1853 DATED M1842 PALMETTO ARMORY MUSKET WITH CONFEDERATE SALVAGE/REPAIR/REISSUE “Q” RE-INSPECTION MARKING

1853 DATED M1842 PALMETTO ARMORY MUSKET WITH CONFEDERATE SALVAGE/REPAIR/REISSUE “Q” RE-INSPECTION MARKING

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$6,750.00

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Item Code: 2026-1470

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This is one of 6,020 muskets manufactured on an April 15, 1851, contract between the State of South Carolina and the Palmetto Armory in Columbia, run by William Glaze and Benjamin Flagg. Deliveries were due by the end of 1852, but extensions were granted, with manufacture going into 1853 and the contract, which also included rifles, pistols, and sabers, finally settled at the end of November 1853. In pattern the muskets followed the smoothbore percussion US M1842 .69 caliber musket. The markings differed, of course, as did the placement of the bayonet lug, which in some cases was on the top of the barrel in order to take a M1816 bayonet, and other cases, as here, in the usual position on the underside of the muzzle.

Another difference was the use of brass barrel bands, which this one lacks. The reason is likely found in a faint, but legible “Q” stamped on the underside of the stock just forward of the triggerguard tang, one of several known Confederate Ordnance inspectors’ stamps, typically placed in this location, indicating the weapon had gone through the  Confederate cleaning and repair system, having been captured or collected on the battlefield, or simply turned in at some point. Estimates run as high as 200,000 arms captured or salvaged and another 50,000 turned in by CS army units. (See Knott’s book on the subject.)

Lastly, we note the musket remains smoothbore. The Palmetto Armory had turned to more peaceful production of agricultural and steam machinery as the Palmetto Iron Works in the mid-1850s, but military materiel came to the fore again with the secession of the state in December 1860 and the company was busy casting artillery shells and also rifling and sighting smoothbore muskets, with William Glaze reporting in late August 1861 that he had, “rifled, sighted and put in good order” 3,720 of his own muskets from the 1851 contract, all that were in Columbia at the time, indicating this one likely escaped alteration by having already been issued.

The musket rates good for condition- complete and all original, but showing wear, with marks to the wood, with some pitting and dings to the barrel and buttplate, but with all bands, springs, swivels and the ramrod and bayonet lug in place. The mechanics are good, though a bit tight. The buttpate shows deep pitting, but the stamped “SC” is very clear just forward of the buttplate tang screw. The barrel and bands show brown. “Wm. GLAZE & CO.” is very clear on the left breech flat. We see a small four-digit number just forward of that, partially obscured along the bottom by the edge of stock, which could be an inventory or rack number, if not something applied in the CS repair process. On the upper surface of the left breech the “V” view mark is quite clear, as is the outline of the Palmetto Tree state acceptance stamp below it. A light mark between the two might be remnants of the “P” proof stamp that appears either above or below the “V.” The breechplug was usually stamped with a date or “SC,” but the metal is too deeply pitted there, as on the breech next to the bolster and the side of the bolster, to make anything out, likely the product of repeated use of the very corrosive British import high-pressure percussion caps brought in through the blockade. The lockplate, however, is generally smooth metal with light corrosion and a few dings to the lower forward edge, but clearly shows a worn, but quite legible Palmetto Armory stamp forward of the hammer:  “PALMETTO ARMORY” in an arc over a Palmetto tree, with “S [star] C” in a curve underneath it, and the rear of the lockplate is also clearly marked:  “COLUMBIA / S.C. 1853.” The wood has a pleasing mottled dark brown color, though with numerous dings and handling marks, with some wear to the edges, at the rear of the lock apron for instance, a small chip at the left breech, and the right edge of the barrel channel at the lower band, etc., but with no breaks or cracks, looking simply like a musket that was cared for, but saw a lot of active service. The “Q” marking is light and worn, but legible. Please see our photos.

For details on William Glaze and the Palmetto Armory see Meyer’s SC State Museum Monograph and Murphy and Madaus, “Confederate Rifles & Muskets.” For Confederate Ordnance repaired arms see, Knott, “Captured & Collected’ Confederate Reissued Firearms.” Glaze (1815-1883) was active in the jewelry business as early as 1838, expanding into “fancy goods” (as it was known at the time,) selling jewelry, clocks, watches, silverware, plated goods, spectacles, candlesticks, vases, as well as military goods and firearms that led to the sale of military arms to the state and to his own venture into manufacturing. This would make a very good addition to a Confederate arms collection or a specialized display focusing on Glaze’s different weapons. Interestingly, despite his substantial losses in the war and postwar bankruptcy, Glaze seems to have bounced back to a degree, once again in business selling jewelry and fancy goods in the 1870s.  [sr][ph:L]

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