Hi folks.
I just bought an M-1841 Mississippi (due to arrive any day now). My “Missy” (she's a bit of a rough-looking girl) was made at Harper’s Ferry in 1853.
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In 1861, it had been re-bored to .58 cal, and also had the Leman modification to accept a socket bayonet. These modifications were made to 2,352 of the M-1841s that had been issued to Pennsylvania. Thie picture below shows the Leman modification:
View attachment 376172
I’ve been trying to learn more about this particular modification, and the Pennsylvania regiments that might have received these as their service weapons. Based on what I’ve found on the Internet so far, M-1841s were in use by Union troops in the first 1.5 years of the war, and later phased out. The Confederacy used their M-1841s right to the end of the war. Wikipedia stated the following:
At the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, US Regular Army regiments had Model 1855 Springfield rifles and some companies also had Model 1841 "Mississippi" rifles, however most soldiers in both armies had smoothbore muskets, primarily the Model 1842 musket or percussion-converted Model 1816/1822 musket (as well as some muskets still using the original flintlock mechanism).
I am looking for
any information on these Pennsylvania M-1841s and regiments that used them, but here are a few focused questions to get things started:
- If the M-1855s were preferentially given to the US Regular Army troops early in the war, it would presumably be safe to assume that the Leman-modified M-1841s were issued only to Pennsylvania regiments?
- The M-1841, being still a relatively modern design, compared to the many smoothbores still in inventory, would have been considered the best quality musket available to the Pennsylvania regiments early in the war?
- Which Pennsylvania regiments were known to have been issued the M-1841s (e.g. based on ordnance records when they were being swapped out for 1861/63 Springfields, or based on other official correspondence or soldier’s letters home, etc.)?
- The socket bayonet used was a modified 1842 bayonet. Does anyone know what the specific modification was?
Any other information is welcome!
For anyone learning more about the 1841 “Missy”, the following websites provide a lot of useful information and pictures of the 1841 Mississippi and its various modifications for various States and the Federal government:
https://americansocietyofarmscollec...8-B97-Beautiful-Rifles-With-Pointy-Things.pdf
https://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?33634-M1841-Monograph
If anyone knows of another website or a comprehensive book on the M-1841s, please share. Thanks!