Author Topic: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)  (Read 8101 times)

Offline spgordon

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Hi all:

I am trying to read Wallace Gusler's article "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina"--which I thought was printed in four issues of Muzzle Blasts in 2005: January, March, July, and November.

I have each of these--but the November 2005 issue ends (as do the previous ones) by referring to "the next article."

SO: Was there a next article? Did the article extend into 2006 issues of Muzzle Blasts?

I've found online a couple of bibliographies of Gusler's articles in Muzzle Blasts and both of them indicate that the article extended only over these four 2005 issues...

Also, semi-related: Eric K, did you take down from your website all of your articles? If so, why?!?!
« Last Edit: December 02, 2019, 11:35:45 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

Offline Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2019, 11:39:54 PM »
As far as I know, the November 2005 installment was the end of it.  There has been some further discussion online here and there although I don't believe Wallace posts much here if at all anymore.  There should be some very good archived discussions back around that period (early 2000's).

One very interesting more recent development was the silver mounted restock dated 1785 for John Calhoun in SC that popped up at auction a few years back.  Raised some interesting questions and possibilities.  As in (imho) Jacob Loesch.

I'd love to re-initiate some discussion of that rifle (42) as, speaking only for myself, my thoughts have changed somewhat.
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Offline Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2019, 01:24:31 AM »
Correction:  Colhoun, not Calhoun.

Scott are you familiar with the silver mounted 'restock' I mentioned?  I saved the auction pictures and can post.  If I understand things correctly, I believe (per Michael Briggs info) that one of the universities down there (SC I assume) bought it because of the John E Colhoun connection, despite the fact that only the furnishings are really the connection.

I had to completely rebuild my website from the ground up as Apple no longer supports iWeb, nor will it run on newer Apple computers.  I hadn't been able to update or modify it since @ 2015, so I switched over to Everweb which operates somewhat similarly.  I'm currently rebuilding it from scratch and I'm going through and editing/updating the articles before I repost them.  Bob's two books are now out so I need to go through and cross-reference the NH County Moravian stuff with his work as well as your own, as you two guys are "the man" in that regard.  Thanks for asking!
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Offline spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2019, 03:58:01 AM »
Eric, I am very glad that your articles will be back online and available!

I've seen a photo of that silver patchbox (J. E. Colhoun) in the draft of Michael Briggs's book, yes. The book states that the rifle is at Clemson University.
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 HIB

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2019, 09:53:08 AM »
Gentleman, I have had many hours of intelligent conversations with Mr. Gusler. If he believes a Moravian rifle made in NC actually exists or a documented Moravian gunsmith worked there  I am in favor of allowing the various suspects to be fully examined and put forth on this forum.

There is one competent and historically knowledgeable collector in the NC Moravian sector who should have a say in the discussion.  Do not sell Mr. Gusler short. Present the evidence and begin the documentation and potential. There might be a few surprises.  Regards,  HIB   

Offline smart dog

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2019, 03:41:03 PM »
Hi Henry,
I don't think Scott or Eric were discounting anyone's hypotheses particularly Wallace's.  I believe they would love to stimulate this discussion about Moravian gun making in the south again in light of more recent scholarship such as that by Bob Lienemann.  I would love to see that discussion happen as well.

dave 
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Offline spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2019, 03:46:57 PM »
I just want to read the article! I know nothing about this rifle or the debate about it--so I'm in no position to dispute anything! But I am eager to learn about it, which is why I was asking about the issues in which Mr. Gusler's article appeared.
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 Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2019, 04:03:56 PM »
Often, when this particular rifle enters a discussion (either here, or at KRA, or via personal discussions etc.), it leaves a trail of heated debate, occasional insult and quick tempers in its wake.  I have no idea why, but it does.

Nobody here is discounting or insulting Wallace.  I too have had many interesting discussions with him and have always found him to be both knowledgeable and a gentleman.  My sole mention of him a few posts above was a notation that he doesn't post here anymore - or at least, he hasn't in a very long time.  I miss a number of guys who no longer post here, including Earl and Gary.

