The Springfield Model 1795 was a .69 caliber

flintlock Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, also known ...

musket manufactured in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The Model 1795 was the first musket to be produced in the United States by

Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney h ...

at both the Springfield and

Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. state ...

U.S. armories. It was based heavily on the Charleville Model 1763/66 which had been imported in large numbers from the French during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...

and which at the time comprised the largest number of muskets in U.S.

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

s at about 20,000 muskets. The Model 1795 was used in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

, after which shortcomings in both the design and

manufacturing process Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...

of the Model 1795 led to the development of the Springfield Model 1812 at Springfield only, and eventually the Springfield Model 1816 at both armories.

Characteristics

The Model 1795, a very elongated musket, retained many of the characteristics of the Charleville on which it was based. It had a long .69 caliber barrel, a

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

, and a total length of . The original version had the

bayonet lug A bayonet lug is a standard feature on most military musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plat ...

on the bottom of the

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

but this was later moved to the top. Minor changes were made throughout production inclusive of a shorter barrel length of on the later Harpers Ferry weapons. Barrels of Harpers Ferry Model 1795s were serial numbered up to some point in 1812: Model 1795's were never serial numbered. Springfield began the Model 1812 improvements in 1814, but Harpers Ferry continued on with the production of the Model 1795 until at least 1819 (early 1819 examples still used the Model 1795 lockplate) and never produced the Model 1812. Eventually, both armories incorporated improvements into the Model 1816 flintlock which were after a few years virtually identical. Most, but not all, parts will

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

on the Model 1816 muskets but the hand-crafted parts, and lack of set standards and

patterns A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated li ...

on the earlier Model 1795 weapons often means parts will not interchange easily. Typical of

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without s ...

muskets, the Model 1795 had an effective range of about to . The Model 1795 fired a smaller

round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the numbe ...

than the British .75 caliber

Brown Bess "Brown Bess" is a nickname of uncertain origin for the British Army's muzzle-loading smoothbore flintlock Land Pattern Musket and its derivatives. The musket design remained in use for over a hundred years with many incremental changes in its ...

, but the Model 1795 also had both a slightly longer range and slightly better

accuracy Accuracy and precision are two measures of '' observational error''. ''Accuracy'' is how close a given set of measurements (observations or readings) are to their '' true value'', while ''precision'' is how close the measurements are to each ot ...

than the Brown Bess musket. This gave the American forces an advantage of range when they faced

British forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, su ...

in the War of 1812.

Production

The Model 1795 was

manufactured Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

at the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield, which was the first armory in the United States, at least as early as 1799. Earlier versions prior to this date probably were produced but were not dated. Starting in 1801, possibly as early as 1800, it was also produced in the then new United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Several differences between the Springfield Model 1795 and the Harpers Ferry Model 1795 have led many to label the Harpers Ferry version as a significantly different model. Quite a few independent contractors also made the weapon as they were in constant

demand In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. The relationship between price and quantity demand is also called the demand curve. Demand for a specific item ...

. The federal armories simply could not make enough muskets to meet demand with the labor force they had during these early years. Only about two dozen

artisans An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, ...

worked in the Harpers Ferry arsenal around 1800, and making the muskets from raw materials was a very labor-intensive task. Approximately 80,000 Springfield Model 1795 muskets were produced while about 70,000 were produced at Harpers Ferry.

Service history

Model 1795s were used throughout the

, the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico f ...

of 1846–48, and the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

of 1861–65. Most were converted to

percussion cap The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...

s either at the armories or by private individuals, but records reflect that many in the South were issued an original flintlock at the beginning of the Civil War until the Confederates could convert them to percussion. There is some evidence that some were in fact never converted at all from flintlock. The effective service life of the Model 1795 thus extends through 1865. The Model 1795 was also used by some members of the

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

expedition."Lewis & Clark Tailor Made, Trail Worn: Army Life, Clothing & Weapons of the Corps of Discovery", by Robert John Moore, Robert J. Moore, Jr., Michael Haynes, Published by Farcountry Press, 2003

References

External links

{{USCWWeapons Springfield firearms Muskets American Civil War weapons Weapons of the Confederate States of America

Characteristics

Production

Service history

See also

References

External links