Enfield Questions

[redbob]

I know that this has probably been covered a hundred times, but I have a few questions concerning Enfield Rifles in the Civil War and they are:
Approximately how many Enfield Rifles of all types were imported and used by both sides during the war?
How many Union and how many Confederate?
Was it true that while the guns manufactured in Enfield/London featured interchangeable parts, the ones made in Birmingham did not?
Is there a definitive work covering Enfield weapons?

 

[Old Soldier]

Interchangeable parts. The only completely interchangeable parts were made by Enfield (RSAF) from 1858 onwards and the London Armoury Company (L.A.C) from 1860 onwards. The Birmingham Small Arms Trade (later Birmingham Small Arms Co) began to from about 1863 onwards. All of the rest were constructed to standard gunsmithing practice - sub-contraction to dedicated component gunsmiths and fitted in a central location by hand. They were 'to pattern' but accuracy was debatable. In many cases even the screw threads are different! London was generally better than Birmingham.

900,000 Enfields were estimated to be exported to America.

400,000 were exported to the South, but only 300,000 Enfields were recorded as being used by Confederate Forces. Of thosejust 30,000 were actually numbered (Second contract, three batches of 10,000 per batch) and perhaps another 20,000 for State use (Georgia, etc) and were marked (butt-stamped) as such. L.A.C provided some 70,000 as well as Tranter pistols. Carbines and 'short' (two-band) rifles were also supplied. These are ones KNOWN to be used, but the difference is probably explained as many did not reach their destination due to the USN blockade and due to lack of existing accounting records.

This leaves some 500,000 for the Federal troops.

ALL OF THESE WERE CIVILIAN CONTRACT. Enfield supplied none, in accordance with neutrality regulation.

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

The best books on Enfields in the American Civil War are "European Arms in the Civil War" by Schwalm and Hofmann and "The English Connection" by Pritchard and Huey. If you want to specifically know about Confederate Enfields you want the latter book.

The isn't, at present, a single book that specifically covers in great detail the history and production of the Pattern 1853 and its usage in England and elsewhere.
"British Military Longarms 1815-1865" by Bailey covers them pretty well. There is another book that is due out perhaps later this year that will be of interest, "Knowing the Enfield: Pattern 1853 to Pattern 1865" by Huggett. Volume 1 of this series is out and covers accoutrements and appendages.

As Old Soldier has said the only interchangeable Enfields that were purchased for use over here were those made by the LAC. The balance were produced by London and Birmingham based private contractors and are handmade. A comparative handful of ex-British military guns were brought in. These are mostly P1853 type IIs, with a single type I known to exist at present. These legit ex-British guns do not have the sold out of service markings commonly seen on ex-military guns, and will be found with Confederate viewers marks. To my knowledge they will be marked with an IC circle on the stock flat and a SHC arrow stamp on front of the buttplate tang, or are part of the 2nd SHC company contract and are inventory numbered and JS anchor marked. They are EXCEEDINGLY rare.
Other Belgian, French, and German copies were also imported from continental Europe, as well as the Spanish M1857, which is Enfield-esq enough it might be worth a mention.

 

[Old Soldier]

What isn't generally known is that certain Southern states had already procured contracts to supply Enfield P53s before or at the same time as Caleb Huse' official CSA contracts were completed around June 1861, Georgia, North and South Carolina were the principal ones. These were marked by letters stamped into the butt or on the breech (NC) before they left Britain. They all arrived at the same time in batches delivered by Confederate blockade runners. Ordnance generally sent arms to where they were needed regardless. This caused Georgia , in particular, to complain that it's rifles were being issued to other states by Ordnance. As a consequence, the Ordnance 'donated' a number of the serialled rifles to Georgia where they were stamped with a 'G' on the butt.

OrtnerGraphics.com — Enfield Rifles roll in the War Between the States British Arms

The Enfield Rifle's History and use in the American Civil War by Union and Confederate forces

www.ortnergraphics.com

Rare Find of Boxed Enfield Rifles

Rare crate of Civil War rifles yields picture of daring Civil War blockade runners The carefully constructed box of British-made rifles was intended for the hands of Confederate soldiers.

scscv.com

Note: Although Caleb Huse got an 'exclusive' contract for P53s with LAC, production was delayed until mid-1862, while they completed a running contracts, especially with Enfield RSAF and Massachusetts. This contract also included Kerr revolvers (a side-hammer, single-action, solid frame, 5-shot revolver) of which 7,000 were produced. LAC also managed to slip in a few thousand P53s to Union contracts, particularly to the State of Massachusetts before exclusively supplying the CSA.

 

[bayonet]

So y

Interchangeable parts. The only completely interchangeable parts were made by Enfield (RSAF) from 1858 onwards and the London Armoury Company (L.A.C) from 1860 onwards. The Birmingham Small Arms Trade (later Birmingham Small Arms Co) began to from about 1863 onwards. All of the rest were constructed to standard gunsmithing practice - sub-contraction to dedicated component gunsmiths and fitted in a central location by hand. They were 'to pattern' but accuracy was debatable. In many cases even the screw threads are different! London was generally better than Birmingham.

900,000 Enfields were estimated to be exported to America.

400,000 were exported to the South, but only 300,000 Enfields were recorded as being used by Confederate Forces. Of thosejust 30,000 were actually numbered (Second contract, three batches of 10,000 per batch) and perhaps another 20,000 for State use (Georgia, etc) and were marked (butt-stamped) as such. L.A.C provided some 70,000 as well as Tranter pistols. Carbines and 'short' (two-band) rifles were also supplied. These are ones KNOWN to be used, but the difference is probably explained as many did not reach their destination due to the USN blockade and due to lack of existing accounting records.

This leaves some 500,000 for the Federal troops.

ALL OF THESE WERE CIVILIAN CONTRACT. Enfield supplied none, in accordance with neutrality regulation.

So your saying only 30,000 were serial numbered on the buttplate out of 300,000 that went to the CSA, correct or am I reading that wrong? I have a EP BOND with no buttplate serial # but has the IO and TS in a circle on the stock opposite the lock plus SHC on the buttstock with B on the tang.

 

[Old Soldier]

So y

So your saying only 30,000 were serial numbered on the buttplate out of 300,000 that went to the CSA, correct or am I reading that wrong? I have a EP BOND with no buttplate serial # but has the IO and TS in a circle on the stock opposite the lock plus SHC on the buttstock with B on the tang.

Yes. No Enfield P53s were ever serialled during manufacture - even the ones from Enfield. The 'serialled' ones had a number engraved on the tang of the butt plate IN BRITAIN by those organising the export of that contract. It was more an 'item number' than a 'serial number - to track the rifles IOW pure accounting. Only that second contract of 30,000 (3 x 10,000) were so numbered. This was in addition to the acceptance marks you have.

Second Contract, Batch1 (no letter)

Second Contract, Batch2 ('A' added)

Second Contract, Batch3 ('B' added)

Many will have had numbers added in various places AFTER being issued, such as unit identifiers and company numbers.
British military practice was to put these across the tang, reading from the butt.

 

[Jon Huggett]

I think part of your question can be answered in Peter Smithurst's recent Doctoral paper:

Smithurst, Peter G. (2020) The Development, Technology and Application of Mechanised Manufacture to the Enfield Pattern 1853 Rifle and the Achievement of Interchangeability. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield.
https://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/35383/

Best Jon (Huggett)