Louisiana / Gulf coast area rifles

[echo89]

I have looked around to find if there is any mention of a rifle style / modifications that were introduced in the Gulf Coast states, particularly Louisiana. Any one know of any leads on this? It would be nice to own a rifle that evolved from my home area. Thanks

DC

 

What time period are you interested in? from what I have been able to find out (not alot of info available), the styles used here in Louisiana were similar to those of Miss and Ark--themselves derived from classic Pa and southern rifles. Most rifles brought into LA early on (say the early American period--post 1804)were typical "Kentucky" rifles. prior to the American takeover rifles were probably rarer than elsewhere in the "American" areas--remember that the French, then Spanish held LA for alot of years (1690s-1804) and those folks mainly used smoothbores. In the later periods, say 1830s-50s, percussion rifles, many of half stock design resembling plains rifles were common--and backaction locks were used by some makers in the region. I have seen some fancy ones with silver inlays. I hope this helps--not any good sources that I know of for references, but I have seen photos scattered about and a few museum pieces for the percussion era...

 

[Deadeye]

I was just reading in the 1st Buckskinning book
that at the time Hawkens were being made in St. Louis, similar plains rifles were being made in Natchez, Mississippi and a few other places. Didn't name any makers though.

 

There were several gunsmiths in the Natchez, Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas. Even Squire Boone briefly had a gunshop in New Orleans back when it was in Spanish control. I suspect he made the common "Kentucky" rifle then--likely a plain southern version. One of the Natchez gunmakers used the backaction lock alot.

 

[echo89]

Cosmetically correct is what I am looking for. Early American period would work, especially if it would combine features peculiar to the area with the Southern rifle design. A French Fusille form would probably fit in as well. I really like those too, and if it had modifications that were known from the area, that would do it.

What references / examples do you know of? Are the guns of Mississippi and Arkansas better documented? I was familiar with the different management through the years, but hadn't concluded that the earlier European population would be using smoothbores (Duh on me).
Thanks, Mike

DC

 

Most of my info comes from numerous scattered references--I know of no single work on that regions guns, although Arkansas does a little book on Arkansas made items (including quilts and silverwork, etc) that has a chapter on Ark made rifles--mainly of the post 1830 period. The JM Davis gun museum in Tulsa has a huge collection of regional rifles and I used to haunt the place. There are many 'gunbooks' out there and occasionally I have come across a rifle made in Natchez or owned by a Louisianan. Jerry Noble's two volumes on southern rifles lists numerous LA gunmakers, but has no pics of any LA guns. For the French colonial period a Tulle fusil de chasse or so-called C/D trade gun would be correct (I carry a repro Tulle as a reenactor of the French period at Ft St Jean Baptiste in Natchitoches.). A French musket would work. For the early American period (say 1804-1820), which includes the War 1812 period, a classic "Kentucky" would work, either of PA or southern style. I love the Golden Age flintlocks and one would work for that period. Backwoodsmen probably carried plainer functional pieces and city folks seem to have preferred pistols. By the 1820s-30s pistols and knives were prevalent throughout the 'settled' plantation culture of the area (the Bowie knife began here!).

 

[echo89]

Yeah, it's nice that the Bowie is so well documented. I have one of the repro's from DGW.

I did some digging over the past few days, and found that French parts have been found at several LA archeological sites. That would push me into the French musket or trade gun. They probably would've made their way to LA with the original Acadian migration from Canada, as well as introduced right off the boat from France. I was hoping that there might have been some modification or variation distinctive to the Gulf Coast.

 

Yeah, it's nice that the Bowie is so well documented. I have one of the repro's from DGW.

I did some digging over the past few days, and found that French parts have been found at several LA archeological sites. That would push me into the French musket or trade gun. They probably would've made their way to LA with the original Acadian migration from Canada, as well as introduced right off the boat from France. I was hoping that there might have been some modification or variation distinctive to the Gulf Coast.

The french gun parts way predate the Acadian migration. The early trade guns (late 1600s) made their way into LA via several routes. The first French incursions were late 1600s and a post was set up in Arkansas (then considered "LA") in 1686 for trade. LA-Ala Gulf coast trade stations and settlements were set up from 1700-1720s. Natchitoches trading post (and fort) was started in 1714 on the Red River. ...etc... the Acadians came in long after their expulsion from the former Canadian area in the mid 1750s--after first going to the West Indies (see Farragher's new book on the Acadian travesty). The early French trade guns were the so-called type C and D (see Hamilton's book on colonial firearms) and were brass mounted, unlike the largely Canadian Tulle fusil de chasse you normally encounter with reenactors. They date 1680s through 1740s or so. They were largely Native American owned. The French also had military muskets (see for example, Russell Bouchards book on Tulle guns), but some models were rare in the colonies. Since a gun can be a large investment, you may want to do a little research and thinking about what you want...what period do you want it to represent...what type person owned it, etc....

 

[CrackStock]

I am from the Gulf Coast -- mostly New Orleans.

There is no definitive Gulf Coast school of guns that I have ever seen or heard of. This region did have artisans and light manufacturing industries, but it was better known for trade and shipping -- which presents you with a key to your choices. They simply imported or traded for these. There was also no shortage of weapons flowing legally and illicitly through the area at all times from countless sources. Records of imported, pirated and smuggled arms run a wide variety of sources. Even Jean Lafitte (aka Laffite) was found in position of smuggled arms ranging from obsolete, to new and from small bore pistols to canon. These came from a variety of captured vessels from a variety of nations.

