Pretty nice New England rifle for auction

[vtbuck223]

JVP...just curious about Silas Allen rifles being used by militiamen from surrounding states as well...is that just as likely?

[JV Puleo]

Yes, I think it is likely. Certainly Rhode Island and perhaps Connecticut, New Hampshire etc. That said, I have never looked into the popularity of Rifle Companies in those states. I know my own town, Smithfield, RI had one - the Smithfield Rangers and I have a manual from the Green Mountain Rifles (Vermont). It is a subject that has never been explored in anything but a cursory manner. The two most knowledgable people I knew were Bill Guthman and Frank Klay. Bill is long gone and if Frank is still with us, he must be in his 90s.

jp

[Shreckmeister]

I don't find a Whitefield Mass, but there is a Whitefield NH, so would Mass have raised militia in NH?

[JV Puleo]

No, but you may look for an alternate spelling. Modern orthography - what we think of as "correct" spelling wasn't invented until the beginning of the 20th century so often words were spelled differently at the time.

Maine was then part of Massachusetts and there is a Whitefield, Maine. It didn't become a separate state until 1821 so Maine towns were in Massachusetts during the War of 1812.

Maine is a very likely place to sell a rifle if only because it was one of the few places in New England where there was anything to hunt with a rifle. About 80% of Massachusetts was cleared by 1830 – it's only about 25% today. It is said that Maine is the only NE state where large game was never hunted out, something that is still true. One of the main reasons we think that most NE rifles were for militia rifle companies is that there was literally nothing to shoot in Mass that a .54 caliber rifle was appropriate for.

[Seth Isaacson]

No, but you may look for an alternate spelling. Modern orthography - what we think of as "correct" spelling wasn't invented until the beginning of the 20th century so often words were spelled differently at the time.

Maine was then part of Massachusetts and there is a Whitefield, Maine. It didn't become a separate state until 1821 so Maine towns were in Massachusetts during the War of 1812.

Maine is a very likely place to sell a rifle if only because it was one of the few places in New England where there was anything to hunt with a rifle. About 80% of Massachusetts was cleared by 1830 – it's only about 25% today. It is said that Maine is the only NE state where large game was never hunted out, something that is still true. One of the main reasons we think that most NE rifles were for militia rifle companies is that there was literally nothing to shoot in Mass that a .54 caliber rifle was appropriate for.

I can't remember which environmental/natural history book about the colonial/early federal era I read about this in, possibly Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose (best book cover of all time), but at least some of the New England states began restricting hunting deer even before the Revolution due to the game being pretty much hunted out our pushed out by agriculture.

[Elnathan]

No, but you may look for an alternate spelling. Modern orthography - what we think of as "correct" spelling wasn't invented until the beginning of the 20th century so often words were spelled differently at the time.

Maine was then part of Massachusetts and there is a Whitefield, Maine. It didn't become a separate state until 1821 so Maine towns were in Massachusetts during the War of 1812.

Maine is a very likely place to sell a rifle if only because it was one of the few places in New England where there was anything to hunt with a rifle. About 80% of Massachusetts was cleared by 1830 – it's only about 25% today. It is said that Maine is the only NE state where large game was never hunted out, something that is still true. One of the main reasons we think that most NE rifles were for militia rifle companies is that there was literally nothing to shoot in Mass that a .54 caliber rifle was appropriate for.

I can't remember which environmental/natural history book about the colonial/early federal era I read about this in, possibly Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose (best book cover of all time), but at least some of the New England states began restricting hunting deer even before the Revolution due to the game being pretty much hunted out our pushed out by agriculture.

The introduction of game laws is a plot point in the first of the Leatherstocking Tales, The Pioneers. Natty Bumppo is introduced to the world as a 70-something hunter who isn't terribly thrilled either with the wastefulness of the new settlers or the legal attempts to curb that by restricting his hunting.

[vtbuck223]

JVP's analysis is undoubtedly correct concerning the militia use of rifles from this period. I would add...though diminishing and scarce in many parts especially south...at the time that rifle was made there was still some game in Northern Vermont and NH as well as Maine. Deer hunting in Vermont was subsequently outlawed in Vermont for 30 or 40 years circa 1860's and started back up with a regulated season in 1897. The last mountain lion was killed in VT in 1881, NH 1885, and Maine had a population up in the 20th century. They were undoubtedly well fed on a sheep diet but also required some big game to survive. Here is a following snippet of the last mountain lion killed in Vt;
"After they tracked the animal, Crowell shot the panther twice.  First he shot the panther in the leg with a shot gun.  Then he grabbed a rifle from another hunter and shot the panther in the head."

Just thought it was interesting that he had a shotgun and had to switch to his friends rifle. Of course at that time target shooting, turkey shoots...etc. had become very popular and it may have been such a rifle...made well after the state militia's were no longer in existence. Kendall was making such percussion rifles in Vermont circa 1835 and many followed him.