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Archiver > WHITNEY > 2004-05 > 1085440245


From: "Christopher Branagan" <>
Subject: RE: [WHITNEY-L] WHTNEY Firearms Co.
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 19:15:04 -0400
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0405231340180.31535-100000@deneb.unm.edu>


Thank you,Karl! Your information is always interesting. Wouldn't this make a
great presentation at the Reunion?

from, Carolyn Whitney Branagan

-----Original Message-----
From: karl h schwerin [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 3:46 PM
To:
Subject: [WHITNEY-L] WHTNEY Firearms Co.


I have discovered an expert on Whitney arms living in my own back yard!
Mr. James Covell of Corrales, NM (suburb of Albuquerque), is a collector
of Whitney arms. On Sep 1, 2003 I visited Mr. Covell, who showed me his
collection and provided me with a great deal of information about the
Whitney Arms Company.

Whitney's first arms, as we all know, were flintlock muskets, several
thousand of which were produced for the U.S. government, beginning in
1798. He also produced muskets at that time for some of the state
militias. Mr. Covell has both a 1798 U.S. Contract musket and one
produced for the state of Maryland. By 1841 the percussion cap had been
introduced and the Whitney firm began to produce percussion rifles. Since
they had a surplus of the old flintlocks, many of these were modified by
closing off the pan with a brass plug and replacing the vise holding the
flint with an iron hammer. A percussion spur was placed on top of the
barrel to hold the percussion cap where the hammer would strike it instead
of the lockplate. The hammer itself was now iron instead of a vise
holding the flint.

The 1841 contract rifle was very popular with several thousand produced
for the Army and a couple thousand of a slightly modified version were
produced for the Navy. Covell tells me that the government inspectors
were exceedingly stringent in approving weapons which were often rejected
for cosmetic deficiencies as much as for design flaws. Not wanting to
lose money, Eli Whitney, Jr. then sold these rejected weapons to the state
militias as "good and serviceable arms." This rifle was superior to its
competitors because it was of heavy construction and was well braced over
the firing chamber.

By the time of the Civil War, however, Winchester had introduced his
rolling block lever action repeating rifle. For the first two years of
the War the general in charge of procurement would not buy them, however.
He considered the 1841 contract model to be good enough, and thought the
Winchester rifle encouraged infantrymen to waste ammunition. It wasn't
until Winchester put on a demonstration for Lincoln on the White House
lawn in 1863, that the Army was ordered to replace the 1841 Contract
Whitneys with Winchesters.

After Eli's original innovations in mass producing muskets, the Whitney
armory had to struggle continually throughout the 19th century to keep up
with innovation. Colt introduced his revolver in 1835-36, but his patent
protected the design for 14 years (until the Civil War). Whitney
experimented with several alternative designs, trying to get around the
patent. One was the ring trigger where the shooter pulled on a ring below
the barrel in order to revolve the chambers. But it was never as
satisfactory as Colt's design (Covell has what may be the only cased
example of a Whitney ring-trigger-housed in a wooden box, complete with a
wrench for taking the gun apart, powder, a powder container to measure the
powder placed in the chamber, a bullet mold, etc.).

Whitney also had to compete with the Winchester rifle and came up with
several ingenious designs, most involved reloading from below, but none
were as effective as the Winchester. After the Civil War Whitney had
several partners, each of whom introduced new designs, but it became
increasingly difficult to compete with Colt, Winchester and other arms
manufacturers.

Whitney did find a market in producing handguns--pistols and pocket
pistols. After the Civil War this was a major part of their production.

One thing about Whitneys is that they were almost always utilitarian
weapons. They were made to be serviceable and effective, but it was rare
that they were gold or silver plated, or engraved, or fitted with ivory or
pearl handles. Colt, on the other hand, seems to have been a master
marketer. His guns are often embellished with plating, engraving, fancy
handles, etc. Covell tells me that whenever an Army officer was promoted
to General, he received the gift of a Colt revolver with congratulations
on his promotion!

Also, Whitney never threw anything away. He would then reuse parts from
earlier models in producing later weapons, particularly those sold to the
state militias or offered for public sale. One Civil War musket marked
MANTON was long thought to be of British manufacture (Manton made some of
the finest hunting weapons of the time). Apparently Whitney purchased
some gun barrels from Britain (they are marked as approved by British
inspectors), then later assembled them with other surplus parts from his
stock, stamped them as MANTON, and sold them to some of the state
militias, who were desperate for weapons, as recent imports from England!

When Covell first became interested in guns, he planned to collect Colts
and Winchesters, but he soon discovered that these were very expensive.
He realized he could buy three or four Whitneys for one Colt or
Winchester, and so that is what he has done. Even so, a Whitney in good
condition will sell for anywhere from $750 to $4000. Some extremely rare
examples are worth much more than that.

Flayderman's Guide lists the value of the "Whitney 1798 Contract Musket"
at $1500-$4000. The "Contract Pre-1812 Musket" is worth from $1250 to
$2750.

Unfortunately, when Winfield bought the Whitney armory in 1888, he
destroyed all the surplus stock, in order to prevent competitors from
coming into their possession. Not deeming the business records of any
use, he destroyed these as well. Thus many interesting questions about
details of the business operation may never be answered.

A sketch of the "Whitney Arms Company" may be found in: Flayderman, Norm.
2001. __Flayderman's guide to antique American firearms, and their
values__. Iola, WI : Krause Publications, pp. 238-241. pp. 241-259 lists
all the known models of Whitney firearms and gives an approximate current
value.

A more complete source is the only book completely devoted to Whitney
firearms:
Fuller, Claud E. 1946. __The Whitney firearms__. Huntington, WV:
Standard Publications
I have not read this book, so cannot assess its content or value, but it
is more than 200 pages long, so should have some interesting information.

I took photos of several of Covell's pieces, as well as detail photos of
the flintlock and percussion mechanisms. If any of you are interested in
seeing these, please e-mail me, and I will send them to you
directly. (The Rootsweb listserve will strip attachments if I send them
to the list).

Karl H Schwerin




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