Until a signed Valentine Beck rifle turns up, I would assume that one hypothesis may be politely met with another hypothesis with no insult intended to the original hypothesis.  There are multiple theories about where this rifle may have been made, and by whom.
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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #8 on: December 03, 2019, 05:01:56 PM »
There is little Doubt V. Beck made guns in PA and NC. Figuring out which ones were made where is the difficult part. And, are there any signed examples of his work?....it's been a years since I read any Moravian stuff, VERY short memory here...LOL
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Offline Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #9 on: December 03, 2019, 05:29:06 PM »
I am not aware of any signed work.  His time spent gunstocking in PA was extremely short, perhaps no more than a year or so, and his time spent gunstocking in NC - according to what timeline I've been able to work out via Adelaide Fries translations of the NC records - was also fairly short, as the War interrupted and then he was fairly devoted to pastoral duties after the War.  By the time approval was given to resume gun work following the War, Jacob Loesch was operating the shop in Salem.  That's how I read the records Fries translated, anyway.
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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #10 on: December 03, 2019, 06:16:28 PM »
I am not aware of any signed work.  His time spent gunstocking in PA was extremely short, perhaps no more than a year or so, and his time spent gunstocking in NC - according to what timeline I've been able to work out via Adelaide Fries translations of the NC records - was also fairly short, as the War interrupted and then he was fairly devoted to pastoral duties after the War.  By the time approval was given to resume gun work following the War, Jacob Loesch was operating the shop in Salem.  That's how I read the records Fries translated, anyway.
Yes, I recall the same. It seems for a trained gunsmith he spent very little time actually making guns. I have wondered if it is actually wise to attribute any existing guns to him....maybe yes but most likely no due to such a small production number.
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Offline spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #11 on: December 03, 2019, 10:40:27 PM »
I am not aware of any signed work.  His time spent gunstocking in PA was extremely short, perhaps no more than a year or so, and his time spent gunstocking in NC - according to what timeline I've been able to work out via Adelaide Fries translations of the NC records - was also fairly short, as the War interrupted and then he was fairly devoted to pastoral duties after the War.  By the time approval was given to resume gun work following the War, Jacob Loesch was operating the shop in Salem.  That's how I read the records Fries translated, anyway.

I don't write the following to dispute that Beck produced work in PA and in NC.

But it is worth noting (or arguing, I suppose) that the presence of Valentin Beck and Albrecht and Oerter in Moravian communities in Northampton County, say, in 1763 does not mean that they were all working at stocking guns. There was not enough work for all these men to be laboring in a gunshop. So maybe they all learned from one another? Or maybe it means the opposite: one or more of them were assigned to other work and so were not present in the gunshop at all.

The Moravian system deployed people where skills were needed, and individuals often did not work at trades in which they had been trained. Both Albrecht and William Henry II are examples of this: many years away from a gunshop working at a different trade, Albrecht as an innkeeper, Henry as an architect and joiner. (We know that Henry had to beg authorities to allow him to return, after almost a decade, to the gunmaking business.)

All of this is just to say that the presence of Beck in Northampton County doesn't really tell us much about how much time he spent in the gunshop--and the simultaneous presence of Albrecht (and Oerter) does not mean there was more activity in the gunshop. Unless the demand for repairs or new product changed, some of these men would have been deployed in other trades/occupations/activities.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2019, 10:50:01 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

Offline Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #12 on: December 04, 2019, 01:52:43 AM »
Scott - his lebenslauf states that after traveling to Bethlehem, he "..."...worked at my profession for a while there, then went to Nazareth to serve the children in the Anstalt."  As I understand it, partially from piecing together info in his lebenslauf and partially from info Bob provided me years back, it would appear Beck initially filled Albrecht's position as a gunbstocker in Bethlehem when Albrecht went to Nazareth to teach the children, then when the gun shop at CS was completed and Albrecht went there to work, Beck next filled Albrecht's position as a teacher in Nazareth (which he noted also in his lebenslauf as being somewhat unpleasant to him, at least initially).  Looking back at his timeline, it would appear that he was only working in Bethlehem "at [his] profession" for a few months before being sent to Nazareth to teach.  Whether or not he worked there in any gun stocking/smithing capacity or whether he at any time worked at CS, I couldn't say, but it doesn't seem likely.  By 1764, he travels with a bunch of kids to NC.  So in reality, while there is some evidence in his own words that he did perform gun work in Bethlehem for a very short period, as you are noting it seems unlikely he did so after being sent to the school at Nazareth shortly thereafter.
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Offline spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #13 on: December 04, 2019, 03:51:01 AM »
Eric, right: we know from the lebenslauf that he worked "at his profession" briefly in Bethlehem: Albrecht was already in Christiansbrunn then.

