Chattanooga Arsenal Conversion Musket

Description

Chattanooga Arsenal Conversion Musket

 

Model 1816 musket converted to percussion at the Confederate arsenal in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The lock is marked Harpers Ferry 1839 with eagle and U.S. markings beneath the bolster.

 

The stock exhibits a stretched repair behind the rear barrel band. Steel surfaces display a dark gray patina with some pitting at the breech from percussion cap ignition.

 

A button‑tipped ramrod remains present along with a three‑ring Minié ball used as a nipple protector. Confederate arsenal alterations such as this are scarce survivals illustrating the South’s limited but determined efforts at arms manufacture and repair.

 

Confederate assembled and arsenal-altered arms occupy a particularly important place in Civil War collecting, as they speak directly to the chronic shortages of machinery, finished arms, and interchangeable components in the South. Rather than discard damaged or obsolete weapons, Confederate workmen routinely salvaged usable locks, barrels, bands, and furniture, producing serviceable arms from mixed parts. Pieces of this sort are valued not only for their scarcity, but because they so clearly illustrate the improvisational character of Southern wartime manufacture and repair.

 

Inventory Number: RIF 306