The conclusion of the Mexican War left a number of Southern States disenfranchised with what they interpreted as a lack of support from the Federal Government in regards to military arms and equipment. Rather than updating state arsenals with new percussion muskets during the war, the Board of Ordnance instead mobilized the militias with whatever equipment was already on hand, and encouraged states who wanted to update their arms to purchase them through private arsenals. In reality, this reluctance to issue percussion weapons was based on the War Department's concern over the logistics of being able to supply percussion caps to a remote area such as Mexico, but many Southern officials, like Governor Whitemarsh Benjamin Seabrook of South Carolina felt that the Fed's issuance of percussion muskets both at the tail end of, and in the years immediately following, the Mexican War favored the North while issuance to Southern States was lacking. Whether or not this Government's slow issuance of percussion muskets to the South was intentional is still an issue that is debated by historians. However these feelings of neglect felt by many Southern Statesmen were likely exacerbated by the fact that the majority of new model 1842 muskets supplied to the Northern States were made by Springfield; America's premier and most technologically advanced arsenal. After the adoption of the M1842, Springfield only need two years to adapt its tooling to the specifications required to produce America's first universally interchangeable musket. By contrast, most of the '42s destined for the South were made by Harper's Ferry; an arsenal plagued by yearly flooding and water-born illness - two factors which had left the arsenal in a state of disrepair in comparison to Springfield. As a result, Harper's Ferry took four full years to tool up to build the M1842 with the first stand of arms delivered in early 1844. Even after their first deliveries of muskets were accepted, Harper's Ferry continued to have trouble with production and struggled to produce arms that were truly interchangeable. These quality control issues forced Harper's Ferry to rely more heavily on hand fitting and individual gauging than Springfield which severely hampered the Southern arsenal's production ability. So, while the government may have been favoring the North over the South when it came to the issuance of new muskets, a major factor in the South's ability to obtain percussions muskets may have simply boiled down to the fact that their were less to go around.
Whatever the case, some southern States, like South Carolina, took the matter of updating South Carolina's weaponry upon themselves. In 1849 Governor Seabrook contracted with William Glaze and Thomas Radcliff, partners in a hardware and military supply business in Columbia, to provide 274 percussion rifles and 100 percussion muskets. Glaze and Radcliff in turn contacted William H. Smith & Co, of New York to help fill the order. Smith & Co had a longstanding relationship with Asa Holman Waters, the owner of A.H. Waters & Co - the largest private armory in the country. Waters had been making military arms for both the State and Federal governments for decades, and was well equipped to produce percussion muskets when he was contacted about the South Carolinian order in August 1849. This order was then combined with an another order from Glaze and Radcliff for an additional 660 muskets and between 16 April and 17 May 1850, 761 percussion muskets were shipped and invoiced to William Smith & Co. for delivery to Glaze and Kadcliffe for the State of South Carolina. These muskets were marked "A.H. WATERS MILBURY MASS" on their lock plates, and conform to the newly adopted Model of 1842 infantry musket pattern.
However, as the muskets for South Carolina were being completed and shipped from Water's Arsenal in Millbury, Massachusetts, South Carolina's most beloved statesmen, John C. Calhoun died On 31 March 1850, and the State decided to give him a hero's funeral. Unfortunately for Waters, the money to fund such an event came from the appropriations for the arms purchased from Waters and Co. To justify failure to pay, the State of South Carolina condemned all the muskets. This failure to pay obviously caused stress for Waters, who had put out the money for manufacture. Waters immediately sent his shop foreman, Benjamin Flagg to South Carolina to investigate the issues with the now condemn muskets and possibly even collect payment. Flagg eventually settled the matter, and the state settled its debt with Waters & Co a full three years later in December 1853.
During his time in South Carolina Benjamin Flagg became well known to William Glaze and others in the state. This association appeared to be advantageous to both Waters and Glaze, as there were indications at this time that the State of South Carolina may be interested in establishing an armory for the fabrication of arms. With his political connections and experience in arms contracting, William Glaze seemed to be the logical agent for the enterprise. In March of 1851, Glaze's partner Thomas Radcliffe gave up his interest in the Palmetto Iron works and the firm became William Glaze & Co. in April 1851. Glaze contracted with Flagg to help establish an arms manufactory at the Palmetto Ironworks and the State of South Carolina contracted the firm to make 6,000 muskets, 1,000 rifles, 1,000
pairs of pistols, 1,000 cavalry sabres, and 1,000 artillery
sabers.