I don't think there is any evidence for the rest of the timeline that you suggest there. Albrecht was gone from Bethlehem for two years before Beck arrived, already working with the children--and, presumably, working also at Christiansbrunn or traveling to Bethlehem to work on gunmaking? How much gunstocking/making was Albrecht doing at this point (i.e., when he was in Christiansbrunn and before Beck arrived)? We have no idea, really, but he must have been managing to do both (mostly working with the children). And there is no evidence at all, at least none that I know of, that when Beck went to Nazareth Hall Albrecht resumed gunmaking--i.e., in 1761. That is entirely speculation. In fact, given that Oerter was at Christiansbrunn as of 1760, presumably Albrecht was persistently involved in some way in gunmaking in these years. We just have no idea what these two men were doing, but there is no reason to believe that they were swapped in and out of Nazareth Hall in the way you describe there.

Imagining these two were being coordinated in some way related to gunstocking assumes that gunstocking was a priority for Moravian authorities, which I don't think it was. They needed people to work with the children and there was little demand for gunstocking. It could easily be that both Albrecht and Beck were primarily working with the children--and that somebody had to scramble to complete some gunmaking work when a need arose.

The gunshop at Christiansbrunn was built--I believe--only when the French and Indian War flared up again in late summer 1763. There is no evidence that there was a plan for a gunshop earlier or that Moravian authorities worried too much about gunmaking--as they did about other trades. There was some talk about setting Beck up in Bethlehem after 1762 as a gunmaker; that didn't happen. They did recognize the value of gunmaking for mission work and so made sure that somebody was training young gunmakers (Oerter).

All of this is to say: we really have no idea about Beck's or Albrecht's gunmaking activities in these years, except that Beck worked a bit in Bethlehem after his arrival in 1761. But we do know that there was not a "position," so to speak, at Nazareth Hall that either Albrecht or Beck occupied and, while one was doing that, the other was gunmaking...

i hope that all made sense.

« Last Edit: December 04, 2019, 04:16:28 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 spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #14 on: December 04, 2019, 04:32:53 AM »
SAs I understand it, partially from piecing together info in his lebenslauf and partially from info Bob provided me years back, it would appear Beck initially filled Albrecht's position as a gunbstocker in Bethlehem when Albrecht went to Nazareth to teach the children, then when the gun shop at CS was completed and Albrecht went there to work, Beck next filled Albrecht's position as a teacher in Nazareth (which he noted also in his lebenslauf as being somewhat unpleasant to him, at least initially). 

Maybe a simpler way of putting all this is to say:

Beck couldn't have filled Albrecht's position as gunstocker in Bethlehem when Albrecht went to Nazareth to teach the children--because Albrecht left Bethlehem for Christiansbrunn to teach the children in 1759 and Beck did not arrive until 1761.

And, Beck couldn't have next filled Albrecht's position as a teacher in Nazareth when Albrecht went to work in the gunshop at Christiansbrunn in August 1763--because Beck had been in Christiansbrunn since 1762 and was, since 1762, working with the children.
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 Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #15 on: December 04, 2019, 05:55:53 AM »
Got it, it does make sense.  It's tough to juggle these guys around and try to figure out what they were doing.  But we can say that - according to Beck - he worked for a few months in Bethlehem doing something gun-related.  We just have no idea how simplistic or involved it may have been.

