Spencer & Other Firearms Serial # Search - Info Added In Your Original Post

[bobdp]

Hello Two Flints:  I have a Spencer basket case I was given about 30 years ago, and am finally putting together.  The serial # is 26999.  Can you tell me anything?  I hope to put it in shooting shape (it'll never be a collector), & give it a try with a centerfire conversion block.  Wish me luck, and thanks.  Bobdp  (Lincoln City, Oregon)

[Two Flints]

bobdp,

I have to assume you have a Spencer Carbine and not a rifle.  Your Spencer has the serial #26999.  Your Spencer Carbine was issued to either Co. B or C of the 4th Kentucky Mounted Infantry.

By the way, thanks for joining SSS

Two Flints

[Two Flints]

Hello John Morton,

Thanks for joining SSS.


You own an 1860 Spencer Carbine with serial #33,451.  Your carbine was issued to Co. E of the 19th New York Volunteer Cavalry.

Two Flints

[bobdp]

Thank you!  What a difference it makes in knowing a bit of the history of this firearm.  Yes, you are correct.  It is a carbine.  Afraid my mind was elsewhere when I wrote the request.  That happens a lot.  It was a box of pieces when I got it.  Most is there, except for the magazine, buttplate & forearm.  I will go to S&S for what they have, then hunt up a buttplate, & shoot it!  It will be a pleasure to send a round (mild load, believe me) downrange, & wonder about the first person to carry it.  That is always part of the pleasure of these old firearms.  As we say over & over, if only it could talk.  Took it 150 years to make it to the Oregon Coast.  Wonder what it did in the meantime.  Thank you again.  What a nice service.  I have a pretty good firearms library.  If I can ever reciprocate, please just ask.  Bobdp

[Harve Curry]

Hello Two Flints,
Can you tell me any info for my Spencer M 1865 carbine no. 21413 ?
Sorry, Correction Update:
And a S&W model 2, cal. 32 rimfire, no.20556 ? It is in it's original CW right hand full flap , (1/2 size) army type holster.
thanks, Bill

[Two Flints]

Hi Harve,

Your Spencer Carbine M-1865 serial # 21,413 comes closest to serial # 21,430, which was issued to Co. E, 3rd Cavalry, on/or/about 07-26-1869. 

At the present time, my reference books are not all here, and I can't check up on your Smith & Wesson.  I'll keep the serial # on file and let you know if I can or can't help you with it when I am able to check it out.

Two Flints

[Harve Curry]

Another is my friend Mike's model 1860 Spencer carbine, 22" barrel, cal. 56-56, no.30031. (never converted from rimfire)

[Two Flints]

Harve,

Regarding your friend's Spencer Carbine serial # 30,031 - that serial number falls in between these two listed serial #s - closest I can give you.

serial # 30,016 issued to Co. G, 6th Indiana Cavalry on 07-13-1864

serial # 30,031 belongs to your friend

serial # 30,041 issued to Co. I, 19th New York Volunteer Cavalry on 10-??-1864

Two Flints

[Harve Curry]

Thanks Two Flints.
I corrected my first post the S&W is a model 2.

[Two Flints]

Harve,

Sorry, I have no info on S&W Model 2.  I'm still waiting on a book to complete my set.  No guarantee it will have your Model 2.  I'll have to let you know when I get it.

Two Flints

[Lost Creek]

  Howdy Two Flints.  I am trying to find some info on a Spencer rifle/carbine that belongs to my father -in-law. He is 78 years old and doesn't have much information other than he traded for it a long time ago. It has the Spencer trademarks on the top of the breech and the serial number is 2897. The  forearm has been cut down but it still has a sling swivel on the buttstock. We are really interested in the history of this old firearm and would appreciate any help you could give us. Thanks in advance, Lost Creek

[Two Flints]

Hi Lost Creek,

I checked my sources, and I do have a Spencer Rifle with a serial # of 2899 that was issued to the 6th Independent Company Ohio Volunteers SS (SS = sharpshooters).  A great many of the serial #s before and after the Spencer Rifle belonging to your father-inlaw were also issued to the Independent Company(ies) of Ohio Volunteers. 

Extra information - see mention of Spencer rifles in the text appearing below

The Sharpshooters. Photo appears below

In the autumn of 1862 Gov. Tod undertook to raise ten independent companies of sharpshooters, to serve on special duty, without field officers. Capt. Gershom M. Barber raised a company which was largely composed of residents of Cuyahoga county, and which was demonimated the Fifth Independent Company of Sharpshooters. The Sixth and Seventh companies were also recruited in this county; the captains having free access to the large camp of drafted men at Camp Cleveland. A portion of their men were actual resident of the county, though generally credited to other counties in which the captains resided. The Ninth and Tenth companies were also largely composed of Cuyahoga-county men, but, as previously stated these were mustered into the Sixteenth Infantry and served with that regiment.

