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Title:	MUSKET -  U.S. MUSKET MODEL 1795 TYPE I SPRINGFIELD ARMORY FLINTLOCK .69
Maker/Manufacturer:	SPRINGFIELD ARMORY
Date of Manufacture:	1799
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 933
Measurements:	OL:150.4CM 59 1/4" BL:112.3CM 44 1/4" 9 lbs.

Object Description:

U.S. MUSKET MODEL 1795 TYPE I SPRINGFIELD ARMORY FLINTLOCK .69
Manufactured at Springfield Armory. Springfield, Ma. in 1799 - Standard single-shot, muzzleloading, flintlock musket. Iron furniture. Three-bands, spring fastened with upper band double-strapped. First standardized and official model of the U.S. government, and first to be manufactured at Springfield Armory. Weapon weighs approximately 9 lbs. Top jaw and screw from an M1819 Hall rifle. Stock spilt from muzzle to last barrel band. This was one of 4,495 weapons assembled in 1799. Approximately 27,000 Type I muskets were manufactured at Springfield from 1799-1806.

Markings:
Lock: SPRINGFIELD rear of cock. Eagle/U.S. forward of cock.
Barrel: P/Eaglehead/V. NC
Triggerguard plate: H.E.
Buttplate: 1799 on top.

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, 1893, No. 81 - "Old Springfield muzzle-loading flintlock musket. Marked on barrel US/NC. Making parts of United States guns by machinery was successfully accomplished in United States arsenals between 1813 and 1825, all parts being made interchangeable except breech screws, which were not made by machinery until 1853. This interchangeability of parts was first accomplished by Hall in the construction of his breech loading rifle at Harpers Ferry, begun in 1813."

Web site photo showing Craig Russell and other War of 1812 re-enactors with their repro M1795 Springfields.

Notes: The M1795 was based on "Charleville Pattern." That's really all we are told from the official records. While it has been recorded by military historians for years that the M1795 was designed around the M1763 Charleville, the fact is it was designed around the M1768. The Model 1795 Springfield musket "was virtually identical in all respects to the French Model 1768 musket," writes Robert Reilly. He continues: "The basis for the Model 1795 was the French Model 1768 musket (not the Model 1763 as is often stated) which differed only slightly from the Model 1763 in having a lower barrel band retaining spring and the relocation of the bayonet from the bottom of the barrel to the top. In this regard it should be noted that American Charleville pattern muskets will be found with the stud in both positions indicating that both the Models 1763 and 1768 were probably used as patterns. This is noted most significantly in the muskets produced under the contracts of 1798."

"Secretary of War Pickering's report explained why the French Charleville musket was used as a pattern for U.S. Musket Model 1795. 'Such muskets as are manufactured are after the model of the French arms, which compose, by far, the greatest part of those in our magazines. For this reason and because they are preferable to those of any other nation known in the United States, it was apparently inexpedient to make an importation of arms....' Certainly, few wars were ever fought with such a mixed group of arms as was the American war for independence. Some standardization would be possible if the new American arm matched the French arms in storage." - Whisker

Alexander Crawford made the first hand filed lock at the Springfield Armory in 1795 over a period of three days.

This weapon is referred to in correspondence. At the request from the Ordnance Office asking when eagle and "U.S." letters were put on Springfield weapons, the following reply was made by R. Birnie, Captain, Ordnance Office, on February 5, 1889. Birnie wrote: "In the Armory Museum the musket of Springfield Armory manufacture having the oldest date (1799) upon it, has an eagle and 'U.S.' stamped upon the lock plate. The French and Queen Anne arms also have the 'U.S.' stamped on them.
No record has been found concerning the date or the order for stamping the eagle and 'U.S' upon the arms.
The first eagle stamp that appear upon the books are 5 taken up June 11, 1799, on the 'General account of stores in the Armory Department,' as purchased of Thomas Sargeant, and 2 as fabricated in the first quarter of 1800. The date ('June 11, 1799') may not have been the date of the receipt, but of payment for the stamps, aArms made prior to 1799 may have the eagle stamped or engraved on them."

