The Unfinished Fight

The “Virginia Model” Rifle Musket

By Craig L. Barry · Originally published January 2019 · pp. 12–13

The “Virginia Model” Rifle Musket The State of Virginia Armory Commission developed a rifle musket design for manufacture at the Richmond Armory some months before the Civil War began. Prototypes were built at Springfield Armory to test the design, and machinery ordered. The following article about the so-called “Virginia model” rifle musket appeared in the Richmond Daily Dispatch on Feb. 22, 1861, about two months before the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union.

The Virginia Model Musket The Commissioners appointed for arming the State found it necessary, before ordering the machinery for the armory, to prepare a model of the arm to be manufactured at the Virginia works. After consulting the principal ordnance officers of the army, and learning from the War Department, through the Hon. James M. Mason, the usage of European armies, and after a course of experiments with muzzle and breech-loading arms at the Virginia Military Institute, conducted by Major Colston, the Commissioners determined to adhere to the muzzleloading rifled musket for infantry of the line. In this conclusion, they follow the example of the American and European armies, and the advice of all the military men whom they consulted. Having determined the

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character of the arm, and its general conformity to the British and American regulation muskets, it became necessary to settle its details. In doing this, the Commissioners consulted the Master Armorer, Mr. Salmon Adams, and requested Mr. Burton’s opinion of the relative merits of the British and American muskets. After a careful examination and comparison of an Enfield musket, brought over by himself, and a United States rifled musket made at Harper’s Ferry, he made a report to the Commissioners, containing numerous valuable suggestions, which, with the approbation of Mr. Adams, were adopted. The result was, a musket conforming in its interior to the United States musket, and in its exterior to the Enfield musket, with some changes for the better from both. By permission of those in authority, the model musket was made at the Government works at Springfield, by Mr. Adams, who arrived in Richmond with the arm a few days since, and on Tuesday last exhibited it to the Senate and House Committee on Military Affairs, who were highly pleased with it as a weapon of offence and defense. We saw the musket ourselves, and regard it in all respects as the most perfect weapon of the kind in existence. To show the extreme sensitiveness of our Northern neighbors, we may mention a fact that we gleaned at the time—viz: that after the musket was made, by permission, as a model, they were unwilling to let it go, and would have laid an embargo on its transshipment thither if a position of the kind would have been at all tenable. Mr. Adams, the Master Armorer here, has made himself obnoxious to the Black Republicans by aiding the shipment of arms South by parties desiring them, an operation which he performed to such an extent that it raised the Republican ire. The following description of the model musket will give some idea of its superiority as a firearm:

• Stock — Conforms very nearly to the Enfield stock. An alteration is made in the shape of the butt, at the point where the toe of the butt plate rests. • Barrel — Length 40 inches, same as the “U.S.” Exterior form same as the Enfield; barrel to weigh 4 oz. more than the Enfield; this additional weight to be distributed from the lower band to the muzzle; barrel to be browned. • Tip for Stock — Material, brass, same as the Enfield. • Rod Spring — Same as the Enfield. • Lock — Same as the Enfield, except the comb of the hammer, which will be less, both vertically and horizontally. • Bands — Convex adjustable screw bands, after the style of the Enfield. • Butt Plate — Material, brass. Lateral and longitudinal curvatures will vary slightly from the Enfield. One curve from the heel to the toe will be observed, in order to facilitate the manufacture. • Butt Screws — Same as the “U.S.” • Side and Tang Screws — Will vary a little from the Enfield. • Ramrod — Same length as the “U. S.” Diameter of body, .24 inches; head countersunk so as to accommodate the shape of the “U. S.” bullet; a small hole drilled nearly of [sic] an inch from the end of the head. • Bayonet — Form of blade same as the Enfield; socket same as the “U. S.” • Leaf Sight — Same as the “U.S.” Whatever became of the Virginia Model rifle musket? When the Armory signed an agreement with the J.R. Anderson & Company (Tredegar Iron Works) in late 1860 for the production of machinery to modernize its equipment, it was recognized that it would require almost a year to get the machinery built and installed. The contract called for equipment sufficient for producing 5,000 units per month of the new ‘Virginia Model’ rifle musket by Dec. 1, 1861, according to Major Raleigh E. Colston’s Reports & The Proceedings of The Virginia Armory Commission 1860 (Abridged). In mid-April 1861, Virginia seceded from the Union. Then Colonel Thomas J. (soon to be General) “Stonewall” Jackson seized the equipment at the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry. “By a stroke of very good fortune, Virginia literally acquired an almost fully intact arms making plant overnight. As quickly as possible the Harpers Ferry machinery was removed to Richmond and…installed in the Richmond Armory.” The captured Harpers Ferry short rifle making machinery was sent to Fayetteville, N.C. By October 1861, the Richmond Armory was producing its own version of the U.S. M1855 rifle musket, minus the Maynard tape primer. The Virginia Model rifle musket is eerily similar to the Colt Special Model of 1861. It appears there could be a couple of reasons for that since Colt was involved in the design, production, and testing of the prototypes. It also helps explain how Colt had the Special Model of 1861 ready to go so quickly when the first U.S. Government contracts were awarded; it was largely an identical copy of the Virginia Model. On the other hand, Samuel Colt was the U.S. agent for gun-maker Potts & Hunt of London. Colt also had a factory in London during the mid-1850s. Samuel Colt could well have been copying their Enfield long rifle or an earlier amalgamated design he planned to build in England and pitch to the English War Department. A hobbyist and part time historian named S. Saunders did an unpublished monograph on the subject called “The Virginia Model Musket: The Rifle-Musket That Never Was.” The author concludes: “While some writers and historians credit Sam Colt with designing the Special Model of 1861 Rifle-Musket, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that indicated the Virginia Model Musket served as the inspiration for the U.S. Special Model of 1861. Both the Virginia Model Musket and the U.S. Special Model of 1861 Rifle-Muskets are hybrid designs, containing design features of both the American Springfield and British Enfield Rifle Muskets. Both designs are very similar to each other and in some respects, identical. The prototypes for both the Virginia Model Musket and the U.S. Special Model of 1861 Rifle Muskets were made at Springfield Armory and it is very likely that many of the same armory employees that worked on the Virginia Model Musket prototype later worked on making the prototype for the U.S. Special Model of 1861 Rifle-Musket. The Ames Company was in the process of building machine tools designed to manufacture the Virginia Model Musket for installation in the Richmond Armory when Virginia seceded from the Union. Obviously, after that happened, the machinery could not be delivered. Most likely that machinery was slightly modified and used to produce Special Model of 1861 Rifle Muskets at either Colt, LG&Y or Amoskeag. So, the grand irony is that while the Virginia Model Musket never made it into production in the Confederacy, the Yankee rifle musket it most likely inspired was made by the many tens of thousands by three different Northern manufacturers to arm the Union. That is quite a legacy for a Southern design!” Craig L Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from the University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Craig served The

Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003-2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Unfinished Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013) and three books (soon to be four) in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.