Harpers Ferry Armory
The Harpers Ferry Armory in Virginia , now West Virginia , was designated by President George Washington as the second state arms factory to manufacture muskets and pistols for the US Army alongside the Springfield Armory .
history
In 1794, the US government decided to manufacture army weapons in its own country in order to avoid the problems that occurred during the War of Independence due to inconsistent armament in the future. President Washington decided that a second state arms factory should be built alongside the Springfield Armory. Because of the strategic location and the possibility of using the hydropower at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers , the location Harpers Ferry on the border between the US states of Maryland and Virginia was chosen. The location was also judged to be favorable from a strategic point of view, as it should be difficult to access due to the surrounding mountain ranges. However, this subsequently turned out to be wrong.
The US government purchased 125 acres (0.51 km²) from Robert Harper's heirs in 1796 and began building the second National Armory in 1799 . Pistol and musket production started three years later. In 1802 the Armory employed 25 people, before it closed in 1861 the number rose to around 400.
In 1837 the Armory was connected to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad .
On October 16, 1859, Harpers Ferry was attacked by John Brown and his accomplices in order to steal weapons for his slave revolt. The plan failed and Harpers Ferry became a garrison of the US Army in addition to the Armory . At the beginning of the American Civil War , in April 1861, the garrison was threatened by an overpowering enemy state militia of Virginia. The crew, made up of Union troops, burned the structures of the Armory so as not to let them fall into the hands of attackers allied with the Confederate .
In the Antietam campaign, which was successful for the Confederates under Robert Edward Lee , Lieutenant General "Stonewall" Jackson was commissioned with his six divisions to eliminate the threat to the Northern Virginia Army from the Union troops stationed in Harpers Ferry. After two days of siege using the heights surrounding the place, he forced the garrison to give up almost without a fight on September 15, 1862. With minor losses (39 killed, 247 wounded, Union: 44 killed, 173 wounded) he was able to capture 12,419 Union soldiers, captured 13,000 small arms, 200 carts and 73 artillery pieces as well as still intact machines for the production of weapons. The machines were dismantled and used in their own arsenals.
In the further course of the civil war, Harpers Ferry changed hands seven times. After the final reconquest by the Union forces, the armory was never rebuilt.
Since 1944 Harpers Ferry has been part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and since 1964 the National Park Service has maintained a training center for nature and cultural interpretation there , the Stephen T. Mather Training Center .
Production of weapons
Model 1795 Harpers Ferry Flintlock Musket
Like the musket made in Springfield, the .69 caliber weapon made in Harpers Ferry between 1800 and 1815 was based on the French model 1763 Charleville Mousquet . It was produced in slightly different versions, the barrel length of the first series varied between 44 and 45 ", the last series had a barrel 2" shorter. The weapon fired round balls and, as the name suggests, had flintlock ignition. Later some of these muskets were changed to percussion ignition.
In addition to the Springfield Armory and Harpers Ferry, an additional 26 third-party suppliers produced the same weapon under the name US (Federal) 1798 Contract Flintlock Musket . Since all of these weapons, including those from Harpers Ferry, did not correspond in manufacturing details to the weapons manufactured in Springfield, individual components were not interchangeable, problems arose, which led to a further normalization of production.
Model 1803 US Flintlock Rifle
From this weapon in the Harpers Ferry Armory 1803-1807 a first series of 4,023 and 1814-1820 a further 15,703 copies were made. With a total length of around 47 "they were handy and precise thanks to the rifled barrel in .54 caliber. The barrel, octagonal at the back and round at the front, measured an average of 34". Outwardly, these rifles resembled the Kentucky rifles made by private gunsmiths in Pennsylvania at the time , but had a shorter fore-end.
It is known to be used in the Lewis and Clark Expedition , which reached from St. Louis from 1804 to 1806 along the Missouri River and the northern US border to the Pacific coast.
Model 1805 Flintlock Pistol
The weapon, produced in Harpers Ferry from 1806 to 1808 in 4,096 examples, was the first orderly pistol of the US Army to be produced in a National Armory , after the company S.North & E. Cheney Berlin , Connecticut already had 2,000 Model 1799 Flintlock Pistols in .69 had acquired. In contrast to its predecessor with a box lock and free-standing barrel, the Model 1805 Flintlock Pistol was stocked and had a side lock . The .54 caliber barrel was smoothly bored and a little over 10 "long.
Model 1816 US Flintlock Musket
Based on the bad experiences with the Model 1795 Flintlock Musket , the Ordnance Department demanded that in future all weapons should be manufactured according to specified standards and that their components should be interchangeable. This requirement was enshrined in a law of February 8, 1815 by Congress, weapons that did not meet these requirements were rejected by the state inspectors. The Model 1816 US Flintlock Musket , which was further developed from the Model 1763 Charleville Mousquet , thus became the first standard weapon of the US Army. Like the 1795 model, it was in caliber .69, the barrel length was uniformly 42 ". Between 1816 and 1844, over 350,000 copies were made in Harpers Ferry, production in Springfield was slightly smaller.
