Took a road trip (for fun) down to Appomattox yesterday to meet up with MSGT B and his lovely wife, and attend the opening of the new Confederate Museum at Appomattox. Other than screwing up the time required to get there (my nav-foo was WAY off), and the ‘lovely’ traffic on I-95, it was a decent drive.
We missed all the VIPs and the ‘official’ opening, but that just meant we were able to go in a see the displays without any hate and discontent 🙂
We missed all the VIPs and the ‘official’ opening, but that just meant we were able to go in a see the displays without any hate and discontent 🙂
Colt Model 1860 (un-restored) .44cal six shots
Savage 1861 Model Navy (un-restored) .36cal six shots
I have NEVER actually seen one of these until yesterday, so a bit of additional history…
The Savage Navy Model, a six shot .36 caliber revolver, was made only from 1861 until 1862 with a total production of only 20,000 guns. This unique military revolver was one of the few handguns that was produced only for Civil War use. Its design was based on the antebellum Savage-North “figure eight” revolver. The Savage Navy had a unique way of cocking the hammer. The shooter used his middle finger to draw back the “figure 8” lever and then pushed it forward to cock the hammer and rotate the cylinder. The Union purchased just under 12,000 of these initially at $19.00 apiece for use by its cavalry units. Savage Navy revolvers were issued to the 1st and 2nd Wisconsin U.S. Volunteer Cavalry regiments, and 5th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry while the State of Missouri issued 292 Savage revolvers to its Missouri Enrolled Militia units. The remaining revolvers were purchased by private means and shipped to the Confederacy for use with the 34th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry (Witcher’s Nighthawks), the 35th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry (White’s Rebels), 11th Texas Cavalry, 7th Virginia Cavalry (Ashby’s Cavalry), and 7th Missouri Cavalry. The United States Navy also made a small purchase of 800 Savages during 1861 for use on its ships.
Plant Army Revolver .42cal Cup Fired six shooter (un-restored)
And a bit of history on this one too
Merwin & Bray were the financiers and agents for the guns turned out by Plant’s Mfg Co.. The revolver was designed to load (and unload) through the front of the cylinder chamber, with the hole in the rear of the cylinder (where the hammer struck the cartridge) smaller than the hole in the front. This technically skirted the fact that Rollin White of Smith & Wesson had patented the bored through cylinder design. The cartridges were loaded from the front and the frame mounted ejector rod pushed them right back out the way they had entered. Another unique portion of the design is that most the revolvers were originally sold with both the cup-fire cylinder and a percussion cylinder as well. This allowed the owner to continue to use the gun, even if his supply of self-contained cartridges were to be exhausted. The secondary percussion cylinders are very rarely encountered today.
Remington New Model Army 1863 .44cal six shots (un-restored)
The Remington New Model Army was the second most widely issued handgun of the Civil War and was manufactured from 1863 until 1875 with a total production of just over 100,000 revolvers. The New Model Army had a barrel legend that read “PATENTED SEPT. 14, 1858/E. REMINGTON & SONS, ILION, N.Y. U.S.A./NEW MODEL.” It also had a screw in type brass bead front sight; a non-channeled loading lever so the lever had to be dropped before the center pin and cylinder could be removed; a shorter hammer spur so soldiers with small hands couuld cock the hammer; and safety notches on the rear cylinder shoulder between each nipple, making it slightly different than its predecessor, the Old Model Army. Like the Colt, this was a six-shot, .44 caliber handgun but many considered the Remington with its solid frame, a sturdier handgun and one where the cylinders could be changed easier and faster than that of the Colt’s.
And I’ve GOT to get a Navy comment in here, so a pic of a Naval Ensign from one of the blockade runners… Flag was probably made in the Virgin Islands, according to the squib with it.
After we wandered the museum (and gift shop), we decided to go get a sit down dinner. Italian won, and we went and got a decent meal for a good price in Appomattox. We compared and commiserated on our respective careers, and talked about restaurants, locations and things we’d seen in common over the years. MSGT and his wife are a very nice couple and you can tell they’ve been married a LONG time 🙂
And it started raining, so we left (and slogged home in the rain)… Did I mention how much I HATE I-95 in the rain… sigh…
How very cool! I need to come see that museum!
Been to the courthouse. What wonderful history. You are lucky to be so close!
THAT is cool!
Awesome!! Sounds neat. Next time stop and see me:)
Very, very nice. Now I have another reason to head up yonder. *grin*
Very interesting stuff there.
Amazing technical advances in firearms during that conflict.
Karl- It’s worth a re-visit!
Rev- Yep, had fun!
Agirl- I’d have bought dinner, just to get off 95 for a while!
Michael- True!
drjim- Yep, all the ‘other’ stuff aside, it is VERY interesting…
WSF- True!
Wish they’d had that when I lived in Silver Spring.
Very nice. I could spend all day long reading through a museum like that.
Sounds like a wonderful time.
BP- The ‘original’ is still in Richmond, you must have missed it…
45er- Me too…
Ed- It was, good friends, and history. 🙂
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Going to add this to my bucket list
I didn’t see a LeMat in the collection :^(
Glad to hear that you had a good time.
That Savage was about the strangest pistol I’ve seen.
The museum should have a “range day”. I would make the drive again if they would let me shoot it.
Let’s do Chancellorsville or Fredericksburg next.
Rick- It’s worth it!
LL- Yeah, that was kinda strange, but I understand they have LeMats at the main museum.
Julie- It was interesting!
Msgt- You’re on, Fredricksburg next! And yeah, I’d love a range day, but ‘somehow’ I don’t think that’s in the cards!!!
Interesting – that museum wasn’t there when my daughter and I visited years ago. Been thinking it was time to run away from home in that direction again.
PH- The grand opening was Saturday… 😉
Very neat pistols. I like MSGT B’s idea of a range day.