In NC, I don't believe he could have worked for more than about 10 years before the War broke out, and it remains something of a mystery as to whether or not he ever returned to gun-type work afterward.  My interpretation of Fries translations of the records leads me to believe he did not, although he certainly was clashing with Jacob Loesch over the casting of pewter spoons. 
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Offline Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #16 on: December 04, 2019, 06:23:31 AM »
Maybe I was oversimplifying it?  I don't necessarily mean that there were official "positions" but rather in a somewhat severely lineal way of looking at it, Beck did seem to follow along the same path as Albrecht despite others perhaps being in-between so to speak.

Reading his lebenslauf, the guy apparently was quite well-trained with a good breadth of travel within Germany.  Despite no surviving signed pieces, one would *assume* he was capable of very high quality stock work.  And then they put him with children.  It can be difficult for the modern mind to grasp!
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Offline spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #17 on: December 04, 2019, 02:48:09 PM »
It can be difficult for the modern mind to grasp!
It is!

Our impulse is to find reasons to believe that these men were working the gunshop, where they belong.

It was told to me with some confidence that after 1762, when "free schooling" supposedly ended for any Moravian child, the enrollments at Nazareth Hall declined precipitously and so Albrecht would have been no longer needed there and could return to the gunshop. It took me a while to dig into the archives to explore this. What I found was that there was no significant decline in enrollments at Nazareth Hall during these years (1761 to 1766, when Albrecht left for the Sun Tavern). In 1761, there were 98 students and 119 individuals in all, including 14 teachers, assigned to Nazareth Hall, while in 1766, there were 85 students and 107 people in all. There were thus only 15 fewer students by 1766, and the staff had actually grown slightly, from 21 in 1761 to 22 in 1766. (In 1763 and 1764, there were 106 students, more than in 1761.)

We want to get these men into the gunshop--but Moravian authorities weren't, it seems, similarly motivated!
« Last Edit: December 04, 2019, 02:56:35 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

Offline smart dog

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #18 on: December 04, 2019, 03:52:21 PM »
Hi Scott and Eric,
This is a great discussion.  Even reading Lienemann's books you get the impression that the real motivation by the Moravians for any gun making activity was to serve and minister to native Americans. Perhaps, that was a hook to bring missionaries into contact with them.  How do you think the Moravians responded to events in 1755 when Braddock's army was crushed?  The panic in the colonies was wide spread and even some Quakers were hectored into no longer turning a blind eye to the war.  Also if the gun shop at CS was operated intermittently based on discontinuous periods of demand before the Rev War period, how do you think it was maintained so as to not fall into disrepair during slack periods? Was it used for something else during those times?

dave
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Offline spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #19 on: December 04, 2019, 05:31:46 PM »
Dave,

The Moravians fortified Bethlehem, Nazareth, and the satellite communities in 1755/56 and again in 1763 when they felt threatened by the collapsing frontier after Braddock's defeat. The erected pallisades and watch towers and distributed guns around the settlements. In 1757 Northampton County officials reported to provincial authorities that five persons at Bethlehem kept an armed “Night Watch” and an additional “44 single men and 25 married . . . have Arms,” while at Christiansbrunn “18 of the Singlemen have arms . . . and frequently go out with some of the Indians, who are paid for that Purpose, in ranging Parties . . . to see that no Indians are lurking about." In 1763, as the Indian war flared up again, Bethlehem’s authorities inventoried the guns on hand: eighty-eight in all, nineteen provincial guns stored in the brothers’ house, forty-one guns with Andreas Weber (steward of the boarding school), eleven guns with the locksmith, nine guns possessed by married men, and eight guns possessed by single brothers. On August 10 authorities assigned people and guns to different locations—the tannery, the waterworks, the stable, the tavern—and established two companies that would have no fixed location but “rather will rush to help where they are most needed.”

