Does anyone have any further info or details about the Gillespie gunmaker below?
Gillespie rifle photo
THere is the picture of a Gillespie rifle that is on display in the Jim Bob Tinsley Museum in Brevard NC. The name of the rifle is "Old Ellen" and I have a write up about it somewhere but have not found it.
If my memory serves me right this one was built by Phillip Gillespie. Phillip joined the Federal Army (not CSA as some stories say, including the one below by John Parris) and never returned. He died in Tenn. (see info below)
Notes for PHILIP GILLESPIE:
Philip Gillespie, son of Mathew and Elizabeth Sitton Gillespie, was
probably the best known of the Gillespie rifle makers of Mills River.
Philip was born February 11, 1817, and while a young man, he learned the
trade of rifle making from his father, and he learned it well. Many of
the Gillespie rifles in existence today bear the inscription P. G.
stamped on the barrel of the rifle. Very few of these rifles are to be
found today, and when they are, the going price is in the vicinity of
$3,000.00. In addition to making rifles, Philip was a farmer, and also
operated a distillery. In 1849, Philip purchased 347 acres of property
from the estate of Philip Sitton, Sr., who was Philip Gillespie's
grandfather. The property included the home of Philip Sitton Sr., and the
Iron Forge that Philip Sitton established about 1800.
It was somewhere on this property that Philip Gillispie reportedly
buried a cask of brandy and a small sack of gold coins. The next day
Philip left Mills River, never to return.
On August 2nd. of 1863, Philip, his brother Wilson,
brothers-in-law, George W. Underwood and Robert O. Blythe, left Mills
River by foot, went to Asheville, where they caught a train to Tenn. The
men worked for several days, thrashing wheat and cutting corn. On
September 25, 1863, the four men enlisted in the Union Army, at
Greenville, Tenn., and on October 1, 1863 the men were assigned to Co.
F., 2nd. Regiment of the North Carolina Mounted Infantry, at Knoxville,
Tenn.
On January 7th., 1864, Philip Gillespie was taken from camp, sick
with diarrhea. He was taken to the home of Richard Wade near
Maynardsville, Tenn., where he died Friday evening, January 15, 1864. He
was buried at Maynardsville on Saturday night, January 16, 1864.
