Tell me more! What types of muskets/rifles was Spain using in 1861?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
Aug 25, 2012
In another tread I questioned about the possibility of Spain supporting the Confedercy. It occurred to me that I did not know how well equipped the Spanish army was in 1861. This brought me to wonder what kinds of long arms were in Spanish service in 1861. I do not recall either the Union or Confedercy purchasing Spanish arms. Spain must have had some older long arms they could have unloaded on either the North or South.
 
In another tread I questioned about the possibility of Spain supporting the Confedercy. It occurred to me that I did not know how well equipped the Spanish army was in 1861. This brought me to wonder what kinds of long arms were in Spanish service in 1861. I do not recall either the Union or Confedercy purchasing Spanish arms. Spain must have had some older long arms they could have unloaded on either the North or South.
Good question. I’ve got nothing, but can only add that Spain itself was devastated by the Napoloenic wars of the time prior to the ACW.
 
Amongst other models, Spain used the M.1857 short rifle.
My example is Birmingham made and was retailed by Glukman, Birmingham.
The Z in a circle stamp is the Spanish acceptance mark.

015ogjfw.jpg


018vojbf.jpg


020fojnb.jpg


021mckth.jpg


028jzjqc.jpg


032l1jug.jpg


0136gk1k.jpg


vord.jpg
 
Nice, but Spain probably was slowly replacing older arms with these. Perhaps Spain was shipping her older arms to some of her areas outside of Europe. Spain must have had second line colonial troops that still used older arms.
 
The Spanish armed forces were in a rather parlous state after the Carlist Civil Wars and so on. Nonetheless, with the Monroe Doctrine in abeyance, there were various imperialist ventures in the Americas.

Spain intervened in an ongoing Dominican political fracas, amid fears of the resumption of episodic wars with neighbor Haïti. This time, in the 1860s, Spain attempted to recolonize the Dominican Republic.
The colonial campaign:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Restoration_War

Spain participated in shaking down México alongside Britain and France. The French dictator, Napoleon III infamously attempted to create a proxy state under the rule of the Hapsburg Maximilian von Hapsburg and his Belgian wife Carlota (King Leopold's sister).

From 1864 through 1866, the Spanish navy fought several naval battles against Chile, Ecuador and Peru called the "Chincha islands war"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chincha_Islands_War

In the case of attacking Peru, the Spanish fleet had a seagoing ironclad warship, Numancia used in the bombardment of Callao. Small wonder that the United States sold Civil War monitors to Peru postwar, and shipped captured ex-Confederate arms to Mexico.

The Spanish army aped and followed French patterns. So the Modelo 1857 was the Spanish equivalent to the Minié rifle. Like armies everywhere, Spanish officers paid very close and keen attention to small arms developments. Spain was one of the very first, if not the first nation to equip officers with Lefaucheux pin-fire revolvers. In Cuba, the "Pearl of the Antilles," officers had often privately purchased Colt .31 caliber revolvers. There was immediate recognition that some of the arms used in the Civil War portended the future of infantry weapons. After the Civil War, the Col. Hiram Berdan system of converting a muzzle-loading rifle to a breech loader was adopted, and as an economy measure, the Modelo 1857 began to be retrofitted to breech-loading, using a metallic cartridge.

The Spanish monarchy was overthrown and a brief First Spanish Republic ensued. Restive subjects in Puerto Rico and Cuba chose this as an opportune time to revolt. In the case of Cuba, there were very powerful and influential associations of Spaniards, who rejected the Spanish Republic, and also reimposed stark colonial control. These organizations, grouped together as the "Voluntarios"--perhaps a bit like the pied noirs in Algeria in the 20th-century, had the means and proximity to gun manufactories in the United States to purchase arms and have them shipped. So lots of Rhode Island Peabody breech-loaders, and eventually Remington rolling blocks were purchased. The Cuban insurrectos and political clubs in the United States also purchased arms, although some of these were impounded as violating the Neutrality laws. Much of the armament was Civil War surplus, with a particular preference for the Sharps carbine and rifle, and also the Spencer repeater. Others were surplus rifle muskets and the like.