"The barrel of the M1795 was an iron tube, closed at the breech end with a threaded plug and drilled with a small touch hole on its side. The inside of the barrel was bored to a smooth, uniform diameter of 0.69 inch, but the outside tapered so that the breech was thicker than the muzzle. The flintlock mechanism, mounted beside the breech, ignited the powder charge in the barrel. Each musket included a steel bayonet for attachment to the muzzle for hand-to-hand combat, and a ramrod for loading the musket. The lock, barrel, and other parts were mounted on the wooden stock, which held them in proper relationship to each other while the bayonet attached to the barrel.
The group of parts called the mounting included three bands which held the barrel in place in its groove in the stock, three flat springs holding the bands in place, the trigger plate and trigger guard, the side plate, and the butt plate attached to the shoulder end of the stock for its protection. Screws, at that time often called 'pins,' were used to attach these parts to the stock.
The lock mechanism had a small, covered pan for the priming powder located beside the touch hole, a flint mounted in the haws of the cock (sometimes termed the hammer), and a frizzen or battery with a hardened steel face. The striking and scraping action of the flint against the steel produced the sparks which ignited the priming powder. When the trigger was pulled, the cock, impelled by the force of the mainspring, drove its flint against the frizzen, which was pushed backwards to uncover the pan and permit the sparks to fall into the priming powder.
The lock mechanism contained about 30 separate parts, all of which had to fit or operate smoothly together, and be tough enough to sustain the shocks of repeated firings. These parts were mounted on the lock plate, which held them in proper relation to each other. Cocking the lock compressed the mainspring, which activated the mechanism. Pulling the trigger moved the sear away from the tumbler, allowing the mainspring to rotate the tumbler-cock assembly to accomplish the firing action. If the musketeer allowed the powder to become damp, the touch hole to become clogged, or had forgotten to prime the pan and load the musket with powder, a misfire resulted. Unless cared for properly, the flintlock musket could become an unreliable weapon.
After initial production, there were various small changes made to improve the M1795. Of the approximately 80,000 Springfield flintlock muskets made before 1815, about 15,000 made before 1806 had the bayonet permanently attached, and later removed by shortening the barrels." - Michael S. Raber, et al.

"The original bullet weighed approximately one ounce instead of the French specifications of 1/15 of a pound. This was due to the necessity of making a bullet undersize when wrapped in a paper cartridge. All of the early guns were proof-tested. The service charge of powder was approximately 1/45 of a pound (about 150 grains). The proof load used approximately one full ounce of powder - 450 to 500 grains." - Philip B. Sharpe

"Springfield Armory records indicate 245 muskets were made in 1795 with a total of 3,152 made between the years 1795 and 1798. Exact identification of these weapons has not been made for they were neither dated nor marked as far as can be ascertained. Records indicate that the well known eagle motif die stamps for marking lockplates were not purchased until 1799 at which time five were acquired with an additional two die stamps bought the following year. This date accounts for variations in the eagle markings on Springfield locks.
The first production at Springfield was patterned directly after the FrencThe first known Springfield muskets bearing markings were made in 1799. These bore the full Springfield lock marks with the eagle motif and were dated on the heel of the buttplate with the year of manufacture. The Springfield Model 1795 musket proceeded through various evolutionary changes with no major model change made (especially as it applies to collectors' terminology) until the Model of 1812. Springfield's manufacture of the Model 1812 did not actually begun until 1814." - Flayderman

"The Model 1795 went along with the American troops that took over Louisiana, and this and the 1808 type served as the principal weapons with which the United States fought the War of 1812....It was regular practice for the Army to supply the soldier with cartridges when they were available. Ordinarily, the ratio of powder to ball in these loads was about one to four; the ball weighed 1/18 pound, and the charge of powder weighed 110 to 154 grains. Flints were issued in the proportion of one flint to twenty rounds." - Russell

The inefficiency of this old musket was perhaps best described in a paper read before the English United Service Institution in 1857, as follows: "Beyond 80 yards it lost all certainty of hitting a single man, at 200 yards it was uncertain even at larger bodies, and when secured into a block or fired off a rest, you might shoot all day at a target 300 yards distance and 18 foot square, and never strike it once; so that a man might be in perfect security if fired at from sunrise to sunset, at even a less distance than 300 yards, provided the firer made a faithful promise always to aim at him."

