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Appendix V Arms Allocated to States Pursuant to the U.S. Militia Act of 1808 There was a wide variety of arms in the hands of the various states’ militias following the Revolutionary War. Most were .69 caliber French muskets, some were .75 caliber British muskets, others were .75 caliber muskets produced in the colonies before the revolution and during the war’s early years, and still others were .69 caliber muskets assembled from the tens of thousands of musket components sent to America by our French allies during that war. In order to bring uniformity to the caliber of infantry muskets in the hands of the militia, Congress enacted “An Act Effectively to provide for the National Defense, by establishing a Uniform Militia throughout the United States” on May 8, 1792. This law stated that, within six months, each militiaman was to “provide himself with a good musket or firelock . . . or a good rifle.” He was also to provide powder, flints, balls, and a knapsack. As the muskets most commonly in the hands of the Americans were French or assembled from French metal components, this law also stated that the muskets in the hands of the militia were to be 18 bore (.69 caliber). On April 25, 1808, the federal government passed another law intended to bring greater uniformity to the small arms of the states’ militias. This was “An Act making provision for arming and equipping the whole body of the militia of the United States,” commonly known as the 1808 Militia Act or the Militia Act of 1808. This law provided that the federal government would procure the small arms and equipment for each of the states. Funds for this procurement were appropriated annually by Congress and the muskets purchased were to be allocated to each state, based on that state’s population. This law resulted in the federal contracts for muskets of 1808–1810 and 1812. The only known small arms issued to the states’ militias were muskets until the 1820s. Thereafter, rifles, pistols, swords, cannon, and other arms and equipment were also issued. The value of items other than muskets was quoted to states in terms of “musket equivalents,” or the value of a musket due the state under its Militia Act allocation. The Ordnance Department established the value of a musket due the state on July 10, 1823, at $14.00 and the value of a rifle at $17.00. However, the quantity of rifles that could be drawn by a state against its Militia Act allocation was limited to one-eighth of that state’s quota of muskets. Over time, there was an expansion in the types of military stores available to states under the 1808 Militia Act. On January 10, 1861, Chief of Ordnance Colonel Craig wrote to the governor of each state with that state’s allocation of muskets for the year. He enclosed a statement of the military stores that could Appendix V 528 be issued to the state and the cost of those stores in terms of the muskets allocated to the state. The outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 resulted in a tremendous shortage of arms caused by the Union Army’s increase in size by hundreds of thousands of men. There were not enough arms for the states’ regular and volunteer militia who were called into service in the Army. Several states procured rifle muskets and other arms both within the United States and abroad. The federal government either reimbursed the states or paid the suppliers of arms directly for the arms of state troops called into federal service. Except for these arms and the arms allocated under the 1808 Militia Act, individual states paid for the arms they procured. There was a change in the method of the federal government’s annual 1808 Militia Act allocation of arms and other military stores to individual states. On March 9, 1865, Chief of Ordnance General A. B. Dyer wrote, “The former mode of crediting the states, with their annual quotas in terms of muskets, at the nominal rate of thirteen dollars each, has been abandoned, and the apportionment is now made in money; Subject to be drawn in such arms and other stores, charged at their actual cost as may be designated.” In short, the amount allocated annually to each state was in terms of dollars rather than muskets. ...

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