Model 1817 US Flintlock Artillery Musket
This weapon was a slightly shorter version of the Model 1816 in .69 caliber with a barrel length of 36 ". The number of weapons manufactured in Harpers Ferry is unknown, Springfield brought it to 1039 pieces. Some of these muskets were also given to cadets.
Model 1819 Hall US Breech-Loading Flintlock Rifle
Between 1817 and 1840 19,680 of the breech-loading flintlock rifles in .52 caliber with rifled barrel, developed and patented by John H. Hall, were manufactured in Harpers Ferry. In this first breech-loader used by the US Army, a block attached behind the barrel could be folded up and then loaded from the front. (This block / lock could also be used on its own as an emergency self-defense weapon after removing only one screw). Many of these weapons were stored in arsenals in the southern states when the Civil War broke out and were modified to percussion detonation by the Confederates .
Hall percussion rifles and carbines
In the years 1841/1842 the first Hall rifles equipped with percussion ignition were manufactured. These 4,213 Model 1841 Hall Rifles weapons had a rifled 32.5 "barrel in .52 caliber.
Under the name Model 1836 Hall US Breech-Loading Percussion Carbine , Harpers Ferry produced a series of 2,020 carbines in .64 caliber with a smooth bore and a barrel length of 23 "from 1837–1840. The Model 1842 , which was produced in 1,001 pieces in 1842/1843, was somewhat lighter Hall US Breech-Loading Percussion Carbine in caliber .52, also this one with smooth barrel bore, barrel length 21 ".
Harpers Ferry was not the only manufacturer of Hall rifles; Simeon North, Middletown, Connecticut also manufactured a large number of these weapons for the US Army. An example can be the US Model 1833 Hall Carbine , which was produced by this third-party supplier. 1,881 of these carbines were stored in arsenals in the southern states and were given to the Confederate cavalry after the outbreak of the civil war.
Model 1841 US percussion rifle
A total of 25,296 examples of this weapon, also known as the Mississippi Rifle , were manufactured in Harpers Ferry from 1846 to 1855. In the same period external suppliers produced 45,500 pieces. Of these weapons with a barrel length of 33 ", originally in caliber .54, were in the two National Armories 8879 pieces 1855 to 1860 to .58, the standard caliber drilled in the Civil War. Also in the Colt factory were towards the end of 1861 in addition more than 5,000 these weapons were reamed to the larger caliber.
Model 1842 US percussion musket
This musket, also manufactured in the Springfield Armory, is the last smooth-barreled weapon in .69 caliber with a barrel length of 42 ". A total of 275,000 such weapons were produced, including 103,000 in Harpers Ferry. Some of these muskets were later fitted with trains. They were called Model 1842 US Rifled Musket .
Model 1855 US percussion rifle musket
The Model 1855 was in .58 "caliber, which would become the standard caliber for muzzle-loading rifles in the American Civil War. The weapon was the first rifled muzzle-loading rifle of the American army to be introduced in large numbers. A total of 59,273 pieces of this weapon were produced from 1857 to 1861, of which 12,158 in Harpers Ferry and 47,115 in Springfield.
It fired the Minié projectile designed by Claude Minié and further developed in the Harpers Ferry Armory , which was expanded by the gas pressure acting in the rear cavity and pressed into the trains. The advantage of this projectile was that, because it was under-caliber, it could easily be loaded from the front and adapted to the trains when fired.
The ignition was carried out by the Maynard Primer System, in which the individual primers were replaced by a tape with inserted detonators. These were automatically pushed onto the piston when the cock was cocked. The system was quickly abandoned because the feed mechanism did not guarantee the correct position of the squib, and the ignition was not guaranteed in wet weather. Conventional detonators were therefore used again during the civil war.
Model 1855 US percussion rifle
Of this weapon, a shorter version of the Model 1855 US Percussion Rifle-Musket , 7,317 pieces were manufactured in Harpers Ferry after 1857 until the Armory was closed. The weapon had caliber .58, barrel length 33 ".
literature
- Norm Flayderman: Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms . Krause Publications, Iola, WI 1971, ISBN 0-87349-313-3 .
- Marfe F. Delano, Barbara C. Mallen: Echoes of Glory, Arms and Equipment of the Union . Time Inc. Book Co., New York, NY 1991, ISBN 0-8094-8855-8 .
- Marfe F. Delano, Barbara C. Mallen: Echoes of Glory, Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy . Time Inc. Book Company, New York, NY 1991, ISBN 0-8094-8850-7 .
- American Military History 1607-1953 , Department of the Army, ROTC Manual 145-20, Washington 25, DC, July 1956
Web links
Coordinates: 39 ° 19 '26.6 " N , 77 ° 43' 48.7" W.