Actually, Louisiana was not part of the US for much of the longgun era. It had mostly French, and German, then Spanish and British guns in years well prior to the revolution. Just before the American Revolution and through the Louisiana purchase there were a lot of guns brought into the Gulf Coast from other parts of the US. The closer you follow the river traffic that got there, the more accurate you will find the gun possibilities. The biggest exception would be Charleston, SC which had a great deal of trade with New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast in general. Any gun from there would be correct for the Gulf Coast in my opinion due to the volume of shipping trade.

I guess that the good and/or bad news is that Louisiana was such a wild mix of arms that you can pick any gun from a period or just earlier to that period and feel confident that it can past muster for an event of that period.

I use a Tulle marked fusil de chasse, I have a friend that is looking to buy an escopita and another looking at a Jaeger. I would think that any early American longrifle would surely be acceptable.

CS

 

[CrackStock]

I am from the Gulf Coast -- mostly New Orleans.

There is no definitive Gulf Coast school of guns that I have ever seen or heard of. This region did have artisans and light manufacturing industries, but it was better known for trade and shipping -- which presents you with a key to your choices. They simply imported or traded for these. There was also no shortage of weapons flowing legally and illicitly through the area at all times from countless sources. Records of imported, pirated and smuggled arms run a wide variety of sources. Even Jean Lafitte (aka Laffite) was found in position of smuggled arms ranging from obsolete, to new and from small bore pistols to canon. These came from a variety of captured vessels from a variety of nations.

Actually, Louisiana was not part of the US for much of the longgun era. It had mostly French, and German, then Spanish and British guns in years well prior to the revolution. Just before the American Revolution and through the Louisiana purchase there were a lot of guns brought into the Gulf Coast from other parts of the US. The closer you follow the river traffic that got there, the more accurate you will find the gun possibilities. The biggest exception would be Charleston, SC which had a great deal of trade with New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast in general. Any gun from there would be correct for the Gulf Coast in my opinion due to the volume of shipping trade.

I guess that the good and/or bad news is that Louisiana was such a wild mix of arms that you can pick any gun from a period or just earlier to that period and feel confident that it can past muster for an event of that period.

I use a Tulle marked fusil de chasse, I have a friend that is looking to buy an escopita and another looking at a Jaeger. I would think that any early American longrifle would surely be acceptable.

CS

 

I would just add to what crackstock said, that the Charleston traders were trying to trade with the NAs under the French "umbrella" and throughout the French period (late 1600s to 1763)thew French actively tried to halt trade with the Charleston traders. The Charleston trade early on was primarily with the Chickasaw (British allies) near Memphis and with some of the Choctaw and Creek villages, which the French were trying to keep in their camp. So, The Charleston trade guns (so-called type G) do turn up. But Louisiana per se during the French period was dominantly French in goods and trade. The Spanish allowed wider trade and allowed Americans in at times and of course by 1804 all bets are off...'anything' goes. The 2005 Blackpowder Annual from Dixie Gunworks features a nice PA made longrifle documented as used in the Battle of New Orleans (1814). Tenn amd Kentuck volunteers brought many into LA. Possibly my Gr-Gr grandfather was there from Georgia (he fought in the Rev War and in 1812).

 

[echo89]

That's why I asked here when I started striking out w/ my limited research materials.
Mike, Crackstock, thanks for the help, and the history fill-in. I'm really leaning toward a French trade gun.

DC

 

[CrackStock]

Early model French followed by mostly later Spanish models until 1802 and then almost anything goes since everyone was arming for the coming conflicts between French, British, Spanish and American interests in the area.

Truthfully, after the late 1790s, the door is pretty much open.

After 1803, the American influence strengthens greatly for obvious reasons, but smuggling and filibuster activities used whatever was available.

CS

 

[echo89]

As a follow-up, I decided against getting another long gun now, and picked up a LeMat revolver. No questions on the Louisiana origins of that weapon. I still plan to get a fusil or trade gun in the future. Thanks again for all the training.

DC

 

As a follow-up, I decided against getting another long gun now, and picked up a LeMat revolver. No questions on the Louisiana origins of that weapon. I still plan to get a fusil or trade gun in the future. Thanks again for all the training.

DC

I am a little mystified as to why you think this is a Louisiana weapon? Sure, Gen Beauregard commissioned it (and he was born in LA), but it was designed in France and made in London and used in limited numbers throughout the southern army. seems like a stretch and remote from your initial inquiry....

 

[Stumpkiller]

We're drifting from Flintlocks, but he has you there. Alexander LaMat was living in New Orleans when he patented his revolver. It's a U.S. Patent.

Jean Alexandre François LeMat, a French physician living in New Orleans, patented the LeMat revolver in the United States on October 21, 1856. The fearsome weapon fired nine shots from a top barrel, plus a shotgun like blast from a lower barrel. To protect his invention, LeMat took out patents in a number of European countries, including France. At the outbreak of the Civil War, LeMat secured a contract from the Confederate Ordnance Department to provide 5,000 of the pistols, and he traveled to the safety of Paris to begin manufacturing them. The first shipments of these pistols passed through the Union blockade into the Confederacy during the summer of 1862. Although these LeMats were originally intended for Confederate naval officers, many ended up in the hands of cavalry officers and other high-ranking Confederates. Generals J. E. B. Stuart and P. G. T. Beauregard both carried LeMat pistols. When Andersonville Prison commander Henry Wirz surrendered to Union officers, he turned over a LeMat to his captors.

 

[echo89]

Yes, I wasn't intending to head off topic, just post another thank you, let others who may want a weapon with direct ties to the area know how I solved my problem under the same topic, and let you know that all the previous info that was shared w/ me will play into my decision later.