My Civil War Family relic and story. An old Musket with an unknown past. | Eastern North Carolina Now

My civil war family relic and story, An old Musket with an unknown past.

    I have an old musket in my trophy room from my dad's family. It hung in the basement of our house all my life. After my parents passed, my brother hung it in his garage for a few years. It eventually ended up in my son's collection. It came back to me after he a few years when my son sold his house prior to building his current house.

    I would like to tell the story of this Musket, but the truth is my dad was not much on history. His life revolved around surviving and making a living. Some people do not particularly care to revisit their history. That was my dad. He could tell great stories but most of them were about the good times. It was not until much later in his life that I got him to open up on some of the bad times.

    My post on his participation with the Atlanta Winecoff Fire was an example of him finally telling me the story. Here is the Winecoff Post.

    My cousin, Art and I played with this musket many times in our youth. We even tried to repair the termite damage on the back of the stock. Eventually it just went back on the gun rack in the basement and stayed there until after my dad died.

    I had begun to interview my dad on his history and began to wonder what the story about the musket and shortly before he pass I asked him what the story was on the musket.

    He said he did not remember much about it but that one of his relatives came back from the Civil War and "threw the musket under the front porch and never touched it again". It stayed there until someone found it an hung it over the fireplace. That's it, no more.

    I have tried to do some research on my dad's family but it is difficult because of the common last name and his lack of details about his relatives.

    Well there is a story to be told but it went to the grave with my Dad's relative. I do not even know which relative it was and Dad did not remember either.

    One thing that may be in the genes if not the story. Since I returned from Vietnam I have never touched an M16 rifle again. I have a few old historical weapons but not an M16. I promised myself that I would never hold or touch an M16 again. I have many friends who own them and when they say, "hey take a look at this", I just reply "I've already seen one".

    Here are some pictures of the Musket (2015). I am holding it until my son gets settled in his new house and then it will go back to him with this story.

Here is the rifle as it is today: Above.

Here is the repair work done by two 12 year old boys with wood puddy: Above.

I have been unable to identify the Initials: Above.

I can't explain why the X are in reverse order, Maybe the owner was left handed: Above.

Harpers Ferry 1841? or 47?: Above.


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( October 2nd, 2015 @ 2:15 pm )
 
There is some confusion over the year . 1841 could be the Model number . The years of manufacture were several for model M1841.



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