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Introduction  301. Shortly before the War of 1812, a system of arms procurement was established by the federal government through which the muskets produced at the two national armories were reserved for issue to federal armed forces, and the muskets procured by government contract with the annual allocations of funds from Congress under the 1808 Militia Act were for the federal procurement of arms for the individual states. Once this system was established, the muskets for the states were procured by contract with eight private gun-makers, referred to as “private armories.” Arms were procured through this system until the end of the flintlock period. Beginning in the 1820s, the Ordnance Department began to issue other ordnance stores in lieu of muskets if the states desired them. Thereafter, the states received rifles, pistols, swords, cannon, and other ordnance supplies instead of muskets. However, the Ordnance Department continued to purchase flintlock muskets with the militia funds allocated annually by Congress, and these contract arms accumulated in government arsenals. An inventory was made of the flintlock arms in federal arsenals in 1848; it was intended to identify those that were most suitable for alteration to the percussion ignition system. In addition to muskets made at the national armories for the regular Army, this inventory identified 120,498 flintlock muskets made under government contract; 50,826 of these had been made since 1831 and another 12,850 had been made between 1821 and 1831. Although the Ordnance Department purchased percussion rifles from private gun-makers, it did not contract with private gun-makers for percussion muskets or rifle muskets for issue to the states, preferring to issue the large existing stores of percussion-altered flintlock muskets that had been purchased with militia act funds.Someingovernmentbelievedthatthetwonationalarmorieshadthecapacity to fabricate the arms necessary for both the regular Army and state militias. The effect was devastating to the gun-making firms who had previously supplied arms to the government. They had relied on these contracts for their continued existence. The Model 1847 cavalry musketoon, Model 1855 carbine, and Model 1855 pistol carbine represented attempts to produce muzzleloading cavalry arms at the national armories. However, field trials by the cavalry of these arms in competition with breechloading arms showed the superiority of breechloading arms. From the mid-1850s, small quantities of several different breechloading arms were purchased, primarily for firing and field trials. The capture and partial destruction of Harpers Ferry Armory in April of 1861 reduced the ability of the federal government to manufacture new arms at the national armories for the rapidly expanding Union armies, and at the same time provided the Confederacy with arms, components, and machinery for the manufacture of arms. The outbreak of the war resulted in large demands by the regular Army, and by the states and privately raised militia units. Part III 342 When the Civil War broke out in mid-April 1861, the federal government called out 75,000 militia for 90 days’ service. Slightly more than two weeks later, the government called for an additional 42,034 volunteers to the regular Army. On July 2, 300,000 volunteers were called for three years’ service. On August 4, another 300,000 militia were called for nine months’ service. The federal government began contracting with private manufacturers for the production of Model 1861 rifle muskets in the summer of 1861. At that time, these private firms were not capable of producing the tens of thousands of rifle muskets with interchangeable components called for in these contracts. Because of this, deliveries of significant quantities of rifle muskets were not made until late 1862 and early 1863. There simply were not enough muskets and rifle muskets to arm those in the regular Army and the volunteers. Therefore, the Army allowed volunteers to bring their personal weapons with them into military service. Volunteer companies were allowed to use any arm they desired as long as all of the arms in a given company were of a given quality level. Some of the shoulder arms in this section were made under government contract, and others were made for one or more companies of volunteers during 1861 and 1862. The federal government procured these arms by both contracts with the makers and by purchasing them on the open market from arms brokers and merchants. Some non-armory-pattern arms were procured by states under direct contract with the makers of rifles and rifle muskets, and...

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