An Independence Day Tribute
Each year on July 4th, I take some time
away from cookouts, fireworks, and my family to spend a few moments with my
favorite firearm. I sit alone in my
gunroom, reflecting upon the one piece in my collection that for me most
embodies Independence Day. It doesn’t
have a gas cylinder and isn’t Parkerized. It isn’t even a mint, perfect example; in fact it is probably the worst
condition piece in my collection. It is a musket from the American War of Independence,
a well-used Model 1763 Charleville flintlock musket that features a branded
U STATES surcharge and three sets of initials carved into the stock. Both sling swivels have been removed and
their studs filed nearly flush. You
can’t even cock it due to a broken spring or worn sear. It is beat up and ugly; but I cherish this
old musket. When I hold it I wonder
about the three men whose initials give this musket some of its character. Were any of them members of the Continental
Army? If so, in what battles did they
carry this old musket? To what
hardships were these men subjected? I will never know the answers to these questions, but I believe that this old musket
was used to gain our independence and forge our liberties. Without
men like the three who may have carried this Charleville into battle, there
would be no Independence Day celebration with cookouts and fireworks; nor
would there be a United States of America.
M1763 Charleville
The French Model 1763 Infantry Musket was the military firearm most widely used by the Continental Army in the American Revolution. The Model 1763 was
state-of-the-art for the day. It was a
smoothbore musket of .69 caliber, featured flintlock ignition, was slightly
over 60 inches long and weighed nearly nine pounds. Students of the period believe that over 100,000 flintlock
military muskets of various models were obtained from France during our
Revolution. The Model 1763 pattern arm
was produced at three French National Armories: Charleville, Maubeuge, and St. Etienne. Collectors refer to all,
regardless of location of manufacturer, as Charlevilles. The Charleville
was later used as the pattern for the first U.S. Armory produced weapon, the
Model of 1795.
My Old Musket
My Model 1763 was produced at the St. Etienne Armory, in
the 1760s. The first photograph of my
old musket was taken in my shop and shows the overall weapon with bayonet
affixed. Noted American Revolution
historian and author, George Neumann, has examined this bayonet and believes it to be of American
manufacture in the 1750s to 1775 time frame. The other two photographs depict the lock and the brand applied U STATES surcharge.
During
the American Revolution, the theft of continental muskets became a serious
problem. When a soldier’s enlistment
expired he went home, often taking his musket with him. If this habit were permitted to continue,
the Army would soon be without a sufficient quantity of arms with which to continue
the War. On February 4, 1777, the Board
of War recommended to Congress that all continental arms be stamped with
"United States." On February 24th,
the Continental Congress resolved: "The arms and accoutrements, belonging to
the United States, shall be stamped with the words ‘United States’, all arms
already made to be stamped on such parts as will receive the impressions, and
those hereinafter to be manufactured, to be stamped with the said words on
every part comprising a stand."
General Washington implemented this resolution on March
31, 1777, directing Colonel Benjamin Flower of the Commissary General’s
Department to have all arms so stamped. On April 18, Washington issued a general order from his headquarters in
Morristown, New Jersey, that all arms in stores and in the hands of troops be
marked immediately.
It is uncertain how rapidly his order was carried out. However, a U STATES brand is listed in the March 21, 1778 inventory of James Pearson, one of the commissaries of military stores. Historians of Revolutionary War arms agree that the earliest surcharge consisted of UNITED STATES branded into the stocks, or the contraction U. STATES or U STATES. It is believed that these variations date from 1777 through 1780. It is also believed that in late 1780, the surcharge was further contracted to US. This abbreviated surcharge is most often found struck on the metal components rather than on the stock. The US surcharge remained in use following the end the Revolution and throughout the Federal period.
John MacIlduff
My
great, great, great, great, Grandfather, John MacIlduff, was of Scots-Irish decent and immigrated to America from Belfast, Northern Ireland in the early 1770s. He fought in the
American Revolution, not in well-known
battles fought along the eastern seaboard, but in skirmishes with Indians whom
the British had induced to attack settlers on the western side of the
Appalachian Mountains. He served as a
private in Captain Thomas Morton’s Company of Westmoreland County Frontier
Rangers between 1778 and 1783. It is
unlikely that these Rangers were armed with military muskets such as the Model
1763. It is more probable that their
weapons consisted of a variety of personal rifles or smoothbore hunting
guns, as well as tomahawk and knife.
If
you have visited my shop, you have driven past the cemetery in which John
MacIlduff (1744-1816) and his wife, Ann Wallace Duff (1750-1831), are buried. Although the ravages of time and acid rains have taken their toll, their
names remain visible on the hand-hewn tombstones. A flag with bronze marker denoting a veteran of the Revolutionary War is placed on his grave each Memorial Day. Furthermore, the land on which our house is built was a part of
his original homestead dating from the early 1770s. His cabin was within a quarter of a mile of our home. In the 1960s my Grandfather tilled a garden
in the field at the foot of the hill below where our parking area is
today. In his garden we children found a number of Indian arrowheads. I have kept
all that I found for these 40 plus years. If you visit my shop, ask and I will be happy to show you the
arrowheads, as well as my old musket.
I
fly the American flag at the top of a 20-foot flag pole, lighted by a dusk-to-dawn light, 365 days a year to commemorate all of those who endured hardships and gave their very lives in the fight for our independence and also in honor and rememberence to all, past and present, who have served in the armed forces in order to maintain the
liberties we hold so dear.
Men like
MacIlduff, my father J. Arthur Duff, Jr., and my
father-in law Thomas Shoen, Jr. have been my inspiration to collect U.S.
martial arms. They are not "just
guns." The firearms in my collection,
and those in yours, are what were used to win and preserve the liberties that we
continue to enjoy today. Every U.S.
martial arm and each man who carried them have a unique story to tell. But the result of each story is the same: Liberty!
J. Arthur Duff, Jr. (1929-1999) USMC and Thomas Shoen, Jr. (1924-2000) USA 11th Airborne Division God Bless America! Have a happy and thought filled Independence Day!
