First time for me to view this thread. Enjoyed looking at these beautiful revolvers today. Doing so reminded me of the following. I worked for a Vicksburg paving contractor in the summers after high school and between Spring and Fall semesters at Ole Miss. One hot mirning we were trying to stabilize a large soft spot under the new pavement where the surface seemed about to collapse, like a Florida sinkhole. We tore away the new pavement and a goodly margin and the job superintendent called in our boss to consult on what to do next. The solution was to fill the hole with all the dirt we could get in, soil cementing as we went, compact it with a steel wheel roller and repave the wound. To get the dirt, we used a very large end loader to go to the back edge of the project where the operator began stripping dirt off the face of a loess cut bank. Within minutes he nicked a pit with metal sticking out, kept digging, and found a large hole in the ground had been used either to discard irreparable weapons or to secret eeapons rather than “stack arms” as Grant’s memoirs stated Pemberton had reluctantly agree after their meeting on the 3d. What we fieldhands pulled out of the bucket of the end loader filled to the brim the bed of our forman’s company pickup.
The boss was an avid collector of antique weapons so I suppose the forman took them to our boss. I have no idea what these longarms were or which side used them but I do remember that many, possibly all were caked with what looked like an inch or so of white parafin. Does anyone know if Enfields or other weapons sold to CS were protected for shipment here by waxen substances, a possible precursor to cosmolene? The dig was right behind what was once Lamar T. Loe Motor Company, a GM dealership that opened up ca. 1966-67. This event happened in the summer of 1966 or 1967. How I wish this subject had interested me more at the time. Can’t go back now. Live and learn.