Matt in Florida
researching excavated 1863 army revolver
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venicemeghunter
researching excavated 1863 army revolver
Can anyone point me in the right direction for researching my excavated Remington M1863 .44 New Army revolver. It was excavated on the battlefield of Olustee Florida. It was excavated on private property with permission. The serial # is 41785. It does have inspector marks T T or L L on the left side backstrap. I searched around the forum and found a post from someone with a s/n close to mine and was told that it was made in late 1863. Is there any way to find what state or regiment my gun was sent to? Is there any reputable database systems out there that can help me? Please if anyone can help me I greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much for any replies
Matt in Florida
Matt in Florida
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Rem 342
Re: researching excavated 1863 army revolver
Wow, excavated in Florida and that info was still visible? Can you post some photos, that sounds fascinating.
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venicemeghunter
Re: researching excavated 1863 army revolver
here is the picture
- Attachments
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- North Florida is all sand and preserves relics pretty well. After cleaning it with the lye and zinc process, you could read the serial number clear as a bell.
- Rem.jpg (14.78 KiB) Viewed 2421 times
Re: researching excavated 1863 army revolver
Matt
I checked my list of serial numbers for identified Remingtons. I'm afraid I can't help you very much but here's what I have. The closest numbers I have on either side of your gun are 40306 and 43019. I don't show any numbers in the 41000 range.
40306 was issued to Co. K, 16th MO Vol. Cav
43019 was issued to Co. C, 5th ILL Vol. Cav
Still, you have a nice relic. Is the gun still loaded? When it was dug did the digger look closely to see if the brass trigger guard was still there. It's not unusual for the screws to rust away and the trigger guard just falls off. Same thing happens with the grip screw and the screw holding the loading lever in place. Might be worth at trip back to dig a little deeper.
Good Luck
Gmaque
gmaque @aol.com
I checked my list of serial numbers for identified Remingtons. I'm afraid I can't help you very much but here's what I have. The closest numbers I have on either side of your gun are 40306 and 43019. I don't show any numbers in the 41000 range.
40306 was issued to Co. K, 16th MO Vol. Cav
43019 was issued to Co. C, 5th ILL Vol. Cav
Still, you have a nice relic. Is the gun still loaded? When it was dug did the digger look closely to see if the brass trigger guard was still there. It's not unusual for the screws to rust away and the trigger guard just falls off. Same thing happens with the grip screw and the screw holding the loading lever in place. Might be worth at trip back to dig a little deeper.
Good Luck
Gmaque
gmaque @aol.com
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venicemeghunter
Re: researching excavated 1863 army revolver
Gmaque,
Thank you very much for taking the time to search the s/n. I had a friend do it last week using the SRS database and he came to the same conclusions. I checked out the 5th Ill cav and Mo cav battle history. I know at the battle of Olustee the Union cav units were the 40th Mass and the 4th Mass colored cav. The Confederate units were the 4th Ga cav, 2nd and 5th Fl cav.
The 5th Ill cav fought in skirmishes in Al and so did the 4th Ga around the same time in mid to late 1863. That's the closest I could find on possible history. The battle of Olustee was fought in Feb. 20, 1864. But with the huge gap of s/n who knows who got the revolver. Also the gun looks the be field stripped and rendered useless. 4 of the nipples are gone, loading lever gone, mainspring gone and the sight removed and the loading lever holder under the barrel looks to be twisted or cut off. I know the Confederates annihilated the Union in the battle and ended up with 1600 weapons and a few artillery pieces. But I know for certain it was dug on the battlefield but the history who knows. Thanks again for repling:)
Matt in Florida
Thank you very much for taking the time to search the s/n. I had a friend do it last week using the SRS database and he came to the same conclusions. I checked out the 5th Ill cav and Mo cav battle history. I know at the battle of Olustee the Union cav units were the 40th Mass and the 4th Mass colored cav. The Confederate units were the 4th Ga cav, 2nd and 5th Fl cav.
The 5th Ill cav fought in skirmishes in Al and so did the 4th Ga around the same time in mid to late 1863. That's the closest I could find on possible history. The battle of Olustee was fought in Feb. 20, 1864. But with the huge gap of s/n who knows who got the revolver. Also the gun looks the be field stripped and rendered useless. 4 of the nipples are gone, loading lever gone, mainspring gone and the sight removed and the loading lever holder under the barrel looks to be twisted or cut off. I know the Confederates annihilated the Union in the battle and ended up with 1600 weapons and a few artillery pieces. But I know for certain it was dug on the battlefield but the history who knows. Thanks again for repling:)
Matt in Florida