Antebellum Weapons availability

[USS ALASKA]

Sirs, I have a question. Reading many of @gentlemanrob 's bios, more than a few for the Union state '...person XXXX raised regiment / brigade / (insert unit size here) YYYY and personally financed their arming...'

My question - where were these arms coming from? Was there some sort of antebellum Interarms / Bannerman's that just had wagon loads of surplus weapons handy? And if this is speaking to imports, that's quite the time lag.

As usual, I am confused...
USS ALASKA

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Usually when "XXXX" raised a regiment they applied for the regiment to be accepted by a State into State service and then arms would be drawn from the State's inventory. Before the war a State would apply for arms to be delivered to them from the Federal Government under the militia law from 1792, and the Federal Government would send the arms and if there wasn't a State arsenal, they'd be kept in another spot, some States like Tennessee, (that is if I'm remembering everything right), even kept the arms in the basement of the State Capitol.

It was common for obsolete arms would be issued by a State, and Federal/Confederate Governments would exchange those freshly issued guns State owned arms with newer Federal/Confederate Government guns when that State militia/volunteer regiment was accepted into Army service. In theory those State owned guns would be returned to the respective State, but that didn't always happen. There are many instances of States North and South sending letters to DC or Richmond demanding the guns be returned or replaced so they could arm new regiments for State defense.

In this link there is articles on Southern State militias and volunteers getting ready for war and most go into detail on where and how many arms States had and kept them:

Index of /reference/ame

All that being said there was some instances of officers, or soon-to-be ones buying surplus weapons for they're units, mostly up in the Midwest and then getting trying to get reimbursed for it. There's the famous scandal where General Fremont bought the Army's own surplus guns from unscrupulous dealers at extremely marked up prices, while the Army still had the guns in their possession! (It's how a modern bank got its start!) and Fremont even bought a large amount of surplus Austrian muskets, then had them converted to percussion with the bill being presented to Federal Government afterwards.

I'm no expert and probably misremembering a couple things, but there's a lot of interesting stories related to this question.

 

[Lanyard Puller]

Your link to "Index of /reference/ame" is a very valuable resource for collectors.
Thanks

 

[ConfederateCanuck]

Your link to "Index of /reference/ame" is a very valuable resource for collectors.
Thanks

Is there a similar "go to" reference for the Naawwwthen states?

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Your link to "Index of /reference/ame" is a very valuable resource for collectors.
Thanks

Is there a similar "go to" reference for the Naawwwthen states?

Its from a book, "American Military Equipage" covering State militias up till 1865. I need a copy of the book come to think of it.

As far as an online reference for the North, I don't know it.

 

[USS ALASKA]

All that being said there was some instances of officers, or soon-to-be ones buying surplus weapons for they're units, mostly up in the Midwest and then getting trying to get reimbursed for it.

Which is my question, sir. Who, commercially, had this many weapons in inventory? Presumably, state held weapons were issued, not sold, to newly stood-up units.

Thanks again for the help!
USS ALASKA

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Which is my question, sir. Who, commercially, had this many weapons in inventory? Presumably, state held weapons were issued, not sold, to newly stood-up units.

Thanks again for the help!
USS ALASKA

I have no idea, but if I were to guess I'd say they would be out of New York City, (largest market for weapons back then in the Americas), and the retailer I'd bet on would be Schuyler, Hartly, & Graham. They were the biggest at the time.

All that being said, surplus guns weren't a big thing back then. Most military weapons were used up in service and never sold surplus, and it was the war that really changed that. Bigger changes making surplus guns widely available didn't happen till Bannerman came along. Retailers having a large stock of surplus guns is post-war thing.

But in the lead up to the war, surplus weapons were bought up by investors and so on in anticipation of the war. The before mentioned Fremont affair, J.P. Chase and others bought I forget how many used up almost worthless carbines from the government, more investors coming on board as Chase didn't have the money for the guns, sold at $.50 cents apiece, and when the war started, they were sold back at somewhere around $30.00 to $50.00 apiece back while the government still had the guns in their possession.

 

[Package4]

Is there a similar "go to" reference for the Naawwwthen states?

Yes, the same book has all of the states that participated in the late unpleasantness and what was to be in the arsenal and issues to that state. There actually was a surprising abundance of weapons in most states, but many were of questionable condition and age.

 

[ConfederateCanuck]

Yes, the same book has all of the states that participated in the late unpleasantness and what was to be in the arsenal and issues to that state. There actually was a surprising abundance of weapons in most states, but many were of questionable condition and age.

When I clicked on that link I only saw Southern states...what am I doing wrong?

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

When I clicked on that link I only saw Southern states...what am I doing wrong?

The link doesn't show the whole book...

For that you need to find a copy.

 

[major bill]

Is there a similar "go to" reference for the Naawwwthen states?

Yes, Frederick P. Todd's classic American Military Equipage 1851-1872 covered ever state, North and South, as well as the territories. Todd also had volumes that covered the US military and the Confederate military. Although it was published years ago American Military Equipage 1851-1872 is still an important reference. I use American Military Equipage 1851-1872 as a good starting point and then check for books that may contain material from additional research conducted after American Military Equipage 1851-1872 was published.

 

[Package4]

When I clicked on that link I only saw Southern states...what am I doing wrong?

No, the book has all of the states, those are just PDFs that someone scanned.