November 15 & 16, 2022 Extraordinary Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/15/2022
US M1841 Mississippi Rifle manufactured at Harpers Ferry and dated 1845. 33" barrel in .54 caliber with 7 groove rifling, rounded brass blade front sight and fixed rear sight. Fitted with the Confederate Happoldt alteration for saber bayonet, with lug brazed on right side of barrel, and left of barrel assembly numbered 107. Front barrel band has been partially cut away in a manner consistent with other Happoldt altered rifles so the barrel assembly can still be taken out of the stock with bayonet lug on side of barrel. 1 piece plain walnut stock with faint cartouche on left stock flat opposite lock, "GMR" hand engraved on left side of stock, likely with a knife, brass mountings, brass implement compartment on right side (compartment is empty) and brass buttplate. The rifle is complete with a correct pattern yataghan style bayonet with brass mount assembly numbered 101 manufactured by Collins & Co. of Hartford, CT. Hartzler’s notes indicate the rifle was documented in an early Sharpsburg museum as carried at Antietam by Henry Huff, 5th Virginia, and left behind with relatives when he returned to the regiment from sick leave in 1863. The 5th Virginia Infantry, part of the “Stonewall Brigade,” had organized in May 1861 for 12 months service and then reorganized in Spring 1862 for 3 years or the war when Henry C. Huff enlisted March 15, 1862, in Augusta County, mustering in Company F as a private. The 1860 census records him as a 35-year-old day laborer with a wife and 2 children. He is listed as present up to a sick leave given November 24, 1862, and is absent through April 1863, but reappears as present on the company June 30, 1863, muster roll. This covers May and June and does not say when he returned, but places him in the ranks in time for Gettysburg. He is absent sick again as of December 16, 1863, but does not return and is considered a deserter as of March 20, 1864, supposed to be at Churchville, Augusta County, Virginia. Records do not cover him further. A cemetery listing records a Henry Christian Huff, born 1825, as dying in Churchville in 1908. During Huff’s time with the regiment, they were present at McDowell and Front Royal, and under fire at Winchester. At Port Republic they lost 9 killed, 48 wounded and 4 missing and then saw action in the Seven Days Battles, including Malvern Hill, Groveton (against King’s Division and the Iron Brigade,) Second Bull Run, and Antietam. There the brigade mustered just 250 men and was in the terrible fighting at the Cornfield as Jackson staved off Hooker’s massive attack on the Confederate left wing, losing 88 of those present. Huff’s presence on the June 1863 muster roll implies he was back in time for the regiment’s service at Winchester and Stephenson’s Depot at the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign. At that battle they were heavily engaged in the fighting on July 3, taking part in 3 attacks on Culps Hill and losing 14 killed, 33 wounded, and 11 missing out of 345 men on the field. Accommodating the rifle is a Spanish American war rewrapped canteen and display case with a plaque that reads “THIS RIFLE, BAYONET, AND CANTEEN WERE USED BY HENRY HUFF FROM CHARLESTOWN, W. VA. IN THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM SEPT. 17, 1862”. The canteen may have been acquired by Huff later in life and was given Antietam association by inexperienced museum staff. CONDITION: Very good, with barrel retaining a vast majority of its added brown finish with heavy freckling around bolster near breech area from use with barrel date no longer visible. Stock is very good as lightly sanded with finish added and no major signs of distress. Minor burnout consistent with use near bolster. Action is tight and crisp. Bore is dark and well worn (now measures close to .60 caliber) with visible rifling. Bayonet is very good, turned a dove gray patina with scattered areas of heavy freckling.
Item Dimensions: 59 x 29 x 6"
Accessories
Display Case, Bayonet, Canteen
Manufacturer
Harpers Ferry
Model
1841 Mississippi Rifle