December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/12/2024
This .56-50 M1865 Spencer rifle is one of only four documented extant firearms known to have survived the pivotal battle of Ridgeway during the First Fenian Raid in June 1866. The other three (a Spencer carbine, a Type II P53 Enfield rifle-musket, and a M1863 Bridesburg rifle-musket) are all in Canadian museums. This rifle’s incredible story has been featured in numerous publications (ICOMAM Magazine, Journal of the Company of Military Historians, American Rifleman, etc.) in recent years (2019-2023), as well as being the subject of several presentations to groups like the Virginia Gun Collectors Association and the Company of Military Historians. This rifle has also been displayed in exhibits about Fenian arms in Princeton, New Jersey, Baltimore, Maryland, and Fairfax, Virginia. The rifle is as it was acquired with its oddly mismatched fore stock and barrel bands. There are detailed photos of the rifle in the 2023 American Rifleman “Frankenspencer” article. Nicknamed the “Frankenspencer”, the rifle’s story, detailing Private Copp’s (No 5 Co, 2d Bn “Queen’s Own Rifles”) wounding while firing the rifle at Ridgeway, and its subsequent “restoration” by Private John Hamilton (18th London Bn) that summer, accounts for the many anomalies apparent with this historically-significant Spencer. However, they are all important clues to its nearly unbelievable provenance. The rifle was used by Private Walter Brown Copp during the Fenian Raid, and a painting shows him with his Spencer rifle, missing the forestock, and a bandaged left hand; presumably, he was shot in the wrist while firing his rifle, which wounded him and shattered the forestock. To repair it, the gun was turned over to J. Hamilton, who Canada paid the sum of $38.46 for "repairing rifles". John Hamilton was a private in the 7th Batallion, which arrived at Ridgeway the day after the battle, and, as a blacksmith, was contracted to repair the rifles, including the Spencer with the damaged forearm. Unfortunately, as related in the article, the slip of paper that John Hamilton left in the stock to verify his work was accidentally discarded a number of years ago, but its presence was recorded in the same article. Finding a true battlefield gun is an extreme rarity, especially one that can be definitely assigned to a soldier who was wounded in the fighting. PROVENANCE: Kenneth Smith-Christmas collection. CONDITION: Metal with a smooth, soft brown patina throughout, with some flashes of dove grey at the muzzle. Receiver with a mottled appearance, and trigger guard tang is a correct replacement with case colors. Buttstock very good with scattered dings and impressions throughout, forestock as made by John Hamilton, somewhat folky, with a grain separation on left side near receiver, and some other scattered handling marks and impressions; one can still definitively see the filled in ramrod channel, presumably done after Hamilton realized that Spencer rifles do not have ramrods. Mechanically fine, bore with strong, well defined rifling and even frosting.
Manufacturer
Spencer Rifle Company