On the companies being completed, the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh were organized in a battalion, and Capt. Barber, as the senior officer, was placed in command. The men were all picked with reference to their physical ability, and before being mustered each was required to make a "string" of not exceeding twenty-five inches in five shots, at one hundred yards off-hand or at two hundred yards at a rest. Their uniform was the same as that of the infantry, except that the trimmings were green, and they were armed with Spencer's seven-shooting rifles.

They remained at Camp Cleveland, drilling as infantry and also practicing at the target, until March, 1863, when they joined Rosecrans' army at Murfreesboro, and were attached to the general's headquarters for special service. The battalion was never brigaded, but remained permanently attached to the headquarters of the Army of the Cumberland throughout the war; being detailed on special duty whenever necessary. The battalion was there joined by the Fourth and Eighth Independent companies; the whole being under the command of Capt. Barber. The Fourth company, however, was detached just before the battle of Chickamauga.



First Ohio Sharpshooter monument at Widow Glenn's, Chickamauga Battlefield National Park
At the battle two companies, of which the Fifth was one, were in charge of the department headquarters. On Sunday, the third day of the fight, while they were on their way, under orders, to join Gen Rosecrans, and while in rear of Gen. Jefferson C. Davis' division, there was a general break along the Union lines, and that division retreated; leaving the sharpshooters directly in front of the enemy. Unable to join Rosecrans, Capt Barber reported to Davis who ordered him to fall back four hundred yards and form line of battle. He did so, and Davis attempted to rally his division in the rear. It broke, however, and a similar order was again sent to Capt. Barber and obeyed. Four times the sharpshooters formed in line and engaged the enemy's advance; thus covering the retreat of Davis' division, and at length following it from the field.
When, after that battle, the rebels cut off the supplies from the army at Chattanooga, Gen. Rosecrans had a road built westward along the north side of the Tennessee. But the rebel sharpshooters from across the river, at the point where it passes through the Cumberland mountains, broke up the first supply train; killing many of the men and horses. A regiment of Kentucky infantry and a battery of artillery both proved unable to protect the exposed point. Capt. Barber was then ordered to detail fifty men for that purpose. He obtained permission to go in command himself.

Taking his detail to the locality on the rainy afternoon of the 13th of October, 1863, he went over the exposed road, attended only by a guide, to lay out his plans. Nearly a hundred shots were fired across the river at the two men, but by keeping on the move they escaped injury. Having thus ascertained just where the enemy was posted, the captain at three o'clock the next morning let his men on to the ground, and stationed them in squads opposite the positions occupied by the rebels.

At dawn both parties began firing across the river. A series of lively duels was kept up until ten o'clock, at which time the rebels withdrew up the mountain, leaving Capt. Barber and his men complete masters of the position. Only one man was wounded and he but slightly. They afterward learned from spies and prisoners that the rebels suffered very severely in killed and wounded before they abandoned the position. The detachment was joined by the rest of the battalion, and held the ground in question until Hooker's two corps arrived and communications were entirely restored.

At Mission Ridge the sharpshooters were held in reserve. After that, they were at headquarters most of the time till the first of May, 1864, though they were engaged in a protracted scout between the hostile lines in February, and the Fifth and Eighth companies were located forty miles up the Tennessee, to protect Union citizens, during part of March and April.

From about the first of May until the first of July the battalion manned a gunboat in the Tennessee, to keep the banks and vicinity clear of rebel guerrillas and raiding parties.

On the 12th of May about sixty-five men came near being massacred through the management of the pilot of the gunboat, who turned out to be a rebel spy. The negro huts and storehouses of a plantation on the south side of the Tennessee had been made the base of operations for rebel guerrillas who were accustomed to cross the river, do what injury they could to the Union forces and return thither. Captain Barber determined to clear them out. The pilot suggested, and the captain agreed, that the boat should lie near the town, as it was called, through the night, then land below it and march up the river road, under the protection of the boat, to attack it.