With his foreman now contracted with the largest State-owned arsenal in the South, A.H. Waters became a silent partner in the William Glaze & Co. firm. Throughout the Fall and Winter of 1851-1852, Waters contracted with a number of skilled workers specifically to go to South Carolina and fabricate muskets at Palmetto. Waters also sent a large proportion of the machinery needed by Palmetto to produce arms. Despite Water's efforts, Glaze and Flagg hadn't produced any muskets by March of 1852 - the month that the first stands of arms were to be delivered to the State. In order to account for their shortcomings, Flagg and Glaze filed for an extension with the State, citing a lack of skilled labor and raw material shortages. To make up for these shortcomings, the firm admitted that a number of components would need to be purchased from sources "beyond the limits of the state" The state was satisfied with their excuses enough to give them an extension for the completion of the muskets to December 1st, 1853.
With their extension obtained, Glaze & Co. delivered its first stand of arms 100 arms in early Summer 1852. Aware of the fact that the idea of a State-owned private arsenal was a point of pride for the State of South Carolina; and realizing that they had already acknowledged that their first deliveries of arms were made with parts sourced from "beyond the limits of the state", Flagg and Glaze opted to mark the locks of these early M1842-pattern muskets with Benjamin Flagg's name, hoping to disguise the fact that nearly all of the principal components had been purchased directly from Waters.
Throughout remainder of their 6,000 musket contract with the state, the Palmetto Armory continued to rely heavily on parts purchased from A.H. Waters. The degree of Waters involvement has been debated by historians with some claiming that Water's only provided small components like lock parts and screws, while others go so far as to claim that Palmetto's musket manufacturing capability was largely a front; and nearly all of the parts required to build South Carolina's prized muskets were made by Waters, with only the barrel bands cast "in house".
This particular musket is an incredibly rare example of one of the 761 muskets shipped by Waters to Smith & Co. during Radcliffe and Glazes initial contract with the State of South Carolina. It is marked with Water's name on the lock plate, and is a great example of the first shipment of arms that would later help establish the famous Palmetto Armory.
This musket is in good condition. The lock is in great shape with some light salt and pepper pitting, and great markings. The hammer holds solid on both full and half cock.
The stock is full length and in great shape. There is no damage other than some minor burnout behind the nipple. The stock has no inspector's cartouches, as is correct for a Waters-produced M1842.
The barrel is in good shape and features government proofmarks from Springfield. Historian John R. Ewing, in his article entitled "Asa Holman Waters and the 1842 Musket", notes that other Waters'-produced 1842s have also been observed with government proofmarks, and it is theorized that Waters was able to leverage his longstanding relationship with Springfield to purchase surplus or condemned barrels to fulfil the contract. Another interesting feature about this gun's barrel is the fact that it is rifled. This was likely done as an attempt to "modernize" the gun into a rifle musket during the Civil War, as their were several Confederate arsenals who rifled smoothbore guns, including the Richmond Arsenal. Unfortunately, rifled smoothbores were generally not marked by the armories who rifled their barrels, so its impossible to say exactly who did the rifling work. But we can say with some certainty that the work was done by the Confederacy, as this musket was made under contract by the Southern State of South Carolina, putting it in the heart of the South just prior to the Civil War. Additionally, most of the smoothbores rifled by Southern arsenals, did not include the addition of a rear sight, unlike a majority of the '42s rifled in the North by Springfield prior to the War.
The furniture of this musket is all original and matching, including the ram rod; which is full length.
This musket is a great example of one of the South's earliest attempts to arm itself in preparation of secession. This interesting musket is full of pre Civil War history and is easily one of the rarest muskets we've ever had. Out of only 761 muskets produced by Waters, only an extremely small percentage are known to exist today. Don't miss out on this one!
