TrevColt said:
My Potsdam Picture Album
Hello,
I recently inherited the musket shown in the above album. My grandfather, with whom I was very close, never mentioned once he had a small collection of guns. I wish he had so I could have asked him some questions about them. Regardless, I'm pretty excited to have them, in particular the one pictured.
After some Googling I determined the following:
- Model: Potsdam 1809
- Converted from Flintlock to Percussion in the year 1820? I believe that is what the 1820 on the barrel means
- 14LWR on top of butt plate is an indication of a regiment/battalion in the Prussian army?
- I read that the union army imported these during the American civil war
If anyone has anything to add or correct I'd appreciate being able to talk intelligently about this piece so I can keep its history alive.
Thank you!
Trevor
You have a reasonably well preserved Prussian M1809 Musket. The M1809 was manufactured by 4 different arsenals - Potsdam, Saarn, Neisse, Suhl and Dresden. By the lock marking yours was made at Neisse. Neisse is now in Poland and is spelled Nysa.
The M1809 was manufactured up through the mid-1830s and yours was made in 1820 as indicated by the date on the barrel. The Prussians began converting their muskets to percussion in 1839 and this work continued into the 1840s, as far as I know, the date of conversion is not marked on any Prussian muskets.
The regimental marking on your butt plate tang is "14.L.W.R.5.C." indicating that during Prussian service it was last issued to the "5th Company of the 14th Landwehr Regiment". The Landwehr was made up primarily of men too old to serve on active duty (35 years and older IIRC) but many, if not most, had served in the regulars at a younger age. Landwehr regiments were only supposed to do active service in time of war or national emergency and supposedly only served near their home district but could be called away if need required.
As far as possible American Civil War use, only the North imported weapons from Prussia, the South never did. Few if any Prussian muskets saw service with Confederate forces. Due to being cut out of the British arms market by fast acting Confederate purchasing agents, the Prussian muskets were the first weapons imported by the Northern government with the earliest known shipments coming in to New York in August of 1861. By December of 1861 over 42,000 Prussian muskets had come in and they were desperately needed by rapidly growing Federal forces. Importation of weapons from Prussia stopped by late in 1862, with records indicating that the Federal government imported 165,073 muskets from Prussia and they saw service in training new troops with some active use in the Western Theater before mid-1863 but the non-standard caliber rated this well made and very serviceable musket to a Class Three category by Federal Ordnance. Confederate Ordnance gave it the same rating and captured Prussian muskets, when issued to Southern troops, were issued to those not likely to see active service at the front. It was an ammunition problem for both sides.
The lock on your musket is it's original flint lock converted to percussion. The fact that the "extra" holes for the frizzen and frizzen spring can not be seen in the photos is an indication of the high quality of work done in the conversion in Germany and the aging of the once bright finish to brown. Once removed from the stock, the holes filled with cut screw will be visible on the inside.
As an aside, the American Civil War started at a very opportune time for the Prussians. By 1861 the Prussian Regulars as well as the Reserves (experienced troops no longer on active service) were equipped with the M1841 Breech Loading Rifle, the Dreyse, and only the Landwehr were still armed with percussion muskets though the need for them even by the local defense troops was coming to an end so Prussia was happy to find a buyer for them. They found it with the Union forces in our Civil War.
