CONFEDERATE IDENTIFIED US M1842 SPRINGFIELD RIFLE MUSKET: JOSEPH MAHON Co. C 8th SC: FIRST BULL RUN, YORKTOWN, WILLIAMSBURG

CONFEDERATE IDENTIFIED US M1842 SPRINGFIELD RIFLE MUSKET: JOSEPH MAHON Co. C 8th SC: FIRST BULL RUN, YORKTOWN, WILLIAMSBURG

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$9,500.00

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Item Code: 2026-1969

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A complete and all-original U.S. Model 1842 musket manufactured in 1852 with a beautiful, original carved Confederate owner’s inscription on the left butt flat reading: “Joseph Mahon / Co C 8th Reg SCV.” Mahon served with the regiment from its first organization, through the Battle of First Manassas, and into the opening of the Peninsula Campaign to foil McClellan’s advance on Richmond. The musket rates near Fine for condition, with the stock carving rather adding to its visual appeal and certainly to its history.

The musket is a standard configuration .69 caliber US M1842 musket, the first regulation armory-pattern percussion musket made at both national armories and using interchangeable parts. (See Moller for further details.) This has matching 1852 lock and barrel dates, with SPRING/FIELD/1852 crisply stamped to rear of the hammer, with an equally sharp Springfield eagle over “US” forward of the hammer, and a clear 1852 date stamped on the breechplug tang. Moller records 19,800 of these manufactured at the Springfield Armory in calendar year 1852. The left breech of the barrel shows equally good V/P/[eagle head] proof marks, and the buttplate tang is clearly marked US as well. The left side flat has a light, but visible inspector’s initials in a rectangular cartouche with rounded corners.

The musket is complete, with all bands, springs, swivels and ramrod in place. The wood to metal fit is tight. The wood shows a pleasing, deep brown tone with some light scratches to the right buttflat, a small divot on the comb just forward of the buttplate tang, a small chip to the bottom edge of the side flat and some other minor handling marks, but very good edges. The carved inscription on the left butt flat is fully legible with just a couple shallow scratches reaching the “h” of the last name and a chip next to the buttplate that partially affects the upper night of the final “n.” The right arm of the “V” at the end of the second line, adjacent to the buttplate, shows some slight, expected wear. The metal is an untouched, muted, correct “National Armory Bright,” showing just some thin brown in places and some very light freckling on the left of the hammer and top of the breech from the use of percussion caps.

Mahon’s service records show him enlisting in Co. C of the 8th South Carolina on April 13, 1861, but he had likely been member for some time. April 13 seems to have been only the official date of the regiment’s muster into state service for one-year and its later effective date for muster into Confederate service, also for a year, which seems not to have actually taken place until June 1. The regiment as whole was apparently authorized under a December 1860 legislative act and the Chesterfield Guards themselves were purportedly accepted for one year of state service on January 1, 1861.

The regiment appears to have rushed to Charleston on news of the bombardment of Ft. Sumter, arriving in whole or in part on April 14, 1861. They spent the next several weeks camped on Sullivan’s Island and on the city race course, until early May, when they moved to Florence, where they expressed a willingness as a unit to answer any call from the Confederate government and were then finally mustered in for one year CS service on June 1. From Florence they moved to Richmond and then by way of Manassas Junction, Centreville, Germantown, and Fairfax Courthouse, to Manassas on July 16, where they erected field works and came under Federal artillery fire as part of Bonham’s brigade at Mitchell’s Ford, before taking part in the fighting on Henry House Hill, losing 5 killed and 23 wounded in the main battle on July 21. After Bull Run they were posted at Vienna and at Flint Hill from August to October, when they moved to Centreville, and from there back to a camp near Blackburn’s Bridge at Bull Run. Brigade command passed to Gen. Kershaw in February 1862 and in March the regiment was posted near Orange Courthouse. They moved to Richmond in early April, and from there sailed to Yorktown, seeing action there on May 4, and at the Battle of Williamsburg (“Fort Magruder”) on May 5, but being held in reserve during the Battle of Fair Oaks May 31-June1, 1862.

Mahon appears to have been present with the regiment until May 8, 1862, when he was hospitalized for ten days at Chimborazo Hospital No. 4, suffering from “debility,” but was returned to duty on May 18. This would place him with the regiment through their renewed experience of battle at Yorktown and Williamsburg, but away from them when they reorganized for Confederate service “for the war” on May 13, 1862. Whether this caught him by surprise is unclear, but he seems to have had enough of army life by the time they were at the front again: he is listed as being a deserter captured by Union forces “before Richmond” on June 6, 1862, and is on a  June 11, 1862, list of Rebel deserters sent to the Provost Martial at Baltimore, to be released on taking the oath of allegiance. He then vanishes from the records, and apparently from history, with only his Union captors’ notes that he had been born in Ireland, was age 25, stood 5’9” and had black hair, blue eyes, and a dark complexion. He may well have changed his name and headed north, leaving behind only this great looking musket as a memento of his Confederate service.  [sr][ph:L]

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