It is crucial to realize, though, that these arms were not produced by Moravian gunsmiths: they were purchased from New York. The merchant Dirck Brinkenhoff reported in December 1755 that Moravians in Bethlehem had sent to New York “to purchase some small arms & to borrow as many more as they could.” With “about 60 small arms, 7 or 8 Blunderbusses & 2 Wall-Pieces,” Brinkenhoff added, “they are determined to make a vigorous Defence.” 
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 spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #20 on: December 04, 2019, 05:41:50 PM »
As far as the Christiansbrunn gunshop goes: it is built only in August 1763. Before that, Albrecht and Oerter must have worked in the smithy at Christiansbrunn or in the brothers' house. Anyway, once the gunshop at Christiansbrunn is built and Albrecht has Oerter as an apprentice (as far as we know, he never had an apprentice from 1750-1759 when he was in Bethlehem), there is probably more sustained (though perhaps low level?) activity there. I think (going from memory) that the first "new rifles" appear in inventories in 1764? Before that, stocking a gun seems to have happened only on demand. But the building of the Christiansbrunn gunshop, which (I think) is built only because of the renewal of hostilities, inaugurates a new phase regarding Moravian gunmaking: authorities seem to have made a commitment to generating a small inventory of new products (not just stocking a gun when one happens to be requested by one of the Moravians' trading partners).
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 Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #21 on: December 04, 2019, 07:01:31 PM »
I think 1763-1764 were extremely eventful in terms of arms availability in NH County.  Not only does the CS shop commence operation but likewise Johannes Moll moves from Rockland twp (Berks Co.) to Allentown, very likely to fill the regional vacuum that perhaps the Moravians also were quick to identify.

 
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Offline smart dog

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #22 on: December 04, 2019, 07:35:35 PM »
Hi Eric and Scott,
I agree that 1763-64 was a momentous year and it showed how quickly the wall against dangers on the frontier could collapse and those dangers move east.  Despite Henry Gladwin's heroic defense of Detroit, Pontiac and his native American allies rolled over the forts like they were mowing grass.  Moravians went through panics in 1755, 1763, and then again in 1778 when Joseph Brant and John Butler raided central and eastern PA from NY.  I wonder if the gun shop at CS assisted in arming Sullivan's campaign in any way?  The troops must have marched past pretty close to Nazareth heading for Wind Gap.     

dave
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Offline Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #23 on: December 04, 2019, 07:39:21 PM »
BTW Scott, some very useful and interesting information!  Thank you for posting it.  It's helpful to me as I try to edit all my old stuff and of course I will credit you.

I'd also love this discussion to focus on the rifle (#42) itself as my perspective has changed somewhat since we all first began to debate the issue back in 2005 when Wallace began the MB article string.

I think the J.E. Colhoun restock, dated 1785 w/ silver furnishings, is of great importance.  I also have some thoughts about the box and side plate on 42, after having the opportunity to handle and examine the piece on different occasions, which probably are quite contrary to conventional thought (although after a number of private conversations with many here, and elsewhere, they are perhaps not quite so unconventional after all).
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Offline spgordon

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Re: Gusler's "An 18th-Century Moravian Rifle Gun from North Carolina" (2005)
« Reply #24 on: December 04, 2019, 08:21:23 PM »
I wonder if the gun shop at CS assisted in arming Sullivan's campaign in any way?  The troops must have marched past pretty close to Nazareth heading for Wind Gap.     

Interesting possibility. The only "contract" we know about related to the Christiansbrunn shop was one by which Oerter agreed to supply 500 stand of arms to the state of PA. Traces of this contract appear in the receipt that Walt O'Connor once had (printed in Bob's Moravian Gunmaking I) and one notation in a daybook--and in an 1801 letter from William Henry, who took over the shop when Oerter died in 1777:

I had spent better than three years at Christian Spring . . . where Br. Oerter the former master workman, then myself with four five and some times six hands were employ’d in the work in the finishing 500 stand of Arms for the State and where I had in that time more than one thousand stand [of ] Arms to repair for the U States army, besides various other parts of the Military accoutrements were made, in the midst of war, tumult, and surrounding danger.

I haven't been able to find any mention of this contract in any non-Moravian records (i.e., in the state archives in Harrisburg or the Hist. Soc. of PA). Still looking!

Henry's letter makes it sound like the Christiansbrunn gunshop was swamped trying to manage this contract for 500 stands of arms for the state just at the time that Sullivan's Expedition occurred.
« Last Edit: December 04, 2019, 08:25:28 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