SCARCE MARYLAND MARKED WAR OF 1812 JOHN MILES US 1808 CONTRACT MUSKET

SCARCE MARYLAND MARKED WAR OF 1812 JOHN MILES US 1808 CONTRACT MUSKET

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Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 2025-3650

This is one of some 7,600 muskets acquired by the state of Maryland from the US government through allotment under the 1798 Militia Act and direct purchase between 1809 and 1812, also one of just some 2,586 credited during the same years to the US 1808 contract of John Miles of Bordentown, NJ, though a good number of those were apparently made by others, and is rarer still by having a striking Maryland ownership brand on the right forestock, and a “seldom encountered” form of Miles’s lockplate marking that uses his name in raised capital letters in vertical ribbon at rear of the lockplate. For details on these muskets and the Miles contract see Moller, Schmidt, and Gaede and Marsden’s monograph on Maryland muskets.

Renewed tensions with Britain in the wake of the 1807 Chesapeake-Leopard affair spurred Maryland to increase its store of arms by its allotments from the US government under the 1798 Militia Act, special purchases, and additional state purchases from a consortium of gunmakers led by J.J. Henry, and others from individual merchants or agents. Purchases from the US amounted to some 7,600 muskets: 4,000 in 1809, and 1,200 in 1810, 1811, and 1812 each, according to Gaede and Marsden. Moller has the same total of 7,600 muskets, but notes that only 3,050 were actually allotments to the state under the militia act, and the other 4,550 were actually sold to the state by the US government, but the nature of the transaction was later changed to be covered under the Militia Act (Moller V.2 p.214 n.7.)

This musket bears the prominent remnants of a Maryland brand on the right forestock: “MARYL[…]” indicating state ownership. See G&M Fig. 6 for the same marking- though here applied right-side-up. We do not see an “M” stamped on the barrel, another mark of Maryland ownership, but the state had passed a resolution that “Maryland” be marked on all arms and accoutrements” in June 1812 and the stamps for the often seen “M” marking were not purchased until 1813.

The lockplate marking on this musket is sharp and it has a equally good eagle on top of a US in an oval stamped forward of the cock. This form of Miles’s marking is not listed in Riley, but G&M refer to it as a “seldom encountered” and show it as Figures 25 and 26, p. 17. The stamp is also mentioned by Moller, who says he has seen one, likely on the same musket since he mentions an “illegible eagle marking forward of the cock,” as the musket shown by G&M displays. G&M connect it with the 25 muskets delivered by Miles to Maryland through the J.J. Henry consortium, taking the obliteration of the eagle on the lockplate of that musket to indicate it was being diverted from Miles’s US contract, but they make no mention of barrel markings and Moller discusses it in the context of US 1808 contracts muskets. This musket has very clear barrel markings at the breech: a  “V” and eagle’s head over “CT” in sunken oval, a clear sign of US inspection of a contract musket.

The musket rates about Good for condition. The barrel is full length, 44-1/2” with bottom mounted bayonet stud, front sight, all bands, springs, swivels and ramrod in place. The barrel shows some roughness and gray metal at the muzzle, likely from a bayonet left affixed for a long time, and on old collection number “3” in white paint. The barrel shades to brown below the upper band, with the bands matching, the shows some gray and corrosion near the breech, but not affecting the barrel markings. The mechanics are good. The lock shows just light corrosion forward of the cock. The markings are very good. Side plate, triggerguard and buttplate are brown, with only light corrosion.

The wood fits the metal well, and has good color and surface, but shows a substantial old glue and nail repair to the wrist and rear of the lock apron, leaving a gap along the lower rear edge of the lock plate and around the rear teat of the plate, with a chip out at that point and some surface cracks to the side flat. The edges of the wood are good, however; the buttstock shows a small flake to finish on the right, a narrow drag line on the left, but just minor scratches otherwise and a small two-letter stamp is still visible just to the rear of the triggerguard tang. Please see our photos.

Born in 1777, John Miles, Jr., had manufactured military arms with his father in Philadelphia, taking over the operation of Robert McCormick in 1801. After his father’s death in 1808 he moved to Bordentown, NJ, not far from Philadelphia, and banking on his experience and connections signed one of the largest US 1808 contracts, for 9,200 muskets, on July 30, 1808. It was a decision he would come to regret. Moller credits him with delivery of just 2,586 muskets from 1809 to 1812, many of which were apparently made by John Kerlin, who had signed Miles’s contract as surety, and Kerlin’s associates, with Kerlin delivering parts to Miles and some muskets as part of his quota, until renegotiating the contract and taking it over when Miles defaulted in 1811, a process likely made somewhat easier by the fact that Miles does not seem to have taken a cash advance from the government on the contract.

All in all, an interesting musket giving some insight into the complex US arms trade in the run-up to the War of 1812, and a musket with a no-doubt-about-it Maryland connection in that conflict.  [sr][ph:L]

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