Just go up to the search at the top right and type in Bannerman's and you will find a great bunch of info.I did some searching in this forum and didn't find the answer, so apologies if this has already been asked and I missed it. What happened to all those rifles the Union captured? Did they sell them at some point after the war? To who?
Some were probably traded to the Indians. Some were possibly sold at auction for pennies on the dollar and bought by gunsmiths. From there cut down and barrels bored out smoothbore and made into cheap shotguns for farmers. Just speculating but this is what happened to US guns. War surplus Henry, Sharps and Spencers went to trading posts and ended their days at the Little Big Horn all the way up to Wounded Knee. When you see the inventory of guns surrendered by the Sioux, Cheyene, Pawnee etc you see a LOT of war surplus stuff. Even flintlock trade muskets were part of it in the 1870'sI did some searching in this forum and didn't find the answer, so apologies if this has already been asked and I missed it. What happened to all those rifles the Union captured? Did they sell them at some point after the war? To who?
That's a wives tale.Sherman corduroyed the road with 10,000 longarms in South Carolina if I recall correctly
Indeed! I have a 61 Springfield which suffered that very fate.Some were possibly sold at auction for pennies on the dollar and bought by gunsmiths. From there cut down and barrels bored out smoothbore and made into cheap shotguns for farmers. Just speculating but this is what happened to US guns
Seems like I read somewhere that Irish "patriots" in the Buffalo Ny area got their hands on a batch of Springfields after the war and had them coverted to breech loaders for use in the Fenian rebellion in Canada. To say their antics were a farce would be understatement.A number went to France in 1870
I looked at my Bannerman reprint and they altered some Sprinfields to FLINTLOCK for the African trade. I'd love to see one of those!! Robert Riley did a b&w drawing of what it might have looked like. He speculated that parts from the 1817 common rifle could have been used, being smaller than musket sized locks.A number went to France in 1870 along with anything else the French would buy. Numbers hit the surplus market as well as the Africa trade.
FWIW The 1863 Remington rifles a.k.a "Zouave" were never issued but were kept in storage and sold after the war. Same with Rogers& Spencer revolvers. Never issued but bought by Bannerman for 25 cents each. He made some $13,000 in profit on that one. And remember the rifle picked up from Gettysburg that had 20 some odd rounds stuffed in it ? That tells us that the better quality pieces were picked up, sent to the arsenals and unloaded, repaired and or cleaned for re-issue to volunteer and militia units. I've seen Republic of Texas muskets that were "recycled" by both Union and Confederate forces.I did some searching in this forum and didn't find the answer, so apologies if this has already been asked and I missed it. What happened to all those rifles the Union captured? Did they sell them at some point after the war? To who?
I had one too. Sold it many years ago. It looked like it had quite a few miles on it at the timeIndeed! I have a 61 Springfield which suffered that very fate.