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Title:	RIFLE/MUSKET -  BRITISH RIFLE-MUSKET MODEL 1853 (P53) ENFIELD .577
Maker/Manufacturer:	ENFIELD
Date of Manufacture:	1862
Eminent Figure:	WEAKLEY, R.H.
Catalog Number:	SPAR 2444
Measurements:	OL:139.7CM 55" BL: 99CM 39"

Object Description:

BRITISH RIFLE-MUSKET MODEL 1853 (P53) ENFIELD .577
Manufactured in Birmingham, England - Standard British P53 percussion rifle-musket. Weapon has been struck by a rifle-musket round which is still imbedded in the forward part of the trigger guard. It would appear that another bullet took a chunk out of the left side stock between the lower and middle barrel bands. Hammer missing, barrel tang cracked, rear leaf sight missing, ramrod missing, front band missing.

Markings:
Lock: Crown. 1862/TOWER.
Barrel: CO. H. 26. Proofs.
Stock: R.H. WEAKLEY engraved in.

1909 Catalog #0035 - "Rifle, Civil War Relic. Muzzle Loading Rifled Percussion Rifle. Tower, 1862. Hammer, rear sight, and ramrod missing. On barrel near tang, Co. H. 26. On butt, R.H. Weakley. Tang broken. Brass buttplate, guard and tip. Stock struck by bullet. Bullet imbedded in barrel, in front of finger guard. Returned from the battlefields of the Civil War."

Army # 698 - "Civil War Relic."

Notes: "R.H. Weakley
Side: Confederate
Company: G.
Soldier's Rank In: Private
Soldier's Rank Out: Private
Film Number: M231 roll 45

CONFEDERATE TENNESSEE TROOPS
42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry
42nd Infantry Regiment was formed at Camp Cheatham, Tennessee, in November 1861, with five Tennessee and five Alabama companies. At the reorganization in 1862, the five Alabama companies were transferred to the 6th (Norwood's) Alabama Infantry Battalion which later merged into the 55th Alabama Regiment. Four Tennessee companies from the 1st Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi Regiment and one Florida company then joined the 42nd. The unit was captured in the fight at Fort Donelson and after the exchange became part of Maxey's Brigade in the Department of the Mississippi and East Louisiana. It was stationed at Port Hudson, moved to Jackson and in September, 1863, assigned to Quarles' Brigade, Department of the Gulf. During the spring of 1864 the regiment joined the Army of Tennessee at Dalton with 169 effectives. It went on to participate in the Atlanta Campaign, Hood's Tennessee operations, and the North Carolina Campaign. Very few were included in the surrender on April 26, 1865. The field officers were Colonels Isaac N. Hulme and William A. Quarles; Lieutenant Colonels Levi McCollum, John H. Norwood, and Isaac B. Walton; and Major Josiah R. Hubbard." - Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System

"The Confederacy's use of foreign arms is generally acknowledged. The South, forced by its limited industrial base, began purchasing European weapons almost from the beginning of the war. Although hampered by inadequate financial resources, the Confederacy would ultimately purchase approximately 500,000 small arms. Some researchers hint at an even higher total if individual state and private purchases are taken into consideration. The restriction imposed by an increasingly effective Union blockade and the closing of Southern ports somewhat reduced the number of weapons actually reaching the Southern armies.
These arms were essential to the Confederacy. Confederate purchases of European firearms were over three times the numbers of weapons manufactured in the South. The British Enfield became the standard Southern infantry weapon. Confederate Ordnance Chief Josiah Gorgas specified the Enfield's .577 caliber as the standard for all arms on July 6, 1863.
The importance of the Enfield in the Confederate Army is illustrated in a report of ordnance captured by the Federal First Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg. The First Corps was opposed largely by that of A.P. Hill's Third Corps. Hill's men left a total of 2,958 shoulder arms on the field. Eighty-one percent (2,402) of these were Enfield rifle-muskets. This suggests that four of every five shoulder arms in Hill's Third Corps were Enfields.
Further evidence of the Confederacy's reliance on the Enfield is detailed in the surrender of arms at Vicksburg. A partial listing of Enfields taken from Confederate defenders include 2,500 of the 5,000 long arms from Forney's Division and 1,624 of the 3,422 infantry arms turned in by
References:
Noe, David, Larry W. Yantz & James B. Whisker. FIREARMS FROM EUROPE. Rowe Publications. Rochester, N.Y. 1999.
Rogers, Colonel H.C.B. WEAPONS OF THE BRITISH SOLDIER. Seeley Service & Co. London, England. 1960.