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1861 percussion rifle-musket


This Model 1861 was the standard rifle-musket used throughout the war. It was originally made by the Springfield Armory, but due to the need for more firearms, the U.S. government contracted with twenty private contractors. It is estimated that about one million Model 1861–type muskets were manufactured during the war. It was a modification of the Model 1855 rifle-musket that eliminated the patch box and the Maynard tape primer. These changes lowered its manufacturing costs and time, both of which were beneficial to a country at war and in need of firearms.


Division of the History of Technology, Armed Forces History
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Behring Center
Bequest of Charles Bremner Hogg Jackson

 

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