Spencer Rifle 7248

[krkey1]

I have a spencer rifle model 1860 with the serial number 7248. Does anyone know what unit this rifle likely came from?

Thanks

Kris

[Two Flints]

Kris,

Some time ago I acquired the four volume set of the Springfield Research Service (SRS) Serial Numbers of U.S. Martial Arms. I purchased the set so I could help SSS members identify which unit their original Spencer Carbine or rifle was issued or assigned to during, and perhaps, after the Civil War.

Unfortunately, not all the Spencer serial numbers are listed in the four volume set I own. And, there are gaps between indicated serial numbers. This paragraph is a DISCLAIMER of sorts. As a courtesy to SSS members, I am happy to reveal to you the information I have regarding the serial number of your Spencer carbine or rifle. But, please remember, I am just regurgitating what I read in my SRS volumes with some "unscientific conjecture" on my part . What I do is the following: I take your Spencer serial number and try to place it in between the two closest serial numbers to yours listed in my SRS volume. In most cases, if the serial numbers for the Spencer before and after your own serial number were issued to the same unit, I assume your Spencer went to the same unit. Or, if your Spencer serial number is very, very close to another Spencer serial number, I assume your Spencer went to the same unit. I call this the "Two Flints guesstimation"   .  I'm guessing and estimating at the same time on what I believe to be correct information based upon the information I find in my four volume set of SRS.  And that is the best that I can do for you.

Having written all the above, my records show that the closest serial # to your Spencer rifle 7248 may have been a Spencer rifle issued to a member of Co. B, 8th Indiana Volunteer Cavalry some time between June-August, 1863

Two Flints

[krkey1]

Thanks for the information  

I had been researching this rifle for awhile and I had come to a similar conclusion.

This unit started off as the 39th Indiana Infantry-http://civilwarindiana.com/reg_history_cav.html#reg008c  It became the 8th Indiana Cavalry in Oct of 1863.

According to Steven Woodworth in  Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns,
The 39th was armed with Spencer Rifles during the Tullahoma Campaign in July of 1863. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tullahoma_Campaign ( read references to the 39th in this article)


At the Battle of Chickamauga the 39th Indiana was recorded as having Spencer Rifles. http://www.civilwarhome.com/hillatchickamauga.htm

(2) James Burns, 39th Indiana Mounted Infantry, writes to the editors from Harper, Kansas :

"Wilder's brigade, with Colonel T. J. Harrison's 39th Indiana Mounted Infantry regiment, Which was ordered to report to Colonel Wilder about 9 o'clock A. M. of the 20th of September, was stationed on a hill about one-third of a mile in the rear of the line of battle, the 39th on the left of the brigade. A few minutes after 11 o'clock A. M. the brigade was ordered to advance across the valley where the ammunition train was stationed, and up the hill to the support of Captain Lilly's battery, and to hold the hill at all hazards until the train was got out of the way. My company, ` A,' 39th Indiana, was in advance, and on reaching the brow of the hill Major Evans gave tho commands, `39th Indiana on left into line' ; `Fire at will.' At a distance of less than fifty yards six solid lines of gray were coming with their hats down, their bayonets at a charge, and the old familiar rebel yell. Our first volley did not check their advance, but as volley after volley from our Spencer rifles followed, with scarce a second's intermission, and regiment after regiment came on left into line on our right, and poured the same steady, deadly fire into their fast-thinning ranks, they broke and fled.

"Colonel Wilder and Colonel Harrison rode along our lines, directing that if they charged us again, no shot must be fired until the word of command was given. In a few moments those lines of gray once more emerged from the sheltering timber on the opposite side of the field, and steadily, as if on parade, they advanced to the charge till the line had reached to the point at which they broke before, when the command ` Fire' was given, and again they broke and fled in wild confusion. Three times more did those brave men advance at a charge, and each time were they hurled back. A lieutenant of the 17th Indiana went down with a few men under cover of the fire of the brigade, and brought in the flag of an Alabama regiment. We then received orders to move off, remount and guard the ammunition train to Chattanooga, which we did successfully."

On page 290 of the book Southern Storm by Noah Andrea Trudeau it records that on Nov 28, 1864 that the 8th Indiana Cavalry used Spencers in combat.

I think that shows this rifle was issued earlier then 1865.

[krkey1]

Another source showing the 39th having spencer rifles at Chickamauga

The storm of battle [at Chickamauga] was sweeping over the ground I had just left. Hastily...returning, I found the 39th Indiana regiment coming from a cross-road,--a full, fresh regiment, armed with Spencer's repeating-rifles, the only mounted force in our army corps...Colonel T.J. Harrison, its commander...dismounting his men, dashed at the enemy in a most effective charge. [Colonel John T.] Wilder, coming up on our right, also attacked. Wilder had two regiments armed with the same repeating-rifles. They did splendid work. [Confederate General James] Longstreet told Wilder after the war that the steady and continued racket of these guns led him to think an army corps had attacked his left flank."  --Union officer Gates P. Thruston. (From Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. III, published by Castle.)

[DJ]

You're probably both right.  The Springfield Research serial number lists are drawn from a variety of government/military sources that list weapons by serial number.  They are not merely records of the very first issue of a weapon, and some individual weapons actually have several different entries showing dates of issue, reissue, repair, and the like.  The Model 1860 Spencer rifles below about SN 10,000 that were purchased by the federal government were, by most accounts, delivered by mid- to late 1863.  Undoubtedly, many of those rifles were still in service a couple years later, and if one were reissued at that point, there could easily be a record of the reissue.  It's always possible, of course, that a particular rifle got set aside somewhere and didn't get issued at the same time as its brethren--perhaps it spent most of the war years leaned up against the wall behind the door in some quartermaster's office.  But I believe the more likely situation, based on the serial number of this gun and the Springfield Research info, is that it was issued to an Indiana regiment in 1863 or maybe 1864, and then reissued in 1865 (unit reorganization?  soldier gone home or died?  who knows why?), with the 1865 record of its reissue being the only one that has come to light so far.

[Bead Swinger]

Well, I'll kick in some more conjecture to make life interesting. 
Of the early Spencer Rifles, issued to the Union Army, (these SNs are listed in Marcot), a block of them were privately purchased and issued to Wilder's men.  These SNs are pretty well known, and to my recollection, this 72xx is above the Wilder group. However, it is quite likely among the first group issued to Custer's Michigan Cavalry.  I thought these SNs were well-known. Does someone have the Marcot listings?

To my recollection, all, if not most of the original 'Army' Rifles were issued in June-August 1863, then returned and exchanged for Spencer Carbines by January. Rifles were then reissued to various units, often (but not exclusively) infantry units.