After years of researching early gunmakers in Kentucky, very few black men have been documented as working as gunsmiths before the Civil War. A few records exist, usually in some unexpected form, of a black man working in a gun shop in pre-Civil War Kentucky, but most were referred to as laborers or "helpers," some probably better trained than others. There are perhaps two or three references of black men who were capable of building a complete rifle... but those men did not sign guns, and records of their skills were generally kept out of public records... probably to avoid public complaints. In almost 40 years, I have never seen a pre-Civil War rifle from Kentucky signed by a black man.
Recently, an auction in North Carolina sold a plain full-stocked rifle with an odd name on the barrel, "John N. Maxey." The gun drew little attention, and I was able to purchase it reasonably. One advantage of doing years of focused research and then rehashing all the material when publishing several large reference books, is the ability to recall strange or odd names... and "Maxey" was one of the names that stood out. He was a black man from Logan County, Kentucky, who immediately after the Civil War was working publicly as a gunsmith. From prior research on Maxey and his family, I thought he must have been a fully trained gunsmith while in Kentucky before the war, but I had never seen a gun by him and assumed he never got the opportunity to put his name on a gun barrel since he most likely worked as a journeyman in another gunsmith's shop. This rifle proved me wrong.
I don't have the full story of Maxey's life, but I do have a number of fragments from his life, enough to provide an interesting overview.
John Maxey was born October 9, 1828, in Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky. Russellville was the center of gun making in the Barrens region of west-central Kentucky, with several accomplished gunsmiths working there including Joseph Blair and Samuel Matthis. His status as a young man, whether slave or free, hasn't been discovered. Maxey served in the Civil War from Logan County, enlisting on February 14, 1864, in the U. S. Colored Infantry. After the war, he was working as a "gunsmith" in Athens County, Ohio [on Ohio River across from West Virginia] the 1870 census. His children were listed as "mulattoe" and born in Kentucky, so perhaps he was of mixed race. He was again listed as a "gunsmith" in Athens County in 1880. He may have later moved to Springfield in Clark County, Ohio, since he died there on March 13, 1915 and was buried in the local Ferncliff Cemetery. His grave is in the "Soldiers' Memorial Section" of the cemetery with a small, simple white military marker, "John N. Maxey, Co. A, 16 U. S. O. I." [is the "O" actually a "C"?]
The signed "John N. Maxey" rifle has been refinished, some wood slivers poorly replaced [all restoration work was poor by today's standards], a brass ramrod installed, and two of its four ramrod pipes lost. However, the barrel appears to be full length and retains its original muzzle stampings. Of interest is the guard with its "square shoulder" above the rear spur where it runs up to meet the rear extension, a strong Kentucky detail, along with its 6 inch long, three-screw tang, another strong Kentucky detail. The sidefacings are also tight around the lock and the butt profile is triangular in KY fashion. The gun appears to be a pre-Civil War, 1850s rifle from Kentucky, probably Logan County, and signed by a black gunsmith when such things just didn't happen. Additional research may help shed light on John Maxey's life and where/when he began working independently as a gunsmith. But this rifle, the only rifle I am aware of from KY with a black man's name on the barrel from before the Civil War, stands out as a special rifle made by a special gunsmith at a time in Kentucky's history when it was almost unimaginable.
Shelby Gallien
