Lewis & Clark Set the Stage
Almost everyone is familiar with the Lewis & Clark Expedition as one of the most famous geographical explorations in the history of the United States. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned it shortly after the Louisiana Purchase was completed in 1803. In 1804 he sent Captain Meriwether Lewis and 2nd Lt. William Clark off to explore and map the new territory. They reached the Pacific in 1805 and returned to Washington in September of 1806.
What Lewis & Clark discovered, and who they encountered along the way, galvanized the young nation. In the wake of their return, in 1807 the U.S. War Department ordered the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts to make 1,200 small muskets or carbines without bayonets for the U.S. Indian Department.
It’s unclear why Springfield was ordered to make these guns. Historically, arms for the Indians had been bought by the U.S. government under contract from Pennsylvania rifle makers. It may have been an issue of private manufacturing capacity, or it may have been because the guns were smoothbore and therefore within Springfield Armory’s ability to make. Springfield didn’t have the ability to make rifled barrels until it received rifling machinery from Frankford Arsenal in the 1850s (Moller 2011).
A Carbine for the Indians
The idea was for the guns to be used as gifts in negotiations with friendly Native American tribes. The rifle was designed not as a martial weapon, but as a lightweight, circa .54-caliber smoothbore long gun, with a wooden ramrod and a pinned stock.
The gun was somewhat fragile, probably with a view to avoiding their possible later use against European-Americans. But it was designed to be attractive to the tribes: the butt plate, trigger guard, wrist escutcheon, side plate, ramrod thimbles, and front sight were all made of brass.
Work on the barrels started in 1807 and assembly started in 1808. About half of the carbines were completed in 1809, and the other half in 1810. Total production was reported as 1,202.
Carbine Characteristics
Indian Carbines are all single-shot, flintlock, smoothbore muzzleloaders with barrels slightly over 33 inches – making these not only the first, but also the longest-barreled carbines ever made in America by the U.S. government. They were handmade and the parts individually hand fitted. Barrels were hammer-welded in thin strips around a mandrel; the traces of the rings can sometimes be seen inside of the bore. The locks were cast steel. There was a front sight, but no rear sight.
Because they were handmade over a period of several years, there are numerous variations between guns in the lock, flash pan, trigger guard, and ramrod. Also, because the locks and butt plates were produced and dated in different years, the year stamped on the two parts is often different on the same gun.
“U.S.” is stamped on top of the breech, and Springfield Armory’s famous “P,” eagle’s head, and “V” are found on the barrel just before the breech. The lock plate is stamped “U.S.” in script over an eagle, with “SPRINGFIELD” in a horizontal arc below it. The year is stamped behind the cock, and on the butt plate tang. The left breech flat, known as the counterpane, is stamped “US,” also in script.
The Fate of the Carbines
So, what happened to these 1,200 carbines? Probably 250 or fewer were actually sent to the Indian Department for the original purpose of negotiating treaties as colonization moved west. Most of the rest apparently remained in storage.
Some, however, were used for training. In 1814, four years after manufacturing of the guns was completed, an unknown number were altered to include sling swivels and sent to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for training its cadets.
In 1830, 950 were still accounted for in storage at Springfield Armory. That year, West Point requested that 31 of those be modified to take a bayonet and forwarded for cadet training. This was followed in 1832 by another 290 carbines, making 321 in all. Of those, 120 were sent on to cadets in the state of South Carolina.
Some of the guns must have later found their way back to Springfield, since in 1848 – at the end of the Mexican-American War – there were 690 of them in storage there. Ordnance Commander James Ripley wrote at the time that they were “wholly unsuitable for the public service” and recommended that they be sold at auction.
This was accomplished over the next two years. By 1850 they were in private hands, where they were converted to percussion and saw heavy use and high attrition in the American West.
Converted and Heavily Modified
Today, specimens of the Indian Carbine in original flintlock configuration with all original parts are extreme rarities. Fewer than a handful are known (Flayderman 2007). The rest were all converted to percussion by commercial blacksmiths after Armory stores were liquidated in 1850. An unknown number were later re-converted to their original flintlock ignition, likely in the 20th century for the collectors’ market.
In addition to conversion and some later re-conversion, most specimens seen today have been modified – often quite substantially. Sling swivels were added to an unknown number in 1814. A total of 321 were modified by shortening the fore stock and adding a bayonet lug in the early 1830s.
Later alterations included the addition of fore tips and front sights; refinishing of the barrel and stock; and replacement of the lock, cock, pan, top jaw, top jaw screw, ramrod, ramrod pipes, hammer, barrel pins, and all or part of the fore stock.
A Collector Priority Today
The Model 1807 Springfield Indian Carbine is of special interest to American collectors. Although it’s nearly impossible to obtain one in original flintlock configuration, with all original parts, collector demand for them is strong. Very few appear in the major U.S. auctions, however, or in the inventory of antique firearm dealers.
The choice between conversion or re-conversion is a matter of taste, but when they do come up for sale collectors look for specimens with as many original parts and as few modifications as possible.
In the hunt for old guns, it doesn’t get much better than adding one of these historic Lewis & Clark-era guns – America’s first carbine – to the antique firearms rack.
