I wrote an article for the Kentucky Rifle Association Newsletter and have reproduced it here. It may be of some interest. I will post pictures of the rifle in another thread to follow.
Al
A Revolutionary war Kentucky rifle, a Kentucky musket, or a Kentucky fowler?
Or all three?
I was very fortunate to find this rifle on the internet one night as I was surfing the net. It was on a blog of a lady who was a doll collector. I have no idea how I found it but I am glad I did. On her blog she described a gun her husband had found in a New England flea market many years ago. She stated that he paid $30 for it. She also had posted some pictures of it and that really caught my attention. She called it a “The Bunker Hill gun”. What appeared on her site was a gun that looked like a rifle built gun with a sliding wooden patchbox cover. Her husband was told that the gun came from a barn in Maine. She related that after her husband had gotten the gun home, he removed the patchbox lid, and there was writing in the inside! It said, “Made by Ebne’r Wentorth (unintelligible word) Picked up Bunker Hill by Capt. Gideon Elders.” WOW! I just had to see that gun. Both men mentioned on the lid were colonists who participated in the Siege of Boston. So I emailed her and asked if the gun was possibly for sale. She politely told me that it wasn’t and thanked me for my interest. I then emailed her for two or three months and the answer was always the same. I let about six months go by and sent one more email. Surprisingly, she said the gun was now available. Since she lived about 9 hours from me, I immediately drove to her house as soon as I could. I met a charming lady who ended up selling the gun to me. She wanted it to go to someone who could appreciate its history and who would get it properly restored.
What I got from her was a rifle built gun that had a sliding wooden patchbox cover. It had been converted to percussion and the forestock was shortened to just ahead of the rear ramrod pipe. The lock and sideplate were missing. But it still had all the architectural elements needed to understand what the gun originally might have looked like. It appeared that it started out life as a rifle. It had an octagonal barrel 41.5 inches long that was bored out to .75 caliber smooth with front and rear sights. The barrel was 1.25 inches at the breech that tapered and flared to 1.0 inches at the muzzle. The wood was curly maple. It once had a cheekpiece but that had been shaved off. The butt was 2 1/16 inches wide. It had a classic rifle triggerguard, sideplate, ramrod pipes, patchbox, and butt stock configuration with a lower butt stock molding. The wooden patchbox cover was original to the gun. The lid also had a unique closure mechanism that consisted of a wire that was inlet along the bottom edge of the lid to provide sufficient friction to keep the lid in place. Fortunately, it has worked to perfection all these years. The patchbox lid is what makes this rifle historically important. I studied the gun for several days and came to the following conclusion. It had originally been made as a very early rifle. The shape of the sideplate mortise and the butt stock architecture suggests the Berks County area of Pennsylvania. The buttplate configuration is very similar to rifle No. 109 in RCA and the patchbox profile is similar to rifle No. 85 in RCA. Steve Hench has seen the rifle and suggests a date of 1760. He also feels that the rifle is a frontier built gun based on some of the design details that might have been out of place in the vicinity of a traditional gun making school. The rifle was heavily built, with a very heavily built fore end, had a massive barrel, and probably had a large bore at one time. The ramrod pipes measured out at 40 caliber in diameter, suggesting a large rifled bore. It has a lot of characteristics of an American transition rifle of the mid 18th century.
When I studied the gun I noted that the bore was bored out to .75 caliber, the rear sight had been removed and the dovetail filled in with brass, the cheek piece had been cut off, sling swivels had been added, and it appeared that there was the remains of a fitting under the muzzle, possibly for a bayonet. It dawned on me that the rifle had been converted into a musket. I don’t know when that was done but the .75 caliber bore and sling swivels suggest that it might have been done during the Revolution. The cheek piece was cut off and the area was dished out, similar to some of the French muskets of the period. I have also seen this feature on American made muskets. It still shouldered and pointed very well, attesting to the builder’s skill.
Of course, probably sometime after the war, it was then further converted to a fowler by cutting the stock to a half stock with a typical New England metal rib running under the barrel. It had also been converted to percussion, finalizing its transformation. Luckily, the metal rib was a three sided hollow rib that preserved the location of the barrel tenens and forward sling swivel location, and bayonet lug placement, allowing for an accurate restoration.
I chose to restore it to its musket configuration. Replacing the long gone cheekpiece would have been problematic at best. I had a lock and sideplate made to fit the mortises and no original wood was disturbed. I had the forestock replaced and this also did not affect the gun as I had originally found it.
My hypothesis is that the rifle made its way to Boston during the siege. It could have belonged to one of the members of the Pennsylvania Rifle companies that arrived in Boston in the summer of 1775. Even though Bunker Hill is mentioned on the patch box lid, I do not think it was at the battle. Perhaps it was found on Bunker Hill after the colonists retook the hill after the battle. It could have been found, it could have been stolen, or lost, or bet away in a card game. One way or another it came into the possession of Ebeneezer Wentworth. He was from Buxton, Maine, or settled there after the war, where the gun was found. He took it home and that is where the gun was eventually found. The writing on the lid, perhaps, reflects the oral family history that developed around the gun. Since Wentworth was from Maine, I do not believe he actually made the gun. He was listed as a blacksmith, so he certainly could have been instrumental in converting the rifle into a musket, or, further converting it into a half stock fowler. But I do think the inscription does indicate that the gun was acquired by him in Boston during the siege. If true, then it is a very unique rifle. I know of no other Kentucky rifle that can be associated with a specific battle or campaign in the Revolutionary war. It is a good study for someone wanting to recreate a rifle of that period.
I find it most interesting that it started out life as a rifle, then was made into a musket, and finally was made into a fowler/shotgun, perhaps having a working life of almost 100 years.
As a rifle, it was heavy built with a large bore and is the type of rifle that one could imagine shooting a bear, protecting a family from marauding Indians or even killing a Redcoat or two. It doesn’t have the fancy attributes of the golden age Kentucky rifles but this one was actually made to be used on the frontier, or on the battlefield.
I would appreciate any and all comments from the membership concerning this rifle.
