m1816 Pomery Musket with Federal Conversion
Lemanuel Pomeroy began his gun-making business in 1808 when he purchased the business from Jason Mills. Under Pomeroy’s supervision, the business began making muskets for New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. His first contracts for the Federal government were for muskets of the 1798 variations on June 20, 1816 for 5,000 muskets with 1,000 to be delivered each subsequent year. He would be one of the first of five private contractors delivering m1816 series of arms to the U.S. government. Business expanded in the 1820s, erecting new workspace new fill another order of 10,000 muskets in 1823. He would go on to receive another contract for 8,750 muskets and bayonets in 1829 to be delivered to Watervliet Arsenal in New York. He was one of the largest producers of military arms for the Ordnance Department by the 1830s and would go on to send arms annually to the U.S. arsenals in the 1830s, including 11,880 stands in 1837.
John C. Stebbins was a civilian-employee at Springfield Arsenal during the late 1830s and into the 1840s. He began working at Springfield Arsenal in 1814 as a young man. With the resignation of John Newbury in 1833, Stebbins moved up, from a parts inspector, to that of finished arms. From September through October in 1837, Stebbins spent thirty-two days inspecting muskets produced by Pomeroy’s factory. He signed an inspection report for 460 m1822 muskets on October 20th of that year. Stebbins stamp has two variations, one being a script “JCS” and the other as “JCS” in block form. Stebbins would also go on to approve m1836 pistols made by Waters, made by Johnson, and m1833 Hall carbines by Hall-North.
“JM” stands for Justin Murphy who spent approximately forty years inspecting arms produced by private contractors for the U.S. government at Springfield Arsenal. He would go on to stamp his mark on a number of muskets manufactured at Pomeroy’s facilities from 1818 through 1837, where he inspected 880 muskets.
This 1837, made by Pomeroy, falls into the “type 3” classification from the model 1816 series of arms. Converted to percussion in the 1840s or early 1850s using the cone-in-barrel method, it appears to have seen minimal use or handling since its production date. The wood has a lovely medium brown complexion with a very number of handling marks during its 181 year history! The barrel and metal components are in the original “bright” configuration and has a nice medium gray appearance. The metal has almost no pitting to it and minor rust spots around the barrel. The bore extremely bright and believed to be unfired due to the ream marks still visible when the barrel was first created.
Overall, this is a superb m1822 made by one of the most profound arms manufacturers of the first half of the 19th Century. It displays beautifully for its age and would be an excellent addition into any musket or Civil War arms collection. Finding a better example would be difficult when so many of these arms saw widespread use during the Mexican American War and Civil Wars.
$2,100 shipped CONUS, and we can provide a bayonet in matching condition for $2,200.