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. Harpers Ferry Model 1816 Flintlock Musket
This Type II example features the standard "National Armory Brown" finish on all metal parts except the lock.
Nearly 700,000 Model 1816 Muskets were manufactured between 1816
and 1844 at both Harpers Ferry and Springfield Armories. This
represents the largest production total for U.S.-manufactured
flintlock muskets. Many of these long arms were converted to
percussion ignition and saw service through the early years of the
Civil War. Three different versions plus an early transitional
model were manufactured, with primary differences between types
found in finish, and in the mounting of the lower sling swivel and
trigger guard. Type II muskets were originally finished in
"National Armory Brown," while Type III variants were finished in
"National Armory Bright." Type I examples feature either brown or
bright metal finish.
The town of Harpers Ferry is nestled into a valley at the
confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. Originally located
in Virginia, Harpers Ferry became part of the new state of West
Virginia in 1863. The region abounded with natural resources,
including abundant water power, and it was also isolated from the
coastline and therefore secure from possible enemy attacks.
Riflesmiths, artisans, and other skilled workers also made their
homes in neighboring areas of Virginia, Maryland, and
Pennsylvania.
In 1798, President George Washington selected Harpers Ferry, as
well as Springfield, Massachusetts, as the location for a national
armory where small arms, ammunition, and other accouterments would
be produced for use by the new nation's military forces. In 1798,
tensions between the United States and France were on the rise, and
American militia forces drilled on the heights overlooking the
town. As the threat of war passed, the troops dispersed, leaving
Harpers Ferry to the care of armory workers and other
residents.
Arms production began in 1800. The first guns to be manufactured at
Harpers Ferry were the Model 1795 muskets. These were patterned
after the French Model 1763 Charleville musket, and were the first
standardized U.S. martial arms. Springfield Armory also produced a
Model 1795 musket, but these were distinctly different from those
manufactured at Harpers Ferry. In the early 19th century, Harpers
Ferry began production of the Model 1803 flintlock rifle. These
distinctive arms, with their Kentucky styling and half forestock,
are considered by some to the most beautiful rifles ever produced
by the United States government. The Model 1816 was first
standardized U.S. martial arm to be manufactured at both Harpers
Ferry and Springfield. 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 that were produced only at Harpers
Ferry.
In addition to its role in turning out government longarms, Harpers
Ferry also was home to John Hall's rifle works. Hall was a native
of Maine and an inventor who held various patents for
breech-loading rifles based on a removable pivot-mounted
breechblock. These arms were more expensive than muzzle-loaders,
but they could be loaded more quickly and were just as accurate. In
addition, Hall's rifles featured precision-manufactured
machine-made parts that were completely interchangeable, thus
eliminating the need for skilled craftsmen to repair broken arms.
The Hall rifle was the first in U.S. military history to use
fully-interchangeable parts.
In 1817, at the invitation of the U.S. Army, Hall relocated his
operations from Maine to some unused armory buildings on Virginius
Island, located near the banks of the Shenandoah River in Harpers
Ferry. Originally designed as flintlocks, later versions of the
Hall rifle featured a percussion ignition system. The first Hall
rifles were produced in 1824, and manufacture of these arms
continued until at Harpers Ferry until 1843. In addition, Hall
rifles and carbines were also produced by Simeon North of
Middletown, Connecticut. These arms served in the Black Hawk War of
1832, the Seminole War in 1836, the Mexican War, and, although
outdated, Hall rifles also saw action with Confederate troops
during the Civil War.
The presence of the armory in Harpers Ferry, as well as its
location on the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, and the presence of
the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio
Canal, made the town strategically important. Prior to the outbreak
of the Civil War, Harpers Ferry became known as the site of John
Brown's failed slave insurrection in 1859. After Virginia voters
passed an ordinance of secession in 1861, the town was occupied by
Confederate soldiers under the command of Colonel Turner Ashby.
Retreating U.S. troops had tried to burn the armory complex, but
local residents, fearing that the entire town would be engulfed,
quickly extinguished most of the fires. The Confederates removed
armory machinery, tools, rifles, and parts to Richmond, Virginia
and Fayetteville, North Carolina, where the Confederate government
began to manufacture longarms based on the U.S. Model 1855 rifle
design.
Before the war ended in 1865, the town had changed hands no less
than eleven times. Many buildings had been looted or burned, and
the B&O railroad bridge had also been destroyed and rebuilt
several times. Townspeople were forced to flee both the advancing
armies and the lack of economic opportunity that resulted after the
armory had ceased operations.
The Civil War brought an abrupt and premature end to arms
production at Harpers Ferry. This armory was never as progressive
as its sister arsenal at Springfield, where enterprising Yankees
more readily seized new technologies, while their southern brothers
were more likely to stick to tried-and-true but often more
labor-intensive production techniques. Springfield workers also
outproduced those of Harpers Ferry to a significant degree, but
part of Springfield's advantage might lay in its less diversified
product line. In addition, production costs were higher at Harpers
Ferry than at Springfield, and the town was subject to repeated
disruption due to frequent flooding of its surrounding
rivers.
Despite these shortcomings, Harpers Ferry Armory achieved notoriety
as the birthplace of what became known as the "American System of
Manufacture," in which full interchangeability of precision-made
parts between mechanical devices manufactured in more than one
location was achieved for the first time. This feature would later
play an important role in the Industrial Revolution and in the rise
of the United States to the position of "workshop of the
world."