Gary, I've never heard of an M1861 or 63 w/ either; that said we have a tendency to hear Springfield and immedietly think M1861 series. In that period any armory manufactured arm was a Harpers Ferry or Springfield. So it might easily have been a M1841/45 etc but my own belief would put it at an M1855 rifle as some w/ very advanced sights were issued to men in his neck of the woods. To a man who may or may not have known different mistaking a 55 for a 61 would be quite logical.
I know the story you are referencing and believe Bierce was probably being a bit fast & free w/ fiction...
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour |