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
U.S. Springfield Model 1842 Percussion Musket
Several Federal and Confederate regiments were armed with smoothbores prior to 1863.
U.S./Springfield Armory Model 1842 Percussion Musket
(single-shot/ muzzle-loading/ black powder/ ball ammunition)
This musket was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1842, but production
started too late for these arms to play a major role in the Mexican
War. Nevertheless U.S. troops were equipped with modern
high-quality percussion rifles and muskets. Mexican forces were
issued obsolete flint-lock arms. As the war continued, U.S. General
Winfield Scott led militia and regular troops into southern Mexico,
where victory in five major battles brought about a Mexican
surrender. In 1848, territory including the present-day states of
California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico was annexed by
the United States. The U.S. was continuing to pursue and fulfill a
policy of Manifest Destiny," a policy that also included the
establishment of the Oregon territory which bordered on Canada. In
1846, the boundary between these two was established by negotiation
at the 49th parallel."
- Dr. William L. Roberts, THE AMERICAN LIBERTY COLLECTION:
#55
The town of Springfield, Massachusetts, located on the banks of
the Connecticut River, was settled in 1636 by emigrants from
Roxbury. The town was nearly destroyed during King Philip's War in
1675, but it was quickly rebuilt. As early as 1776, Continental
Army colonel and future Secretary of War Henry Knox recommended the
establishment of public laboratories, magazines, arsenals and
foundries in secure locations for the production and repair of
arms, ammunition, and other ordnance stores. Both George Washington
and the Continental Congress concurred with this recommendation,
under which an ordnance depot was established at Springfield in
1777. The town's access to raw materials, sources of water power,
and transportation, as well as its inland location which provided
security against seaborne attack, made Springfield an ideal
location.
Over the following year, buildings were rented or erected for use
as barracks and storehouses. In addition to ordnance stores, the
depot at Springfield also handled other aspects of army supply,
including equipment, uniforms, tents, food, and fuel. The end of
the War for Independence also brought a decline in military
activities at Springfield. In 1794, an Act of Congress directed
that national armories be established for the fabrication of small
arms. President Washington selected Springfield and Harpers Ferry,
which was then located in Virginia, as the sites for these
facilities. In addition to the advantages that contributed to the
presence of a Revolutionary War depot in the town, many skilled
armory workers were still living nearby. The government acquired
nearly 300 acres and constructed a dam to furnish power to the
armory complex, as well as shops, offices, and storehouses. The
first permanent structure to be constructed on the site was a brick
powder magazine, which was torn down in 1842. Additional buildings
have been constructed as necessary over the years since.
Production of arms at Springfield began in 1795, with 245 muskets
manufactured during that year, and approximately 80,000 were turned
out before production was discontinued in 1814. The Model 1795
muskets were the first standardized U.S. martial arms to be
produced and were patterned after the French Model 1763 Charleville
musket. Harpers Ferry Armory also produced a Model 1795 musket, but
these were distinctly different from those manufactured at
Springfield. The first known Springfield Armory-marked specimens
were manufactured in 1799, and feature dated lockplates which bear
an eagle stamp and the word "Springfield." The Model 1816 was first
standardized U.S. martial arm to be manufactured at both
Springfield and Harpers Ferry.
These arms enjoyed the longest production run in U.S. history,
lasting until 1844, with nearly 700,000 muskets turned out during
this period. Both armories also produced the Model 1842 percussion
musket and Model 1855 percussion rifle-musket. These arms are
significant in that the Model 1842 was the last U.S. regulation .69
caliber smoothbore, as well as the first to be made at both
armories with completely interchangeable parts, while the Model
1855 rifle-musket was the first rifle-musket to be produced by the
United States, the first to be produced in the new regulation .58
caliber, and the last arm to be produced at both government
armories.
In addition to commonly produced arms, each armory was the sole
producer of certain other designs, such as the Model 1855
percussion pistol-carbine and various musketoons and cadet muskets
that were produced solely at Springfield, or the Model 1803
flintlock rifle, and the Model 1841 percussion, or "Mississippi"
rifles, both of which were produced only at Harpers Ferry. Model
1861 and 1863 rifle-muskets, which were based on a modification of
the earlier Model 1855, were produced in great quantities
throughout the Civil War. These were the last muzzle loading, paper
cartridge percussion arms to be produced by the U.S. Erskine S.
Allin, Springfield's Master Armorer, designed a method for
converting many of these into metallic cartridge breech loaders.
This conversion consisted of a modification to the breech to permit
the installation of a "trap door" breechblock with a self-contained
firing pin. The famous .45-70 government caliber "trap door"
Springfield rifles and carbines of the Plains Indian Wars were
based on Allin's work, and these accounted for much of the Armory's
production during the 1870s and 1880s.
Springfield Armory was also involved in improving the state of the
art in military rifle design, and toward this end,
limited-production long arms including the Ward-Burton, Lee
Vertical Action, Hotchkiss, and Chaffee-Reese rifles were
manufactured there. These efforts culminated in the 1890s with the
Army's adoption of the smokeless powder Krag-Jorgensen bolt-action
repeating rifle as its standard longarm. These rifles, as well as
carbine versions, were manufactured at the Armory through the turn
of the century. The Spanish-American War proved the superiority of
the German-designed Mauser, and the .30-'06 caliber U.S. Model 1903
bolt-action rifle, which was built at Springfield Armory and Rock
Island Arsenal under a license from Mauser, replaced the
Krag-Jorgensen as the Army's new standard rifle.
Over one million were manufactured before production was
discontinued in 1941, and many of these, as well as rebuilt or
contract model Ô03s, saw action in both World Wars. Prior to the
First World War, Springfield also manufactured the M1911 .45
caliber semi-automatic pistol under license from Colt, and
throughout this period, Armory workers continued to experiment
with, produce, test, and maintain various other ordnance materiel
including rifles, pistols, machine guns, and related
equipment.
During the interwar years, John Garand, a Canadian-born design
engineer and Springfield Armory employee, worked on a design for a
new gas-operated semi-automatic rifle. After overcoming several
problems, both with his designs and with Army brass, the U.S. Rifle
.30 caliber M1 was adopted by the Army in 1936. The Marine Corps
followed suit, and during the Second World War, over three and
one-half million M1s were produced at Springfield. An additional
500,000 were manufactured by Winchester Repeating Arms Co. This
rifle, which General George S. Patton called, "the greatest battle
implement ever devised," gave American troops a significant edge
over their German and Japanese enemies, most of whom were still
equipped with bolt-action arms.
After the war, Springfield ceased manufacture of the M1 and turned
its efforts to the overhaul and long-term storage of these rifles.
The outbreak of war in Korea in 1950 caused a resumption in
production at the Armory, as well as by International Harvester and
Harrington & Richardson. The return of peace brought a second
and final discontinuation of M1 production. Springfield Armory's
continuing efforts at advancing military rifle designs yielded a
series of improvements to the M1, culminating in production of the
7.62mm NATO caliber selective-fire M14 rifle, which replaced the
Garand in the Army's inventory.
In 1968, the Ordnance Department ceased operations at Springfield
Armory. The Armory grounds, buildings, and museum, with its
extensive arms and accouterments collection, have become
Springfield Armory National Historic Site and are now maintained by
the National Park Service.