Repeaters

the only men ive ever heard of using the Henry rifle was one of Sherman's brigades, and even if that it was probably a company of men. But sooner there after they got them they were throwing them away and picking back up the single shot muskets since there was no abundant amount of ammo and on top of that the Henry wasn't even military issued it was a experiment to see how well if performed in the field.

Would love to know where you heard that.... cause there were whole regiments armed with em... 64th (who were the skirmishers for Mower when he advanced and causes Johnston to high tail it or be captured at Bentonville) and 66th Illinois (who used them to great affect to retake Degrass' Battery at Atlanta) 7th Illinois (fired over 31,000 rounds and beat off the attack on Allatoona), 2nd D.C. Cavalry, 10th Kentucky Cavalry, just to name a few...

Enjoy: http://www.rarewinchesters.com/articles/art_hen_02.shtml
 
Would love to know where you heard that.... cause there were whole regiments armed with em... 64th (who were the skirmishers for Mower when he advanced and causes Johnston to high tail it or be captured at Bentonville) and 66th Illinois (who used them to great affect to retake Degrass' Battery at Atlanta) 7th Illinois (fired over 31,000 rounds and beat off the attack on Allatoona), 2nd D.C. Cavalry, 10th Kentucky Cavalry, just to name a few...

Enjoy: http://www.rarewinchesters.com/articles/art_hen_02.shtml
not sure exactly where but was told that there were only a few that had them but i have read letters of union privates throwing the rifle down due to not having the ammo to fire the thing
 
Im sorry, but you were told terribly terribly bad information.. while not as plentiful as Spencers, they were certainly more numerous than your source would say... one of the units I do, is Co A, 64th Illinois... when I am at home, I will post a pic of the Hamm Henry... attributed to a member of Co F, and so engraved. I really recommend you read the article attached.

That said, I would be very interested to know the source of the letters describing throwing away the Henrys.... I know that would be very loath to toss away a weapon that I had paid upwards of $50 in my own money for (the usual manner in which the units listed acquired the weapons. The only federally issued Henrys were to the the aforementioned DC cavalry.)
 
the only men ive ever heard of using the Henry rifle was one of Sherman's brigades, and even if that it was probably a company of men. But sooner there after they got them they were throwing them away and picking back up the single shot muskets since there was no abundant amount of ammo and on top of that the Henry wasn't even military issued it was a experiment to see how well if performed in the field.
Ummmm, no. See the 7th IL VI. They gave good service w/ their Henry's at Atlanta & Allatoona Pass in particular add the 64th IL & other units to the mix... something like 10k Henry Rifles were used by US troops. Republican Blues gave you good info.
 
not sure exactly where but was told that there were only a few that had them but i have read letters of union privates throwing the rifle down due to not having the ammo to fire the thing

I am always looking forward to new information about Henry rifles. I would love to see the letters or know where I can read the source where Union privates threw down their Henry rifles. I can see if a Confederate private had a Henry rifle and ran out of ammunition he might throw it away. The Union army had plenty of ammunition for resupply. For Sherman's army resupply was always close by since for every regiment armed with Henry rifles a wagon load of ammunition was held in reserve for them; that would be thousands of rounds for each regiment.

I have done a lot of research myself and would love to add another source that seems to contradict what I have found. Research is always good and new stuff turns up all the time. The new information about Wilder's Brigade being armed with over 50 Henry rifles in addition to their famed Spencer Rifles is awesome stuff. Opinions and hearsay information is great but better to be backed up by good research. Thank you for any research you can add to the pool of information.

Henry rifles used in the Civil War: http://44henryrifle.webs.com/civilwarusage.htm
 
Here is a link to some interesting Henry rifles for sale http://www.merzantique.com/catalog/sell/henry-rifles
$24,500 to $155,000. I have seen some Henry rifles go for well over the 100,000 mark. When one is in very good condition and can be traced to a particular owner you can add more dollars to the price. Less Quick's book on the Henry rifle is the best book out there for Henry rifle information. I was fortunate to handle a French Henry as well as two of the Japanese marked Henry rifles that are pictured in his book.
 
