD U.S. MUSKETS, RIFLES AND CARBINES. Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, Pa. 1965.
Hartzler, Daniel D. & James B. Whisker. THE NORTHERN ARMORY: THE UNITED STATES ARMORY AT SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, 1795-1859. Old Bedford Village Press. Bedford, Pa. 1996.
Madaus, H. Michael. THE WARNER COLLECTORS' GUIDE TO AMERICAN LONGARMS. Warner Books, N.Y., N.Y. 1981.
Reilly, Robert. U.S. MILITARY SMALL ARMS 1816-1865. The Eagle Press. Baton Rouge, La. 1970.