In 2007 the KRA Bulletin included a monograph of mine entitled Rifles and Muskets on the Swatara: Clandestine Hummelstown Factory Armed the Revolution. I present here a slightly streamlined version, without footnotes, of which there were 35 in the original draft, mostly from Pennsylvania Archives and other primary sources. Conjecture is identified as such, the rest you can take to the bank. Hummelstown, PA is a peaceful small town on the Swatara Creek in lower Dauphin County, the second oldest incorporated municipality in the county. I present here a little-known series of Rev-war events which you may find of interest.
I will do so in 4 parts and submit 4 separate chapters. I'm not the swiftest thing on a computer and don't want to lose a 5000 word document prior to getting it up and out there. Incidentally, if you are looking for pictures of these arms, there are none. No specimens have been positively identified and, after reading this, you'll see why there probably never will be any. A close approximation is likely the Christian Breitenherd piece pictured in the book Don and I did in 1992. So here is Chapter 1; hope you find it interesting.
Chapter 1--Background
The backdrop for our story is straightforward. The American Revolution was underway, and 1777 was an especially tough year for the colonists. The eastern seaboard was under attack by the British, and the Philadelphia region was the primary target. To make matters worse, early in the year, the revolutionary gunpowder mill on French Creek near present-day Phoenixville blew up. This setback was reported to the Pennsylvania Council of Safety, executives of the provisional government, on March 10, 1777 by revolutionary powder master and armorer, Peter Dehaven (De Haven).
Dehaven was not only the chief of the powder mill, but also had been serving as the superintendent of the state gun lock factory on Cherry St. in Philadelphia. Dehaven was granted 100 pounds by Council the previous year for firelocks. In April 1776, Dehaven was empowered by Council and paid 50 pounds to make public the art of boreing and grinding gun barrels, and instructing such persons as they shall require to be taught that art.
When it came to revolutionary armament in and about Philadelphia, Peter Dehaven was the key man. By January 3, 1777 he reported to Council that he had nineteen men at guns at French Creek, implying that some gun building or component manufacture was going on at or near the doomed powder mill as well as at the lock factory downtown.
1777 was a busy year for Dehaven and his assembly of gunsmiths and powder makers. In spite of impediments, production appeared to continue but the stuff of war was always in short supply for the militias and the Continental Army. On September 7, Dehaven wrote an urgent letter to Council: We have got some information that there is a part of Mr. Howe's army within four miles of Downing's Town and I believe they intend for our magazine and we are in a very poor situation for defending it. I suggest moving the powder by wagon toward Reading, but to what place I am a stranger. This letter found the Council of Safety in its own whirlwind, as they were hastily gathering their own papers in preparation to flee the city of Philadelphia themselves and move inland. They needed a buffer between themselves and the British, and they needed it immediately!