Henry%20Box%205.jpg
 
I'd be a lot more impressed if they were originals...

Education and reseach are a great pair and many times go hand in hand. The gentleman the built the Henry shipping box was not trying to impress anyone with the project but only trying to educate and improve upon an impression that so many reenactors do not understand. It would have been great to have a million dollars worth of Henry rifles in the box but instead there is only nine thousand dollars worth of Henry rifles. As the old saying goes; "A picture is worth a thousand words" but only to those willing to see the detail and craftsmanship.
 
There isn't a good excuse for the Union failure to more promptly use both (1) breech loading single-shot carbines, and (2) repeating rifles and carbines. It was probably the biggest blunder on the Union side during the entire War.

MIT Engineer and Pulitzer Prize winning historian Robert Bruce concludes the Federals would have won the War by Gettysburg at the latest if they had adopted single shot carbines and repeaters at a realistic pace.*

==================

*Bruce, Robert V. *Lincoln and the Tools of War*, (Urbana and Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 1987)

I think there actually is a very good excuse for both of those. Experience. The ordnance department had previous experience with breech loaders, and it was mostly bad. The development of the self-contained cartridge turned a failure into a success, but there is no reason why anyone in the ordnance department should have been able to predict this. The beginning of the war is no time to rearm with an unproven weapon. I think the ordnance department did an admirable job of issuing the Spencer as widely as possible once it had been proven in combat. They even had the Burnside factory convert over to Spencer production. Look at all the problems they had with contractors producing the much simpler Model 1861 rifle-musket; to say that they should have been producing repeating rifles at a faster pace is unrealistic in my opinion.
 
I think there actually is a very good excuse for both of those. Experience. The ordnance department had previous experience with breech loaders, and it was mostly bad. The development of the self-contained cartridge turned a failure into a success, but there is no reason why anyone in the ordnance department should have been able to predict this. The beginning of the war is no time to rearm with an unproven weapon. I think the ordnance department did an admirable job of issuing the Spencer as widely as possible once it had been proven in combat. They even had the Burnside factory convert over to Spencer production. Look at all the problems they had with contractors producing the much simpler Model 1861 rifle-musket; to say that they should have been producing repeating rifles at a faster pace is unrealistic in my opinion.
It's the "What if" vs what was.
 
the only men ive ever heard of using the Henry rifle was one of Sherman's brigades, and even if that it was probably a company of men. But sooner there after they got them they were throwing them away and picking back up the single shot muskets since there was no abundant amount of ammo and on top of that the Henry wasn't even military issued it was a experiment to see how well if performed in the field.

I too would love to know your source, since I have so many other documented sources that would contradict this thought process and practice. If my Henry ran out of ammo, that I paid about $50 for, I would have slung it and grabbed a muzzle loader to stay in the fight. But there is no way that I would I have dumped my Henry on the field.
 
At the Stones River Battlefield NP, this is the first year we are firing the Spencer rifle to show the history of the rifle issued to Wilder at Murfreesboro.

When are you guys doing this impression at the Stones River NP?

We are forming a large company or small battalion for the 150th Chickamauga event in September. We are portraying the 17th Indiana Mounted Infantry (dismounted) part of Wilder's Brigade. Our troops will be armed with both Spencer and Henry rifles. If interested check out this link below.

http://westernsharpshooters.webs.com/ourimpressions.htm

I have researched and written an article about the 17th Indiana and their Henry rifles. I sent it out to several civil war magazines, but I have not been able to get any responses of interest from any of them. All of it is well documented and the foundation is from an unpublished diary from a member of the 17th Indiana.

It is great information and I may just go ahead and just list it on the web myself eventually.
 
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