It's hard to overstate the historical significance of this particular musket. From a purely physical standpoint, it is a nice, all complete, shootable Civil War-Import Enfield, made by the prolific English gun firm William Tranter. However, this alone isn't what makes us excited to offer this particular musket. What is most thrilling about this piece is the crude carving cut into the gun's forestock, just below the trigger guard: "W.R. JONES".
Now, we will be the first to admit that a name carved into the stock of a Civil War gun does not automatically identify it as belonging to the soldier who carried the weapon throughout the war. Afterall, the majority of Civil War weapons were only in military service for a maximum of four years, yet they've spent more than 150 years in the hands of civilians. Even if a name carved into a stock happens to match the record of a soldier in the NPS Database of Civil War Soldiers, whose to say that the "Ebenezer Jenkins" inscription found on the buttstock of your musket belongs to a Union Soldier, and not a farmer who happened to find himself with a pocket knife, and old surplus musket, and a whole lot of time on his hands during a particularly lazy afternoon in 1890? Additionally, a musket's lack of serial numbers makes identifying when and where they were issued all but impossible.
However, there is one key factor that can positively link an antique firearm with a particular person in history; and that is chain of ownership. Chain of ownership is simply the tracking of a particular object back through each of its previous owners until it can be positively placed in the hands of the historical figure who purportedly owned originally. An example of this would be the chain of ownership that was established in order to identify a pair of pistols given to George Washington by the Marquis De Lafayette in 1777. The pistols themselves bare no serial numbers or any special inscriptions connecting them with two of the American Revolution's most key figures. However, despite the fact that the pistols were owned by multiple private collectors over the past 250 years, each of the pistol's owners can be identified (including President Andrew Jackson) and used to establish a concrete link between them and our nation's first Commander-in-Chief.
In a similar way, a positive chain of ownership can be used to link this particular musket to William R. Jones, a soldier in the 104th Pennsylvania Regiment: we purchased it from a collector who bought it from his great grandson; William Jones IV.
Despite the passing of time and several generations separating them from their ancestor, the William Jones family still resides in Pennsylvania, in the the township of Nelson, less than 150 miles from Pottsville - the town where William R. Jones enlisted more than 150 years ago. As a family heirloom, the Jones family carefully preserved their ancestor's Civil War musket for generations until William Jones IV, curious about his great Grandfather's Civil War service, paid a company called The National Archives Trust Fund to research and photocopy William R. Jones' military records. Several weeks later, he received a thick envelope with nearly 30 pages of original photocopied documents; all pertaining to his Great Grandfather's service in the Union Army. The documentation is extensive, with more records than a typical Google search can yield - a benefit of using a service with access to the original records in the National Archives. We've photographed a few of the records here, but there are far too many too picture them all. However, the packet and ALL of its records will be included in the sale of this Enfield (see the photograph of the original envelope - take note of the name the packet is addressed to)! A quick page through the packet reveals the life of William R. Jones, a 5' 11" Laborer from Pottsville Pennsylvania, with dark hair, grey eyes, a badly scarred shoulder and a bad front tooth. He enlisted in Company A of the 104th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment on Dec. 7th, 1863. He was neither a volunteer nor was he drafted, but instead was paid $300 by a Mr. Patrick Dovan, to serve as his substitute. As a combat unit, the 104th fought in several notable battles during the last few years of the war; the most notable being the Siege of Petersburg. Jones would serve with the 104th through the end of the war.
This brings us to the next potential point of contention that one faces when distinguishing a ID'd Civil War weapon as a firearm that was actually carried by a particular soldier during the war, as opposed to a weapon that was purchased by the soldier on surplus market decades after the war ended to commemorate his time in the service; or simply as an inexpensive hunting rifle that he subsequently carved his name into. In the case of William R. Jones, it is clear that this Enfield was the actual weapon that he carried during his time in Union Army, because his discharge papers note that fact that he paid $100 upon his discharge for "arms and equipment". This note is a reference to General Order 101, issued May 30, 1865; which permitted discharged Federal soldiers to purchase their arms and take them home with them. Muskets of all types, with or without accoutrements, cost $6.00. Spencer carbines, with or without accoutrements cost $10.00, while all other carbines and revolvers cost $8.00. Besides weaponry, soldiers were also permitted to purchase other equipment from the Federal Government, including wagons, tents, and even livestock. Apart from his musket, it is unclear what William Jones purchased in order to amount to the princely 19th Century sum of $100, but from his discharge papers, it is clear that his trusty battle rifle was among the items he took home with him. His Enfield rifle would remain in the possession of the Jones family until 2007, when it and the packet of original service records, were sold to a collector in upper New York State upon the passing of William Jones IV. This collector kept the musket and the records in his collection until we purchased them from him in 2022.
This Enfield, and the documents that accompany it, is a real historical treasure. To have an ID'd musket that can be tracked with a chain of ownership back to the original family is extremely rare by itself. But to have a musket with both a positive chain of ownership and a reference to its purchase by the veteran that carried it is almost unheard of. It is no exaggeration to say that this musket ranks among the top 5 most historically significant firearms that we've ever had the opportunity to sell, and we are so pleased to be able to offer it here. This musket is sure to be the crown jewel of your collection. In fact, it is the only musket that I can say with any degree of certainty, that has actually seen real combat use; rather than sitting in a warehouse throughout the duration of the war and sold as surplus in 1866. We've never had a musket with this kind of history and it is unlikely that we'll find another, so don't wait on this one!
