The Galleries
- Robert E. Petersen Collection
- Ancient Firearms
- The Road to American Liberty
- Seeds of Greatness
- The Prospering New Republic
- A Nation Asunder
- The American West
- Innovation, Oddities and Competition
- Theodore Roosevelt, Elegant Arms
- World War I and Firearms Innovation
- WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Beyond
- For the Fun of It
- Firearms Traditions for Today
- William B. Ruger Special Exhibits
- Freedom's Doorway
Brown Bess Charleville Percussion Conversion Musket
Serviceable arms, regardless of age, were vitally needed during the opening months of Civil War. In addition to firearms of modern design, shotguns, fowlers, hunting rifles, and even Revolutionary War-vintage flintlocks and percussion-conversion arms such as the one seen here were carried into battle.