Native American, Old Trapper Blanket Rifle

 “ Native American” guns—barrels shortened  &  brass tacks and straps of rawhide wrapped and bound around the wrist and the barrel & forestock.  Some of these are legit pieces of Native American or frontier usage.  Some of these are present-day embellishments added to a plain-looking or abused antique muzzle-loading gun to enhance their appeal to the Native American artifact collector.  Almost all of them are antique-manufactured arms.

It is a known fact that some  Native Americans decorated their rifles with brass tacks, as many original old photos show.  They also shortened their rifles as short rifles were much handier on horseback. 

Here is a percussion rifle made in Hampshire County in the mid-1800s. It has been shortened to an overall length of 30 inches, with a rifled .40 cal.  barrel reduced to  18 inches.  Hampshire County Rifles in unaltered conditions have barrels from 38 to 44 inches. The stock has been cut at the butt, and naturally, the forestock has been cut. 

                                                                         

                                                                            

This rifle originally had a standard percussion lock but was converted to this back-action percussion lock. Why? Was that back-action lock the only one they had?  Possibly at the same time, the barrel was cut at the breech.  The front sight and front ramrod pipe are in their original location. The muzzle has the original decoration as seen on many old longrifles. One thing of note is that this rifle has been shot a lot in this current shortened configuration, as the loss of steel and pitting on the barrel breech indicate much use of early corrosive percussion caps.  The rear sight would have been added after the barrel was shortened. That is possibly a later addition, as some historians claim Native Americans had little or no use of sights.  

                                                                                 

                                                                                

                                                                    

We pulled a tack to identify its period of manufacture. It is a mid-1800s brass tack.

The crudely made grease hole still has remnants of patch grease. The stock is broken all the way through at the center of the lock mortise. It is stabilized by the side plate, metal trigger guard, and a recently added metal strap under the lock. The trigger guard was hammered out of a piece of metal. The trigger appears to be forged. The wood added in front of the lockplate, covering the void in the original lock mortise, resulting from installing the back-action lock, could be a modern repair.

Was this rifle used by Native Americans or even a blanket rifle carried by some old-time trapper?  We will study this rifle more and get input from other American Long Rifle students before we conclude. One thing is for sure: this rifle has had years of hard use and abuse. When this little rifle left Hampshire County in the mid-1800s, it was a long, slender thing of beauty, proudly carried by one of our ancestors, similar to Evan P Ward rifle below. 

                                                                      

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   Folks may tire of the old adage, " If this gun could talk," so we changed it to " These guns do talk." 

                                             Hope you enjoyed this, John & Mark

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Relic Hampshire County Rifle

 If only it could speak, we would love to hear the story this mid-nineteenth-century Hampshire County relic could tell.

This piece was found near the Oregon Trail near Baker City, Oregon, in the 1950s. We don't know if the complete rifle or the stock was found. It is possible that the owner of this rifle was a pioneer from Hampshire County. However, Hampshire County Rifles were prevalent in the early to mid-1800s, so the original owner could have purchased it somewhere other than our county. 

We will let our imagination interpret this piece's journey. We know it completed a circle, leaving here in the 1800s and returning here to the county where it was created. 

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Jacob Ludwick

 Jacob Ludwick was a gunsmith in the Western part of Hampshire County, present-day Mineral County. The only record of him being a gunsmith is the 1860 Census for Ridgeville.  

                                                            1860 Hampshire County Census

Jacob was 21 years old at the time and lived with his parents, John and Sophia Ludwick. John and his family are recorded in the 1850 census of Shenandoah County, Virginia. In both records, Jacob's father, John, is listed as a millwright by trade. 

                                                                               

1850 Shenandoah County, Virginia 

While Jacob's immediate family migrated to Hampshire County in the 1850s, his grandfather, Jacob Ludwick, was there in the early 1800s. 

                                                                            

                                                      1830 Hampshire County Census

 The following percussion long rifle is Jacob's only known surviving rifle. This rifle has the typical Hampshire County architecture of a percussion rifle from that era. This is only the second Hampshire County Rifle we have seen utilizing a patent breech.  A few features we have not seen on other Hampshire County rifles are the extended breech tang with two screws and the stock secured to the barrel via screws instead of pins or wedges. The patchbox and capbox engraving look similar to Frederick Sheetz's. The gouging engraving was almost a trademark of some Hampshire County Sheetz rifle makers. It is possible that Jacob served his apprenticeship with one of them. 

What happened to Jacob after 1860 remains unknown to us. He probably served in the military during the Civil War. While searching the records, we found a couple Jacob Ludwicks from the surrounding area who served during the Civil War; however, their genealogy records do not match this Jacob Ludwick. Jacob Ludwick deserves additional study, and we desire more details on him. Hopefully, someone will have more information on him and share it with us. As with all our posts, we will edit as more factual information is revealed. 