"YEAR AMT. EXPENDED N. MUSKETS MADE COST/MUSKET
1795 $12,095.25 245 $49.37
1796 $12,286.49 825 $14.90
1797 $11,175.28 1,028 $10.87
1798 $22,245.00 1,044 $21.31
1799 $48,900,000 (until 10/1) 3,082 $15.87" - Schmidt

LOAN HISTORY OF THIS WEAPON:
Army #0002 - Loaned to Capt. L.R. Ryan, U.S. Marine Corps, from 12 March 1952 to 24 March 1952.
Army #0002 - Weapon loaned to Mr. Charles Ferrick, Forbes & Wallance, Inc., Springfield, Mass. Loan returned on 15 October 1956.

See, Claud E. Fuller, SPRINGFIELD SHOULDER ARMS 1795-1865, S&S Firearms. 1986, pg. 24.

References:
Ball, Robert W.D. SPRINGFIELD ARMORY: SHOULDER WEAPONS 1795-1968. Antique Trader Book. Norfolk, Va. 1997.
Clark, David C. ARMS FOR THE NATION. Scott A. Duff. Export, Pa. 1992.
Flayderman, Norm. FLAYDERMAN'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS...AND THEIR VALUES. 6th Ed. DBI Books, Inc. Northbrook, Il. 1994.
Flayderman, Norm. FLAYDERMAN'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS...AND THEIR VALUES. 7th Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1998.
Fuller, Claud E. SPRINGFIELD SHOULDER ARMS 1795-1865. S&S Firearms. Glendale, N.Y. 1986.
Gluckman, Arcadi. IDENTIFYING OLD U.S. MUSKETS, RIFLES AND CARBINES. Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, Pa. 1965.
Hartzler, Daniel D. & James B. Whisker. THE NORTHERN ARMORY: THE UNITED STATES ARMORY AT SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, 1795-1859. Old Bedford Village Press. Bedford, Pa. 1996.
Hicks, Major James E. NOTES ON U.S. ORDNANCE. VOL. I. James E. Hicks. Mt. Vernon, N.Y. 1940.
Madaus, H. Michael. THE WARNER COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN LONGARMS. Warner Books. N.Y., N.Y. 1981.
Moller, George D. AMERICAN MILITARY SHOULDER ARMS, VOL 2. University Press of Colorado. Niwot, Co. 1993.
Raber, Michael S., Patrick M. Malone, Robert B. Gordon, Carolyn C. Cooper. CONSERVATIVE INNOVATORS AND MILITARY SMALL ARMS: AN INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF THE SPRReilly, Robert. UNITED STATES MARTIAL FLINTLOCKS. Andrew Mowbray Inc. Lincoln, R.I.1986. Sharpe, Philip B. THE RIFLE IN AMERICA. Funk & Wagnalls Company. N.Y., N.Y. 1947.
Russell, Carl P. GUNS ON THE EARLY FRONTIERS: A HISTORY OF BLACKPOWDER WEAPONS FROM COLONIAL TIMES TO THE MEXICAN WAR. Barnes & Noble Books. N.Y., N.Y. 1996.
Schmidt, Peter A. U.S. MILITARY FLINTLOCK MUSKETS AND THEIR BAYONETS: THE EARLY YEARS 1790-1815. Andrew Mowbray Inc. Woonsocket, R.I. 2006.
Whisker, James B. THE UNITED STATES ARMORY AT SPRINGFIELD, 1795-1865. The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd. Lewiston, N.Y. 1997.