Author Topic: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun  (Read 1685 times)

Online spgordon

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Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« on: March 10, 2023, 02:56:02 AM »
The Moravian Archives has four ledgers of "Indian Accounts," which itemize all the work done for and items supplied to Indigenous people (mostly living at Gnadenhütten [present day Lehighton/Weissport]) from 1747-1755. (I photographed these in 2018 and don't think I've looked at them since.) The article that Bob L. and I published in 2016 included some data about work done by Bethlehem's gunsmith for Indigenous people, but this information came, as I remember, from different ledgers and daybooks. These "Indian Account" books include lots of work that does not seem to be captured by these other ledgers and daybooks.

The second ledger (1749-1753), in particular, documents lots of "mending" and "stocking" of guns for lots of different people, along with the occasional "new Riffel." Most entries don't give any more details than that, plus the cost. But the work done for a man named Augustus on July 1, 1751, is quite detailed--and involves "Engraving and ... Brass Work," which at £1.1.0 cost more than the stock (£1.0.0).


« Last Edit: March 10, 2023, 02:59:57 AM by spgordon »
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Offline backsplash75

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2023, 10:00:10 PM »
VERY cool stuff! Where there is enough specificity, could you take a stab at the guesstimated ratio of smoothbores to rifles being worked on for Indian customers?

Online spgordon

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2023, 10:50:33 PM »
Nearly always in these accounts the term for the weapon being repaired is just "Gun." The only instances I can recall when the word "Rifle" was used is when somebody is purchasing a "New Riffel." I could be wrong but that is my recollection.

These ledgers almost never specify the type of repair work being done--just "mending a gun" or "mending a gun lock" or "new stocking his gun"--so I can't tell whether something is a smoothbore or a rifle.

I've begun a little chart of all the work on guns in these ledgers. It'll take a bit to complete, though I have a long plane ride tomorrow so maybe I'll get it done sooner than I think! I'll be able to answer better once that's done.

Here's another good entry, though--partly because the individual is well known (Tatamy), partly because the work being done is specified (including repairing a "sight" on a barrel):


« Last Edit: March 10, 2023, 11:05:56 PM by spgordon »
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Online smart dog

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2023, 02:28:09 AM »
Hi Scott,
Thank you so much for these posts of historically documented information. This is really good stuff and I think many here are grateful you take the time to educate us with those sources and information.  I hope you continue to do this in the future.

dave
"The main accomplishment of modern economics is to make astrology look good."

Offline VP

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2023, 04:10:53 AM »
Scott,

Thanks for presenting your research to this group. Very enlightening. I don't see how you can continually translate their writing style.

VP

Offline ScottNE

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2023, 04:24:11 AM »
Hi Scott,
Thank you so much for these posts of historically documented information. This is really good stuff and I think many here are grateful you take the time to educate us with those sources and information.  I hope you continue to do this in the future.

dave

I second this. It really gives a glimpse into the "under the hood" aspects of life.

Offline rich pierce

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2023, 05:12:51 AM »
I’m just having fun here.

I bet it was RCA 19.

Just kidding. Some of you know what I’m talking about!  ;D
Andover, Vermont

Offline WESTbury

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2023, 06:30:55 PM »
Here is another receipt, provided to me by Scott, detailing work performed by my distant cousin in 1776.


"We are not about to send American Boys 9 to 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian Boys ought to be doing for themselves."
President Lyndon B. Johnson October 21, 1964

Offline Tom Currie

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2023, 02:07:33 AM »
Count me in as as being grateful to Scott for taken the time to post his findings here. Thank you.

Online spgordon

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2023, 02:07:52 AM »
Here is another receipt, provided to me by Scott, detailing work performed by my distant cousin in 1776.



Talk about reading old handwriting! "Wrifehleing" = "Rifling"
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Offline JTR

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #10 on: March 12, 2023, 02:51:06 AM »
Scott, I agree with the others and really enjoy seeing, and reading, these interesting bits from your research!
Thanks for posting here, John
John Robbins

Online spgordon

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Re: Engraving and Brass Work on an "Indian" gun
« Reply #11 on: March 12, 2023, 05:21:30 PM »
By way of an update, "Indian Accounts" Book B documents about 60 instances of work on the guns of Indigenous people at Bethlehem between July 1749 and March 1753. The work is listed by account (by individual) not as a daily record. The work ranges from "stocking" a gun to "mending" a gun or a gun lock to "straightening" a gun barrel. The word "rifle" is never used. Much of the work would have been done by Bethlehem's smiths rather than by gunsmiths or gun stockers.

Only after Andreas Albrecht arrives in Bethlehem (June 1750) is any "stocking" work recorded--the first work credited to the "Gun Stock Maker" (see below) is August 1750.

An earlier account book (1747-1749) only records two instances of work, each recorded as "mending his gun," and one loan of a gun.

There are two other volumes of "Indian Accounts," both from 1755, but these volumes aren't the same thing as the first ones. They seem to have been kept in Gnadenhütten itself (a mission town of converted Indians). The word "rifle" is used in these account books, though not often: Daniel gets "a new Rifle in Bethlehem" on 19 August 1755, Petrus gets his rifle stocked on 5 October 1755, and Nathaniel gets his rifle "repaired" on 13 October 1755.

The settlement of Gnadenhütten was destroyed by non-Moravian Delawares on 24 November 1755. Eleven white Moravian missionaries were killed.


« Last Edit: March 12, 2023, 05:27:48 PM by spgordon »
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook