ConfederateCanuck
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2018
- Location
- Canad-istan
Following up on a prior thread that I had started ( https://civilwartalk.com/threads/1841-mississippi-leman-modification.177955/#post-2315727 ), I have been doing some Internet searches on the longarms used by Pennsylvania infantry regiments. My interest arose after purchasing a Leman Modified M-1841 Mississippi Rifle, a modification that was made to the M-1841 Mississippi's that belonged to Pennsylvania ( 2,352 of these guns had been re-bored to .58 cal, and modified to accept a socket bayonet). I am still working on this search, but I thought I would share some interesting results. Below is a list of PA regiments for which I found information regarding the longarms they used:
I am still working my way through the complete list of PA regiments....I'll update you later when I complete this search.
Mind you, the source of my information is a Wikipedia page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pennsylvania_Civil_War_units ) that lists (and provides links) to all the PA regiments from the Civil War. I have not verified this information independently by reading any primary reference materials (nor have I followed up on any of the references noted in the Wikipedia pages), but I thought I'd post the information here and see if anyone can confirm or deny the accuracy of the information.
NOTE: The information above is only as specific as what was provided by the Wikipedia page....therefore, in some cases the terms "Springfields" or "Austrian muskets" are used but the specific model was not noted.
- 25th PA Infantry Regt: issued "new Springfield rifles" on April 17, 1861
- 47th PA Infantry Regt: comprised of 911 men in August, 1861; armed with 1841 Mississippi rifles (Editorial comment: this theoretically would account for 39% of the Leman-modified Mississippi's...would Pennsylvania have any other Mississippi's that were not modified?...it wouldn't seem to make sense to not have them all modified)
- 48th PA Infantry Regt (a.k.a Schuylkill Regt): initially smoothbore muskets converted from flintlock; replaced by Enfields in May, 1862
- 50th PA Infantry Regt: initially armed with M-1816 muskets converted from flintlock; within a few months were re-armed with .54 cal Lorenz; in 1863, forced to replace with 1861 Springfields (the soldiers liked their Lorenz muskets which also were a bit lighter than the Springfield so they tried to resist the swap)
- 52nd PA Infantry Regt: re-armed with Springfields in December, 1863; note that earlier in the war on May 20, 1862 during the Penninsula Campaign, 100 men (Company E) were designated as Sharpshooters (editorial comment: so it makes you wonder what weapons these 100 men carried)
- 90th PA Infantry Regt: initially armed with .69 cal muskets converted from flintlock; carried these until the Siege of Petersburg when they received Springfields
- 96th PA Infantry Regt: Austrian muskets later replaced by Enfields while at Malvern Hill, July 15, 1862
- 140th PA Infantry Regt: initially armed with unwieldy Vincennes muskets; received "Springfield Rifled Muskets" on January 18, 1863
- 9th PA Reserve Regt (a.k.a. 38th PA Voluntary Infantry): initially armed with 1842 Smoothbores, but quickly exchanged for 1861 Springfields (though many other PA Regts carried the 1842s for most/all of their service)
- 11th PA Reserve Regt (a.k.a. 40th PA Voluntary Infantry): carried 1842 Smoothbores until they mustered out June 13, 1864
- 13th PA Reserve Regt (a.k.a. 42nd PA Voluntary Infantry,1st PA Rifles, Kane's Rifles, The Bucktails): 1859 Sharps Rifles (not the carbines)
I am still working my way through the complete list of PA regiments....I'll update you later when I complete this search.
Mind you, the source of my information is a Wikipedia page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pennsylvania_Civil_War_units ) that lists (and provides links) to all the PA regiments from the Civil War. I have not verified this information independently by reading any primary reference materials (nor have I followed up on any of the references noted in the Wikipedia pages), but I thought I'd post the information here and see if anyone can confirm or deny the accuracy of the information.
NOTE: The information above is only as specific as what was provided by the Wikipedia page....therefore, in some cases the terms "Springfields" or "Austrian muskets" are used but the specific model was not noted.