Small Arms on Jeff Davis' Funeral carriage

vmicraig

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Mar 12, 2018
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Visited Beauvoir today (separate post with pics) and was Jefferson Davis' funeral carriage, or "catafalque", which was used in his funeral in New Orleans in 1889. It's a Louisiana State Militia caisson pulled by 6 horses and has been restored, including replacement of missing parts with retro items.

I was curious about the rifles used as decorative cross supports. Interesting to say the least. Any comments?

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Are they original or replacement parts of the carriage? I agree they seem to be frankenmuskets based on Pussian models -noted how the hammer doesn't align with nipple. If original, was Bannermann active in 1889? If replacements, when was restoration done? If sometime in the first half of the 20th century, Bannermann would be a likely candidate. Not well preserved - really heavy rust.
 
Are they original or replacement parts of the carriage? I agree they seem to be frankenmuskets based on Pussian models -noted how the hammer doesn't align with nipple. If original, was Bannermann active in 1889? If replacements, when was restoration done? If sometime in the first half of the 20th century, Bannermann would be a likely candidate. Not well preserved - really heavy rust.
Although Bannerman's was in operation with surplus Civil War arms after the war, his real empire didn't start steamrolling until the end of the Spanish American War around 1898, where he purchased the bulk of the armaments that made him rich. The Prussian models could very well have come from Bannerman's, although most of what is typically considered "Bannerman's items" were items from the Spanish American war, Crimean war, and discharged surplus from post Civil War militaries. My guess is that when the carriage was built, Bannerman's was indeed a likely source, but if rebuilt/restored and needing arms for the restoration, the Prussian models could very well have come from a GAR chapter or even a private source. The info provided at the museum did not state anything about the dates of the restoration and whether it occurred in 1910 or a hundred years later, so without further info, we'd simply be guessing.
 
Visited Beauvoir today (separate post with pics) and was Jefferson Davis' funeral carriage, or "catafalque", which was used in his funeral in New Orleans in 1889. It's a Louisiana State Militia caisson pulled by 6 horses and has been restored, including replacement of missing parts with retro items.

I was curious about the rifles used as decorative cross supports. Interesting to say the least. Any comments?

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Mississippi Rifles since he commanded them in the Mexican War maybe?
 
As mentioned, Bannermans started after the war. I'd vote for him as a likely source.

After Appomattox huge stocks of surplus arms came onto the federal auction block. Frank Bannerman bought up unwanted weapons for their resale value as junk. Before long the young entrepreneur found that the old guns, bullets, swords, and cannonballs he was selling as scrap would command far higher prices in their original form and for their original purposes. By the age of twenty Frank Bannerman, junk dealer, had become Francis Bannerman, secondhand munitions merchant.

The Great Gun Merchant. Smithsonian Magazine​

August 1974 Volume 25 Issue 5
https://webcache.googleusercontent....great-gun-merchant+&cd=17&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
 
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