Late 19th-century Spain had a system of conscription. Any conscript sent overseas to serve in the "Ejército Ultramar" in the colonies, such as North Africa/ Morocco, Equatorial Guinea, mostly the Philippines archipelago, Cuba, or Puerto Rico, was unlucky indeed. These were typically known as "quintos." During times of colonial rebellion, every "fifth" conscript was shipped abroad.

I'll supply some images of the Spanish panoply in subsequent posts to this thread, if interested. The digitization of military archives is far along in Spain, and there is a lot of material available online. I'll focus just on the Civil War period rather than the post-Civil War-era, when Smith & Wesson revolvers, Merwin & Hulbert revolvers, Remington rifles and so on became predominant.
 
Last edited:
The Spanish armed forces were in a rather parlous state after the Carlist Civil Wars and so on. Nonetheless, with the Monroe Doctrine in abeyance, there were various imperialist ventures in the Americas.

Spain intervened in an ongoing Dominican political fracas, amid fears of the resumption with episodic wars with neighbor Haïti. This time, in the 1860s, Spain attempted to recolonize the Dominican Republic.
The colonial campaign:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Restoration_War

Spain participated in shaking down México alongside Britain and France. The French dictator, Napoleon III infamously attempted to create a proxy state under the rule of the Hapsburg Maximilian von Hapsburg and his Belgian wife Carlota (King Leopold's sister).

From 1864 through 1866, the Spanish navy fought several naval battles against Chile, Ecuador and Peru called the "Chincha islands war"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chincha_Islands_War

In the case of attacking Perine mess this is we are in the mu, the Spanish fleet had a seagoing ironclad warship, used in the bombardment of Callao. Small wonder that the United States sold Civil War monitors to Peru postwar, and shipped captured ex-Confederate arms to Mexico.

The Spanish army aped and followed French patterns. So the Modelo 1857 was the Spanish equivalent to the Minié rifle. Like armies everywhere, Spanish officers paid very close and keen attention to small arms developments. Spain was one of the very first, if not the first nation to equip officers with Lefaucheux pin-fire revolvers. In Cuba, the "Pearl of the Antilles," officers had often privately purchased Colt .31 caliber revolvers. There was immediate recognition that some of the arms used in the Civil War portended the future of infantry weapons. After the Civil War, the Col. Hiram Berdan system of converting a muzzle-loading rifle to a breech loader was adopted, and as an economy measure, the Modelo 1857 began to be retrofitted to breech-loading, using a metallic cartridge.

The Spanish monarchy was overthrown and a brief First Spanish Republic ensued. Restive subjects in Puerto Rico and Cuba chose this as an opportune time to revolt. In the case of Cuba, there were very powerful and influential associations of Spaniards, who rejected the Spanish Republic, and also reimposed stark colonial control. These organizations, grouped together as the "Voluntarios"--perhaps a bit like the pied noirs in Algeria in the 20th-century, had the means and proximity to gun manufactories in the United States to purchase arms and have them shipped. So lots of Rhode Island Peabody breech-loaders, and eventually Remington rolling blocks were purchased. The Cuban insurrectos and political clubs in the United States also purchased arms, although some of these were impounded as violating the Neutrality laws. Much of the armament was Civil War surplus, with a particular preference for the Sharps carbine and rifle, and also the Spencer repeater. Others were surplus rifle muskets and the like.

Late 19th-century Spain had a system of conscription. Any conscript sent overseas to serve in the "Ejército Ultramar" in the colonies, such as North Africa/ Morocco, Equatorial Guinea, mostly the Philippines archipelago, Cuba, or Puerto Rico, was unlucky indeed. These were typically known as "quintos." During times of colonial rebellion, every "fifth" conscript was shipped abroad.

