WEAPONS USED IN THE BATTLE OF MILL SPRINGS
Compiled by Geoffrey R. Walden

Part 3. Unit Records of Weapons Used at Mill Springs

Exact records of the types of weapons used at Mill Springs are not as numerous as we would wish them to be, and some reports conflict with others. However, this section will show what we do know about what weapons were carried by which units.

Union Units

In September 1861, the 10th Indiana Infantry was initially issued "old muskets, having neither ‘lock stock or barrel’ and about the only thing dangerous about them was the ‘bayonet;’" some of these were Belgian rifles, "old, worn out things, of no account whatever." However, in October the regiment was issued new Enfield rifles, and they went into action at Mill Springs with these (Shaw, pp. 125, 127; Lafayette, IN, Daily Journal, 29 January 1862; Trautmann, p. 263, n. 13).

The Federal regiments that mustered at Camp Dick Robinson and other rendezvous in Kentucky in the fall of 1861, including the 1st Kentucky Cavalry, 4th and 12th Kentucky Infantry regiments, and 1st and 2nd Tennessee Infantry regiments, were armed with a variety of weapons. At first, the only longarms available were "home guard muskets" (probably converted flintlocks), and the 1st Kentucky Cavalry was armed with flintlock "horse" pistols (Tarrant, pp. 15, 26-27, 29, 53). But first-class weapons were soon issued, the 1st Kentucky Cavalry receiving Army Sharp’s rifles with saber bayonets, Colt Navy model revolvers, and sabers. The 4th Kentucky Infantry was first armed with smoothbore muskets, but the two flank companies, and later the entire regiment, were armed with Enfields (Union Regiments of Kentucky, p. 303). A report of December 1861 shows the two East Tennessee regiments still armed with muskets (OR I, 7, p. 484).

Early weapons records of the 2nd Minnesota Infantry are conflicting. During the period June – October 1861, they were issued a mix of .58 caliber rifle-muskets, .69 caliber rifled M1842 muskets, and .69 caliber percussion conversion smoothbore muskets (Executive Documents of the State of Minnesota for the Year 1861, Adjutant General’s Report, St. Paul, 1862, p. 80; Todd, p. 927). However, records in the archives of the Minnesota Army National Guard indicate that the regiment was issued Enfields shortly before the battle of Mill Springs. To confuse the issue further, the regimental record books in the National Archives show the following totals as of 21 April 1862:

The 9th Ohio Infantry was recorded as being equipped with "training rifles" and some "Springfields" in May 1861, soon after their formation, but the exact type was not stated. Later, probably prior to the campaign of Mill Springs, they were issued M1842 muskets, which they exchanged for Springfields in May 1862 (Wittke, p. 15; Trautmann, pp. 50, 128; Todd, p. 1098). An 1861 image of Maxfield Hite of the 31st Ohio Infantry shows him with a P1853 Enfield; the regiment was reported armed with .58 caliber rifle-muskets in December 1861, along with the 17th and 38th Ohio regiments (OR I, 7, p. 484).

Pvt. Maxfield Hite, 31st Ohio Infantry holding a P1853 Enfield rifle-musket
courtesy Jo Ann Sheely

Confederate Units

Ironically, more detail is known about Confederate weapons in the Mill Springs campaign, than their Federal counterparts. Much period correspondence on the subject exists in the Official Records, particularly covering the early efforts of the Confederacy to arm its troops in Tennessee. This correspondence highlights the difficulties in procuring suitable arms of any types experienced throughout the fall and winter of 1861. The shortage of military type infantry longarms was so acute that special facilities were set up at various Tennessee locations to convert civilian rifles and shotguns to a military caliber. Some of these converted arms went to Gen. Carroll’s Brigade (Seymour, pp. 13-16; "Confederate Veteran," Vol. 19, No. 7 (July 1911), p. 315; OR I, 52, 2, pp. 228-229, 253-254).

