M1841 Mississippi Rifle - History

History

When Eli Whitney Blake took over management of the Harpers Ferry Armory in 1842, he set about tooling up under his new contract from the U.S. government for making the model 1841 percussion rifle. Machinery and fixtures for making the 1822 contract flintlock musket had to be retooled or replaced in order to produce the lock and barrel of the new model. Whitney, Jr. had the good sense to hire Thomas Warner as foreman, who, as master armorer at Springfield Armory, had just been making the same kind of major changes there. Thomas Warner had spearheaded the drive to equip the Springfield Armory with a set of new, more precise machines and a system of gauging that made it possible for the first time to achieve, in the late 1840s, the long-desired goal of interchangeability of parts in military small arms. Under his tutelage, Eli Whitney, Jr. equipped the Whitney Armory to do likewise.

The nickname "Mississippi" originated in the Mexican–American War when future Confederate president Jefferson Davis was appointed Colonel of a Mississippi volunteer regiment; the Mississippi Rifles. Colonel Davis sought to arm his regiment with the Model 1841 rifles. At this time, smoothbore muskets were still the primary infantry weapon and any unit with rifles was considered special and designated as such. Davis clashed with his commanding General Winfield Scott who said that the weapons were insufficiently tested and refused the request. Davis took his case to the President James Knox Polk who agreed with Davis that his men be armed with them. The incident was the start of a lifelong feud between Davis and Scott.

At the Battle of Buena Vista, Davis's regiment helped provide the decisive push that drove the Mexicans from the field. In June 1846, the army offered him an appointment as a brigadier general of a militia unit but he declined. In traditional Southern style he believed the appointment was unconstitutional. The United States Constitution, he argued, gives the power of appointing militia officers to the states, not to the federal government.

The Model 1841 evolved into the Model 1855 US Rifle, which became the standard issue weapon for regular army infantry, and ultimately the Model 1861 Springfield.

By the time of the Civil War, the Mississippi rifle was generally considered obsolete. It was rarely carried by Union troops (with a few exceptions; the 20th New York Infantry was armed with them up to Antietam), but Confederate NCOs, skirmishers, and sharpshooters often used them, and occasionally whole infantry regiments.

The Mississippi rifle was sometimes referred to as a "yagger" rifle, due to its smaller size and its similarity to the German Jäger rifles.