I'll supply some images of the Spanish panoply in subsequent posts to this thread, if interested. The digitization of military archives is far along in Spain, and there is a lot of material available online. I'll focus just on the Civil War period rather than the post-Civil War-era, when Smith & Wesson revolvers, Merwin & Hulbert revolvers, Remington rifles and so on became predominant.
Thank you for providing all this interesting information. I had little to no knowledge on this subject. After all, is it not the purpose of CivilWarTalk to learn new things?
 
Apologies on the nomenclature. One confusing thing is that the Spaniards distinguished a "fusil" or three-bander infantry rifle from a "carabina" that was actually a short-rifle, or two-bander, used by cazadores or skirmishers/light infantry. A true "carbine" for the cavalry was a tercerola. if that was not enough, well, then there were "mosquetones" or musketoons for artillery and so on...

So apparently the Modelo 1859 was the Minie rifle, while the "carabina" was the Modelo 1857. This book is from 1876, but it includes the Civil War-era panoply of Spanish weapons (including the rather bewildering variety of "armas blancas" or swords... Toledo and all that!

Armas blancas y de fuego portatiles 1876

Too large to attach... Perhaps you can download it here from the Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa, Spain:
https://bibliotecavirtual.defensa.g..._navegacion.do?id=3491&forma=ficha&posicion=1
 
Last edited:
Further apologies! So it is a rather crazy list... Bear in mind that during the Napoleonic Wars, specifically the "Peninsular War," Spain was largely occupied by French troops, so that English imports were necessary to arm and equip the armed forces. Then too, there were the Liberal vs. Conservative civil wars, and the Carlist Wars, which further confused the mixture of arms. So here is a list of official names for arms used by Spain at the time of the U.S. Civil War. Unfortunately, the list does not appear exhaustive, even if it is exhausting?!

Modelo 1846 percussion musket
Modelo 1851 and Modelo 1854 rifled percussion musket
Modelo 1846 percussion musket altered for 1857 cartridge
Modelo 1846 percussion musket "transformed" to Modelo 1857 (unclear why one is "modified/altered" and the other "transformed?")
English India-pattern "transformed" to Spanish Modelo 1849
English India-pattern transformed to Spanish Modelo 1857
Belgian rifled percussion "carbines" based on French model 1840, and also French model 1846
Modelo 1857
Modelo 1859

The adoption of percussion arose after Real Orden 9 Feb. 1846, and the lock had a metal guard that closed over the cone/nipple ("chiminea" or "chimney" in Spanish.

Like in the United States, Spanish ordnance officials set about altering Model 1836 flintlock muskets to percussion. Also very many British-provided Brown Bess muskets. Perhaps also some "An IX" French muskets too? I'm not sure. There is very little to differentiate the 1851 from the 1846, except some minor details like replacement of the under-the-barrel-bayonet-lug with simply using the foresight for the purpose. Rifling of smooth-bore muskets took place in anticipation of campaigns in Morocco. A Modelo 1854 rifle musket was declared by regulations in the Real Orden 30 Nov 1854. This was a transitional model previous to the Modelo 1857 Minie rifle's adoption.

Finally, with the 1857's adoption, the caliber shrank from 19.3mm to 15mm.
The Model 1857 two-band rifles were first used in the African campaigns of 1859, including the battles of Castillejos, Tetuan and Wadi-Ras, although most troops still carried the 1846.