Most of the men in the Tennessee regiments were armed with .69 caliber smoothbore U.S. muskets, many of them still in their original flintlock configuration. The desperation of the Tennesseans in trying to fire their flintlocks in the rain at Mill Springs is well documented. The Official Records and other sources provide the following details on the arms of the Tennessee regiments:

17th Tennessee Infantry -- issued flintlock muskets "of the oldest pattern" soon after the regiment’s organization in the summer of 1861; the men refused these at first, but accepted them when promised that they would be replaced by modern pattern arms. This replacement did not, however, occur before Mill Springs, where the "worthlessness of the guns and the condition of the ammunition made the firing a farce. The shots were observed to fall to the ground far short of the enemy" (Lindsley, Vol. 1, pp. 348, 350).

Corp. John T. Killingsworth, 17th Tennessee Infantry
holding an 1816/22 flintlock musket
(collection of Herb Peck)

20th Tennessee Infantry -- armed with flintlock muskets with buck and ball cartridges (McMurray, pp. 190-191; Lindsley, Vol. 1, p. 389); one soldier recalled his as an "old rusty flintlock musket," which "went off once in the action, and although I wiped the ‘pan’ and primed a dozen times it would do no more" (Cooper Diary, pp. 143, 146). Another recalled the regiment being armed with "the old-time flintlock musket that owing to the rain would not fire more than once out of five times" (Porter; McMurray, p. 201).

25th Tennessee Infantry -- armed with a mix of "Tennessee" rifles and muskets in October 1861 (OR I, 52, 2, pp. 182-183; Lindsley, Vol. 1, p. 403). Reported in need of musket caps in November 1861; so not totally armed with flintlocks (Wood, entry for 22 Nov. 1861).

28th Tennessee Infantry -- 665 muskets total, for 915 privates, at the end of October 1861 (OR I, 52, 2, p. 191). One officer of the regiment described these as "old flintlock muskets, used last in the Battle of New Orleans, and almost ruined by rust" (Talley). By late November, they were still short 150 muskets, but their colonel reported having captured many "Lincoln guns." These were military muskets hastily shipped to Kentucky on Pres. Lincoln’s insistence, to arm the regiments at Camp Dick Robinson in the summer and fall of 1861. Several of these were Enfield rifle-muskets imported through New York (OR I, 52, 2, pp. 219-220; Todd, Vol. 2, p. 823). A Pattern 1853 Enfield dated 1860, picked up after the battle by a member of the 2nd Minnesota Infantry in the Confederate entrenchments at Beech Grove, may have been one of these (Horse Soldier Catalog).

29th Tennessee Infantry -- noted in November 1861 as "armed with the English musket," with cartridges made for this arm at Nashville. This likely refers to the P1853 Enfield, but may refer to the .75 caliber P1838-42 muskets, a few of which were imported into the Confederacy (Wood, entry for 10 November 1861).

Carroll’s Brigade -- had only about 400 flintlock muskets, rifles, and double-barrel shotguns in early December 1861 (OR I, 52, 2, pp. 228-229).

In contrast to most of the Tennesseans, the Alabama and Mississippi soldiers were well armed with percussion rifles and muskets. A soldier of the 20th Tennessee jealously noted that the 16th Alabama Infantry had percussion muskets (probably converted flintlocks), and the 15th Mississippi Infantry had Mississippi rifles with sword bayonets (McMurray, pp. 190-191). Company G of the 15th Mississippi, the "Grenada Rifles," furnished their own Mississippi rifles with saber bayonets, purchased by themselves (Ordnance Report, 15th Miss. Inf., 12 June 1861, Mississippi State Archives). Others of the 15th Mississippi had percussion muskets (probably conversions) firing buck and ball ammunition (Binford, "Recollections," pp. 16-17).

Pvt. Charles Frierson, 15th Mississippi Infantry armed with an early model U.S. musket
courtesy Gay Carter

Go to Weapons, Part 4

Copyright © 1998, Geoffrey R. Walden; all rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the author (permission is granted to link to this page from other web pages).
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