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
![](/umbraco/ImageGen.ashx?image=/media/10412/00217_a.jpg&class=mainImage)
![00217_a.jpg](/umbraco/ImageGen.ashx?image=/media/10412/00217_a.jpg&class=galleryImage188-125)
![00217_r.jpg](/umbraco/ImageGen.ashx?image=/media/10427/00217_r.jpg&class=galleryImage188-125)
![00217_l.jpg](/umbraco/ImageGen.ashx?image=/media/10422/00217_l.jpg&class=galleryImage188-125)
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.