Here are some line drawings of artillery:
Coleccion de laminas del material de la Art. Esp. 1872

https://bibliotecavirtual.defensa.g...520&forma=ficha&tipoResultados=BIB&posicion=1
 
Last edited:
The modern-day Cuban flag--bearing all sorts of Masonic symbolism--was first unfurled at Cardenas by the Narciso López filibusters. It had been designed in 1849 by Miguel Teuribe Tolón. When the Cuban "Guerra Grande" or Ten Years' War began in 1868, the lawyer Carlos Manuel de Cespedes brought forth a banner that resembles that of Chile, but with the red and blue fields reversed. Finally, in 1869, the older flag of 1849-1850 was adopted. This historic irony of the origins of the Cuban flag among filibusters from the United States (supported by Mississippi governor Quitman and others) was once pointed out to the late Cuban dictator and nationalist, Fidel Castro. He acknowledged the flags origins, but pointed out that they didn't really matter since the flag had been used throughout the late 19th century and into the 20th (and now the 21st). Puerto Rico's current flag arose in the 1890s as part and parcel of the insurrecto movement against Spain. The idea of reversing the the blue bands and the red triangle, a bit like the old Cespedes flag, perhaps, coincided with some inchoate ideas that there'd be a future pan-Hispanic Antillean confederation of Cuba, the Dominican Republic/ Quisqueya, and Borinquen/ Puerto Rico. Apologies for the "drift" into vexillology...
 
The CSA got 2 major shipments of Spanish Modelo 57s. The first {1861} ended up in Kentucky and known examples are under serial number 500, so stamped on the butt stock.

The second shipment (1863-64} were serial numbered in the 3000 to 4000 range and most ended up in Texas.

The rifles {an adaptation of the English P56} are noted by; a very funky rear sight, no bayonet lug, and a distinctive brass head on the ram rod {to save the rifling, 7 L&G}. They are well fitted and finished.

Below is an early example S/N 111 which came from a Kentucky family, has documented Confederate provenance, and was 1 of the first group of 500. All know from both shipments are iron mounted and in the same configuration.

20210824_110617_resized (2).jpg

Most likely a Toledo inspection mark.
20210824_110739_resized (2).jpg

The s/n 111 is on major parts;
20210824_110803_resized (2).jpg

The strapped on rear sight; adjustable peep is a nice addition.
20210824_110826_resized (2).jpg


Brass tipped rod a very good idea}
20210824_110859_resized (2).jpg
 
During the expeditions of American fillibusters under General Narcisso Lopez, 1850-51, many Americans engaged in skirmishes with Spanish troops in Cuba.

Gen. Lopez and some of his American troops...

View attachment 411873

Battle of Cardenas, 1850, the Spanish troops attacking...
View attachment 411869

From "Gan-Eden, or Pictures of Cuba" Boston, 1854:

View attachment 411872

I like the uniforms in the one image. I see no buttons so die their jackets have hidden buttons?
 
The CSA got 2 major shipments of Spanish Modelo 57s. The first {1861} ended up in Kentucky and known examples are under serial number 500, so stamped on the butt stock.

The second shipment (1863-64} were serial numbered in the 3000 to 4000 range and most ended up in Texas.

The rifles {an adaptation of the English P56} are noted by; a very funky rear sight, no bayonet lug, and a distinctive brass head on the ram rod {to save the rifling, 7 L&G}. They are well fitted and finished.

Below is an early example S/N 111 which came from a Kentucky family, has documented Confederate provenance, and was 1 of the first group of 500. All know from both shipments are iron mounted and in the same configuration.

View attachment 411899
Most likely a Toledo inspection mark.
View attachment 411900
The s/n 111 is on major parts;
View attachment 411901
The strapped on rear sight; adjustable peep is a nice addition.
View attachment 411902

Brass tipped rod a very good idea}
View attachment 411903
This m.1857 is Spanish made.
The Spanish made m.1857 had the rear sight mounted with a band and the copper head on the rammer.

The British made m.1857 (my rifle at the start of this page) had a soldered rear sight and no copper head on the rammer.

Nice rifle by the way.
 
The barrel was made by Beasley brothers.

Both, W.Scott and Beasley, produced parts for British military rifles, while Glukman was only a retailer.
Unfortunately, apart from the rifles stamped with his name, I have not been able to get more information about this person / company.

SDC11768.JPG


023fqkv3.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top