Earlier in this thread there was some speculation as to the reliability of the Spencer rifle and any tendency to jam. While it’s true that the following information is from a Spencer Repeating Firearm sale catalog of the time, I find it interesting.
In June 1861, then Captain J. A. Dahlgren of the United States Navy had the arm tested at the Washington Navy Yard prior to the Navy Department putting in order for rifles. In his account of the testing he says :“The mechanism is compact and strong. The piece was fired five hundred times in succession – partly divided between two mornings. There was but one failure to fire, - supposed to be due to the absence of fulminate. In every other instance the operation was complete. The mechanism was not cleaned, and yet worked throughout as the first. Not the least foulness on the outside, and very little within. The least time of firing seven rounds was ten seconds.”
In August 1861, Captain Alexander B. Dyer, of the Unites States Ordnance Corps, tested the rifle at Fortress Monroe. His report says :“ I fired the Spencer Repeating Rifle some eighty times. The loaded piece was then laid upon the ground and covered with sand, to see what would be the effect of getting sand into the joints. No clogging or other injurious effect appeared to have been produced. The lock and lower parts of the barrel were then covered with salt water and left exposed for twenty-four hours. The Rifle was then loaded and fired without difficulty. It was not cleaned during the firing, and it appeared to work quite as well as the end as at the beginning.”
In a letter to the Spencer Company dated September 10, 1864, the cartridge manufacturers Crittenden and Tibbals say: “We send you, this day, the Rifle as requested, which we have had in constant use, at our works, since April 1862, nearly two and a half years. It has been fired more or less every day, by us and our men, for testing the cartridges, and by visitors who have been curious to try this arm. This Rifle must have been fired at least sixteen thousand times. It has never been out of order or repaired. It has not been cleaned more than six times since we have had it, and it is now in good working order. WE have not taken any particular care of it, allowing almost any one to handle and fire it that wished.”
A letter from the C. C. Leets Metallic Cartridge Manufacturing Company says: “…within the past year I have tested your arm thoroughly, by firing it nearly every day in proving cartridges made for the Government and other parties, also in showing its operations to visitors…I should judge that this carbine has been fired 10,000 times. It has always worked well – never has been repaired – nor cleaned but once in my possession – and today, I consider the arm in as good working order as it was when first received. No particular pains or care has been taken by me to keep it in order – for I have allowed all to test it that desired. Among the many magazine arms which I have seen and tested within the past year, the Spencer carbine, for efficiency and durability for actual service, I consider the best.”
As to how various Union commanders felt about the Spencer in letters written to the Spencer Rifle company:
Brigadier General G. A. Custer says: “Being in command of a Brigade of Cavalry which is armed throughout with the Spencer Carbine and Rifle, I take pleasure in testifying to their superiority over all other weapons. I am firmly of the opinion that fifteen hundred men armed with the Spencer carbine are more than a match for twenty-five hundred men armed with any other firearm – I know this to be true from actual experiment.”
Joseph R. Hawley, Col. 7th Reg’t Conn. Vol. and Brigade commander: “My regiment has now used the Spencer carbine…in the battles of Olustee, Fla., and Chester Hill and Drury Bluff, besides numerous picket combats and skirmishes. I am more firmly convinced than ever of the vast superiority of breech-loaders. For army purposes they are best; in many cases a magazine breech-loader doubles and I might say quadruples the efficiency of a soldier…three times in the very heavy fog on the morning of May 16th at Drury’s Bluff the enemy assaulted the position on the right…each time the rebels came very near, twice at least they must have been within 40 yards before our side opened fire. In neither case did our fire last more than three minutes, and when it ceased in obedience to the bugle signal, in neither case was there a rebel to be seen or one firing at us. The terrible toll that the carbines beat had utterly routed them…”
Lt. Gen U. S. Grant: “In reply to your letter requesting my opinion in regards to the merits of the Spencer Repeating arms, I have to say that it is the prevailing opinion amongst officers whose commands have been furnished with these weapons, that they are the best breech-loading arms now in the hands of troops, bot as regards simplicity and rapidity in firing, and superiority of manufacture.”
Maj. General Joseph Hooker: “I had a few of the Spencer Rifles in my corps during the campaign which resulted in the fall of Atlanta, and feel no hesitation in pronouncing them to the most effective arms now in use…a regiment armed with it is fully equal to a brigade armed with the muzzle-loading rifle…”
Maj. General O. O. Howard: “I have found the Spencer Rifle of great value in the hands of cavalry or infantry. I fact I prefer it to any other “repeating rifle”. In forcing the passage of a bridge across Flint River, a small body of men armed with these rifles opened so hot a fire upon the rifle pits beyond that a return fire was impossible, so that the bridge and rifle pits were quickly carried by assault. I noticed a regiment armed with the same rifles in the battle of the 28th of July. The enemy had attempted to carry a hill and was holding with unusual pertinacity, so much so as to give me considerable uneasiness, when this regiment was moved up and opened its rapid fire, and very soon the enemy’s fire ceased…”
Maj. General George Crook; “…I had a brigade under my command for several months armed with your repeating rifles. I regard it by far the best arm I have ever seen, either in or out of the service. I have made repeated applications to have troops under my command armed with it since, but have been unable to obtain them from the government. I feel satisfied that if our whole army was armed with them, this war would soon be ended.”