The Harper's Ferry Model 1805 U.S. martial flintlock pistol manufactured at the

Harpers Ferry Armory The Harpers Ferry Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, was the second federal armory created by the United States government; the first was the Springfield Armory. It was located in Harpers Ferry, ...

in Virginia (now

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

) was the first pistol manufactured by an American national armory. It was the standard handgun of the U.S.

Dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

s during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

Specifications

Harper's Ferry 1805, 1806, 1807 and 1808 flintlock pistols were all essentially identical, and the design has similarities with the Model 1803 rifles also produced at Harpers Ferry. The M1805 pistol was a .54 caliber,

single-shot In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have ...

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. Some examples of smoothbore weapons are muskets, blunderbusses, and flintlock pistols. ...

flintlock pistol 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 ...

intended for field duty. Harper's Ferry model 1805–1808 flintlock pistols were known then as “ horsemen’s pistols” and were produced in pairs; both pistols having identical serial numbers. With just one shot readily available without reloading, a pair or "brace" was the standard issue. Horse accouterments also included a standard pair of saddle holsters. No serial number higher than 2048 has ever been discovered—and that is exactly half of the number recorded as produced at the Harper's Ferry Armory. There are between 200–300 of these pistols known to exist today.

War of 1812

During the

, the M1805 pistol was issued to American cavalry. Due to the high demand for weapons, a variety of single shot flintlock pistols were manufactured in some of the states, especially Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Some featured improvements such as iron instead of wood

ramrod A ramrod (or scouring stick) is a metal or wooden device used with muzzleloader, muzzleloading firearms to push the projectile up against the propellant (mainly blackpowder). The ramrod was used with weapons such as muskets and cannons and was u ...

Later developments

The U.S. military subsequently used a variety of flintlock pistols produced by government contractors, especially Simeon North of Connecticut, between 1808 and 1844. The last of these was the U.S. Model 1836. A

caplock The percussion cap, percussion primer, or caplock, 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. Its invention gave ...

version of the M1836 pistol, the U.S. Model 1842, was issued to the

Dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

during the

Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

and US-Mexican War until the Colt Dragoon

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

was introduced in 1848. The last U.S. martial single shot muzzleloading pistol was the U.S.

Springfield Model 1855 The Springfield Model 1855 was a rifled musket widely used in the American Civil War. It exploited the advantages of the new conical Minié ball, which could be deadly at over . It was a standard infantry weapon for Union and Confederates al ...

, a .58 caliber handgun manufactured at the Springfield Armory with a detachable

shoulder stock A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock, or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attac ...

designed for use by US

dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

during the

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

. By that period, revolvers had become the preferred sidearms for mounted troops. Single shot muzzleloading pistols were widely used by

gunfighter Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslin ...

s and

mountain men A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness and makes his living from hunting, fishing and trapping. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in ...

in the early days of the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

, including

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...

. Many were also issued to the

Confederate army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Lawrence O'Bryan Branch Lawrence O'Bryan Branch (November 28, 1820 – September 17, 1862) was an American politician who served as a representative for North Carolina in the Congress of the United States, U.S. Congress and a Confederate States of America, Confedera ...

was carrying a pair of Model 1836 pistols when he was killed by a Union army

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

in 1862.Museum of the Confederacy
/ref>

Modern use

Currently manufactured reproductions of the original pistols are made with a larger caliber than the original, as well as a rifled bore for more accurate shooting. There is one reproduction available modeled after the percussion converted Harper's Ferry pistols that is built with the correct .54 caliber smooth bore as well. USAMPC-Branch-Insignia

The Model 1805

U.S. Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the U.S. federal judiciary. It is an agency of the U.S. Department of Jus ...

"Harper's Ferry" flintlock pistol is used today on the insignia of the U.S. Army Military Police Corps.

References

{{reflist

External links

M1805 pistol at the National Rifle Association's National Firearms Museum
Single-shot pistols Black-powder pistols Pistols of the United States Guns of the American West Virginia in the War of 1812 War of 1812 American Civil War weapons Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1805 Fur trade