                                                                                  

                                                                               

                                                                                    

                                                          Signed & Dated by Jacob Ludwick 

                                                                               

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Roland Savage Dayton, Preacher, Farmer, Blacksmith, Allegany County Commisoner & Gunsmith.

 Roland Savage Dayton, Gunsmith, Blacksmith, Farmer, County commissioner, and preacher, was born in 1815. In the 1850 census, he lived just two doors down from Gunsmith Frederick Sheetz's residence in Sheetz Mill, Hampshire County, Virginia, present-day Headsville Mineral County, West Virginia. He probably learned the gunsmith trade in the Sheetz shop. By 1860, he was living in McCoole, Maryland, and remained there until his death on August 1, 1900. 

                                                                              

                                                                  Roland Savage Dayton

The two featured half-stock percussion rifles below were made and signed by Dayton. We have seen eight rifles that Dayton made, half of which were full stocks. All of them were original percussion. All but one had both a patchbox and a capbox. Both of the rifles below have 38-inch barrels that have not been cut. One is a 40 caliber and the other 36. 

                                                                                

Rifles of The Feather

                                                               Barrel Signed R S Dayton

                                                                  Patchbox Signed, R S D

Rifle # 2 Below

                       Only Known Original Iron Triggerguard on a Hampshire County Rifle. 

Barrel Signed R S D

 Capboxes Below From Other Signed Dayton Rifles

Roland was an Allegany County commissioner in the mid-1860s.  

                                                                                 

 

                                                                                   

Roland was also a Methodist preacher. After the Civil War, the Methodist church at Headsville did not have a preacher, so Roland would walk from McCoole, Maryland, to preach. His Obituary states that he preached 6,000 sermons. He and his wife Nancy had 15 children. At his death in 1900, they had 66 grandchildren and 56 great-grandchildren. His obituary was published in newspapers across the United States. 

                                                                               

                                                                   Kansas City Star   

                                                                                 

                                                                  Baltimore Sun

                                                                              

                                                                      Roland S Dayton

                                                              Dayton Cemetery 21 Bridge

                                                                     McCoole Maryland

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Adam Greenawalt Gunsmith Pendleton County West Virginia

 Adam Greenawalt was born in Pendleton County in 1799.  Adam was the son of George Greenawalt and Barbra Lough.  Adam married Mary Ann Sites in 1829. 

We were excited to see this flintlock rifle attributed to Adam Greenawalt. It could easily pass for one made by the Evick's of Franklin, Pendleton County. We have not yet found any records that reveal where Adam learned the gunsmithing trade, but this rifle is a pretty good indicator that he may have worked with Adam Evick.  Greenawalt is listed as a gunsmith in the 1850 & 1870 census.  He was probably making rifles as early as the 1820s.  The Greenawalts had a son, Jacob, born in 1832, who served in the 46th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War. We have not found any information on Jacob working as a gunsmith. 

While we have seen at least a dozen rifles made by the Evicks, this is the first rifle made by Adam Greenawalt we have seen.   This flintlock rifle is stocked in beautiful tiger-striped maple and has a 44-inch long barrel rifled in 36 caliber. Has an engraved brass patch box with a push button lid release at the toe of the rifle.  Engraved brass sideplate and toeplate. There is decorative engraving on top of the barrel surrounding the rear & front sight. There is also punch mark decor at the muzzle surrounding the bore.  The rifle is signed on top of the barrel A G between the rear sight & breech. 

We hope that more rifles signed by Adam will be discovered. If you own one, we would like it if you could share photos. This rare maker deserves more study, and we would appreciate factual information on him. 

                                                              Click Images for large View

Signed A G Top of Barrel Between Rear Sight & Breech

                                                            44-Inch-Long Octagon Barrel

                                                             Engraved Brass Sideplate

Flintlock

                                Push Botton Patchbox Lid Release in Engraved Brass Toeplate

Engraved Brass Patchbox

                                    Decorative Punch Marks Surrounding Front Brass Sight

Punch Marks & Engraving 

                                                                               36 Caliber

                                                                                     

                                                             1850 Census Listed as Gunsmith

                                                                                     

        1870 Census Listed as Gunsmith

Adam died in 1870 and is buried in Greenawalt Cemetery in Kline, West Virginia. As with all of our posts, this one is a work in progress; we will update it as we find more information. We hope you all enjoyed this rifle and the history of Adam Greenawalt, another wonderful craftsman from our past and great state of West Virginia. 

Thanks to the owner of this fine rifle for sharing photos with us.  Without owners sharing with us, we cannot share with you. 

Pendleton County

BMS & JDM

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