A Firearm Transformed

Library of Congress

A unknown Union soldiers holds his M1816 musket in a wartime photo.

In the first two years of the Civil War, the United States Model 1816/22 .69-caliber smoothbore musket was undoubtedly one of the most issued and most used firearms by both Federal and Confederate forces. This is the story of those firearms and of a soldier who carried one.

More than 800,000 M1816/22 muskets (Types I, II, and III) were manufactured between 1816 and 1844 by the Springfield and Harpers Ferry armories and by several independent contractors. The M1816/22 was the standard-issue musket with both US forces and state militias for more than 40 years. First produced as flintlock ignition firearms, by the late 1840s many of them were converted to the percussion ignition system; even so, many flintlock 1816/22s were used early in the Civil War.

In the mid-1850s through the early war years, many of these firearms were altered with varying degrees of success from their original smoothbore musket configuration into rifled muskets. This was so that the weapon could use the new French minie ball, more properly called the Burton or Harpers Ferry ball. (The Minie vs. Burton–Harpers Ferry ball story will be a future subject here.)

One of the M1816/22 rifled musket alterations was done under contract for the State of Ohio by Miles Greenwood’s Eagle Foundry in Cincinnati. From July to November 1861, Greenwood agreed to rifle more than 25,000 Model 1816/22 and Model 1842 smoothbore muskets, as well as provide long-range rear sights for 5% of them (a portion that soon changed to 20%). At least 90% of the Greenwood rifled muskets would be issued to Ohio volunteers in 1861 and 1862.

The M1816/22 Type III featured here was manufactured under contact by Eli Whitney in 1834 as a .69-caliber smoothbore musket; at one time it was in the inventory of the Massachusetts militia. Before the war, this particular M1816/22 musket was transferred back to the United States Ordnance Department, where it was converted from the flintlock to the percussion system and transferred to the State of Ohio, either before the war’s start or in its early days.

Tim Prince, College Hill Arsenal Civil War Antiques

The Greenwood rifled musket issued to Ohio soldier George Wade.

In September 1861, the long-range sighted Greenwood rifled musket shown above was issued to a baker from Knox County, Ohio, named George Wade. Wade’s status as a widower might explain why he joined the 13th Missouri Infantry at 43, an age decades older than the other men of the regiment.

On Sunday, April 6, 1862, the 13th Missouri was in camp near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River along with other regiments of the Second Brigade, Second Division of Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of Tennessee. After almost three weeks of constant drilling, the men were looking forward to a restful Sabbath.

Tim Prince, College Hill Arsenal Civil War Antiques

The butt of George Wade’s Greenwood rifled musket, onto which he carved his name.

It was morning when the men heard the rumble of artillery fire and distant sound of musketry. At first it was thought to be firing from the distant picket line, but as it grew louder the Second Brigade was formed into columns and ordered forward.

Soon the 13th Missouri was ordered into position by Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman, who would command the ensuing two-day battle. During intense back-and-forth fighting on Sunday, a Confederate cannon ball struck Wade, causing a wound resulting in the amputation of his right leg.

Wade was evacuated to a field hospital, then sent by steamer to Cincinnati, where on July 23, 1862, he was discharged from federal service due to disability. By August 1863, he would re-enlist in the Veteran Reserve Corps in Columbus, in which he served until March 1864.

Two years after the war, Wade was admitted to the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Dayton, Ohio, and employed as a baker. He later transferred to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, branch of the Disabled Soldiers Home, then returned to Dayton.

Wade died at 74 on July 24, 1892, and is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbus.

Phil Spaugy is a native Ohioan and lifelong Civil War enthusiast whose research focuses on the arms and accoutrements of the Federal infantry soldier. During his 46 years as a member of the North South Skirmish Association (N-SSA), he has live-fired almost every type of weapon issued to the soldiers on both sides.