November 15 & 16, 2022 Extraordinary Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/15/2022
Rigdon, Ansley, and Company single action percussion revolver manufactured in Augusta, Georgia during the Civil War. Rigdon was the 2nd largest revolver manufacturer in the Confederacy, making around 2,400 total revolvers, with an estimated 900 total being Rigdon, Ansley, & Co. These Rigdon and Ansleys were basically a Leech & Rigdon revolver, just with some minor improvements such as 12 cylinder stops as an added safety measure as they were making these without cylinder safety pins. 7 - 1/2" half octagonal-to-round barrel in .36 caliber with screw in cone front sight and hammer notch rear sight. Barrel is marked on top barrel flat "CSA". Loading lever uses Colt Navy style catch. Recoil shield has cap release cut. Matching serial numbers observed at front of loading lever catch, rammer, wedge, barrel, cylinder arbor, cylinder, frame, trigger guard, backstrap of grips when removed, and butt. 1 piece walnut grips professionally inscribed "Frank Severe" / "Baltimore MD" on left grip panel. Hartzler’s notes indicate Francis M. Severe was born in 184 and was raised in Talbot County, Maryland, but enlisted in Company I, 12th Alabama on June 8, 1861 at Mobile. He later listed himself as a seaman and a steamboatman, so this may have been at Mobile by chance when he decided to join the army. In any case, it got him closer to home since the unit served in Virginia. He was last listed as being sent sick to Richmond in August 1861. If he returned to duty, he might have been with the regiment at Seven Pines and other engagements that included Antietam and Fredericksburg, until he enlists once again, on May 2, 1863 in Company A, 2nd Battalion Maryland Cavalry under Harry Gilmor, and is carried as Francis Sevier. This puts him with Gilmor in time for the Gettysburg Campaign where he operated with Steuart’s Maryland brigade. Payroll documents cover him at least to the end of February 1864, but he likely served throughout the war in Gilmor’s band, which expanded to a battalion and was designated the 2nd Maryland Cavalry in June 1864. They were a very active as raiders, acting with Early against Baltimore and Washington, and then fighting Sheridan’s cavalry in the Shenandoah, but were well known for striking supply trains, railroads, telegraph lines, and bridges, as well as depots and encampments, often acting in coordination with other Confederate partisan and ranger groups. Severe seems to have given the post-war US army a try, enlisting in Company E, 7th US Cavalry in August 1866, but deserting in late May 1867 and apparently returning to work as a seaman. His wife passed away in 1905 and in July 1909 he entered the Maryland Line Confederate Soldiers Home in Pikesville, later passing away in 1919. A folder of research accompanies this revolver and includes configuration notes, a summary of Severe's service history, photos of the gun and inscription, copies of muster rolls, regimental returns, a copy of page 231 of "Confederate Presentation and Inscribed Swords and Revolvers" by Daniel D. Hartzler, and a copy of page 180 of "A Band of Brothers: Photographic Epilogue to Marylanders in the Confederacy" by Daniel D. Hartzler, where this gun is photographed. CONDITION: Very good, turned an even brown patina with light freckling due to age. Brass has turned a mellow patina. Grips are excellent as lightly cleaned with inscription easily legible and no major signs of distress. Mechanically fine. Bore is frosted with visible rifling.
Caliber/Bore
.36 Percussion
Manufacturer
Rigdon, Ansley, & Co.
Paperwork
Folder of Research