Rifles at the Museum of the American Revolution

[TobJohn]

The arms and armor exhibit in the Philadelphia museum of art was closed for renovations, but the museum of the American Revolution had some interesting rifles on display and was overall a great museum.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Nice.
Did they put someone’s actual headstone in there?

 

[TobJohn]

Nice.
Did they put someone’s actual headstone in there?

It looks they did lol

They did a good job of mixing artifacts and information, which museums are struggling to balance right now.

They had a big display of militia Fowlers and military muskets, which was also very cool

 

[Mattox Forge]

Wow, an actual Ferguson and a 1776 Pattern Infantry rifle.

 

[duca]

Yes! Michael Chrisps infamous words…who’s for the camp at Cambridge!!

 

[TobJohn]

Wow, an actual Ferguson and a 1776 Pattern Infantry rifle.

I did a double take when I passed them. “Those are some weird muskets… wait wow!!!”

 

[User_Dan]

It's a great museum and they do a good
Job telling the story.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
They have a good interactive computer display for many of the arms. That is not an ordnance issued Ferguson. It is a privately made and purchased rifle.

dave

 

[oreclan]

Yes! Michael Chrisps infamous words…who’s for the camp at Cambridge!!

Captain Michael Cresap of a Maryland Rifle Coy. He died of an illness in New York City marching on his was to the siege of Boston.
He was a friend and distant relative of one of my Patriot ancestors, Capt. Andrew Lynn, Jr., who was then living in Westmoreland County, Pa.

 

[Flint1]

Hi,
They have a good interactive computer display for many of the arms. That is not an ordnance issued Ferguson. It is a privately made and purchased rifle.

dave

I wondered about that Ferguson when I saw the picture. I have heard the only two military model Fergusons are at Monmouth and the other in a library either in Detroit or Minnesota. I also heard that Narragansett was able to disassemble the one in the library to make wax castings when they built their copy in the late '90s early 2000s. Don't know if that is correct or not. It seems I heard or read somewhere once that the Fergusons at those locations were carried up north by Union troops returning home after the war. The theory was some of Ferguson's riflemen kept their rifles when Ferguson's unit was broken up and carried them back to their regiments , where they were apparently captured in the Southern theater. I believe the Ferguson at King's Mountain is a sporting model.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Flint1,
TRS did make copies of the Ordnance issued Ferguson in the Milwaukee Public Museum. The only other known survivng Ordnance Ferguson is in the Morristown National Historical Park in New Jersey. I've built 3 Ferguson rifles using TRS parts and the castings are generally excellent.

Mine are copies of the Morristown gun, which I handled and examined closely. There are lots of stories and myths about the Ferguson rifles. I've never seen any documentation that the survivng rifles came up from the south. Moreover, if some of Ferguson's men kept their rifles it was in direct violation of Howe's orders. There are those who want to believe Ferguson rifles were used at King's Mountain? The only British soldier at King's Mountain was Ferguson and he did not have a rifle on him when he died. The rifles were originally issued to British soldiers so to have been at King's Mountain, they had to be reissued to loyalists. There is no surviving documentation of that but it is clear Ferguson's Amercian Volunteers were armed at Charleston with the usual period arms and perhaps some pattern 1776 muzzleloading rifles.

dave

 

[Dobegrant]

very interesting, thanks for sharing

 

[D.Summers]

Excellent post!!

 

[Flint1]

Thanks for that info Dave! I was completely off on the state where the Ferguson is in the public museum (as well as the type of building) but I was in the correct state for the other. Since you said that I do remember now it was Morristown I heard. And you are correct, I have heard there were no rifles used at King's Mountain on the British (Tory) side and Ferguson was the only regular army soldier present on either side. I guess the NPS placed the Ferguson on display there since Ferguson was the commander there and the rifle is associated with his name. Back in the early '90s I read an article in Man at Arms how the Ferguson at King's Mountain was somehow stolen in 1966 and 25 years later the thief tried to sell it and made the mistake of contacting an antique gun dealer who remembered the theft and notified the police. Thanks again for your clarification and the great info. That is a beautiful rifle you made!

 

[Mattox Forge]

I did a double take when I passed them. “Those are some weird muskets… wait wow!!!”

The Ferguson gets all the attention, but the Pattern 1776 is the more important gun. It is the grandaddy of the Baker rifle. Its introduction probably convinced many an upcoming British infantry officer of the utility of rifle armed light troops. The Ferguson was too delicate and expensive to be a practical military rifle. The stock was too thin around the breech to survive bayonet fighting. Some German Jagers were armed with rifles that had bayonet lugs and bayonet exactly like the Baker wound up with in 1800. Military muskets and rifles have double as clubs.