In the night the pilot got ashore, and warned the rebels what they might expect. On landing , the captain found the river road so favorable to ambush, and so little protected by the gunboat, that he struck across to another. On the sharpshooters nearing the forks of the two roads, near a hundred Texans sprang up out of the ambush in which they had placed themselves on the river road. Thirty or forty shots were fired on a side, when the rebels fled. The sharpshooters advanced into the so-called town, and attacked a store-house filled with plunder from the other side of the river. Immediately the rebels, concealed in other houses and in masked works on the hillside opend a heavy fire, driving the Unionists to the shelter of the gunboat, with a loss of three killed and wounded. The negroes were then warned to leave, and the gunboat shelled the town from end to end, soon driving out the rebels. Afterwards a detachment was sent ashore to burn it, as was done to all houses from which the Union troops were fired on. The rest of the sharpshooters landed to repel attacks. The Texans, not knowing of the covering party, charged across an open space to destroy the burners. The sharpshooters met them with a terrific fire from behind cover, with their Spencer rifles, and more than half the assailants were killed or wounded. These operations entirely broke up the nest of marauders which had previously lurked in the vicinity. The negroes were taken on the gunboat and sent to the contraband camp an Nashville, which was where they were anxious to go.

The sharpshooters, while patrolling the river, passed through several other interesting experiences, which we have not space to relate here. After their gunboat service was over, they joined Sherman's army at Big Shanty. The Seventh company became that general's headquarters guard, and the others were in charge of the amunition train of the army of the Cumberland, from that point to Atlanta. Afterward the battalion of three companies returned to Tennessee and was made Gen. Thomas' headquarters guard, which position it held till the close of the war. In April, 1865, Capt. Barber was mustered out to accept the lieutenant-colonecy of the One Hundred and ninety-seventh Infanty, and the battalion was mustered out on the 19th of July following.

Left side of original photo


Right side of original photo




Two Flints

[Lost Creek]

Two Flints I am in your eternal debt.  That was way above and beyond what I was hoping we could find out.  I will be doing a little further research into the sharpshooters and their service. Many thanks again compadre.  Lost Creek

[Two Flints]

Lost Creek,

This is what I get paid the big bucks for   Do a Google search starting with these key words Independent Company Ohio Volunteers as there seems to be quite a bit of information out there.  On of my searches took me to this link: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/3680/cw/cw-oh.html

Glad I could help!   The bill is in the mail

Two Flints

[Scarwolf]

Hello everybody, and happy New Year !

Two Flints : My own original Spencer 1860 carbine serial number is : 44733

What about her "Birthday" & where she was issued ?

Sorry for my approximate language...I'm just French...   

[Two Flints]

Hello Scarwolf. 

The closest serial # Spencer Carbine to your original Spencer (serial # 44,733) was issued to a member of Company M, 2nd New York Volunteer Cavalry (serial # 44,705) on or about March 1865.
Go to this link:   http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unnycav1.htm#2nd   and scroll down to the unit listed as 2nd Regiment Cavalry "Harris Light".  This appears to be the correct unit history you may want to look at.

There is a another unit that was issued Spencers with serial numbers above (44,980) and below (43,405) your Spencer serial #44,733, and that unit is Company F, 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, (no month given) in 1865.

I think your best bet is the NY Volunteer unit.

How about photos of your Spencer and information on how and where you acquired it?

Two Flints

[Scarwolf]

Hello two flints,

Thank's for the informations about my "Boston Girl", who i named "Amanda" (in homage of Amanda Palmer from "The Dresden Dolls", a Boston musical group)...

I found her on a french small adds site, & the previous owner said that he bought this carbine on "Track of the wolf" site, few years ago...

Yet, she's still in 56-56 RF but i'll change soon for a CF breech block... and let's have some music ! 

[minerotago]

I have only just joined this site so I dont even know my way around - the moral is that this message may not go where it is supposed to but heres hoping!

Last Saturday I finally got one of the guns I have always wanted from childhood days - ever since I read of Abe Lincoln testing one in the grounds I think of the White House. ZFinally one turned up in an auction close enough for me to go and see it and to bid accordingly if it was in good order.

No blue on barrell but the receiver is a nice shiny smooth silver colour with hints of colour hardening. The workings have 90% of their original colours and the wood is very good indeed. I decided that from the moment I saw it that it was going to be mine and thus it sits beside me as I type.

I am hoping that you may be able to give me a few clues as to its history. It is a Spencer carbine, Model 1865 with Stabler cutoff, manufactured by the Burnside Rifle Co and with three groove rifling. The serial number is 9972

Hoping you can help me research some of its past.

[Two Flints]

Hi Minerotago,

I assume by your post that you are joining the Spencer Shooting Society.  I'm sure you will find quite a bit of useful information regarding your (Burnside) Spencer.

If possible, please post photos of your Spencer, especially closeups of the receiver section where you will find the Spencer stamp.  That would be interesting to see.  If you would rather, you can Email the photos to me as attachments, and I can post them for you to go along with any text you may care to add as a new thread/post.  My Email address is:  fsgrand2@fairpoint.net

There are no existing detailed records of the Burnside Spencers.  I have data on original Spencers, but the records of the Burnside Company were lost to history or are archived somewhere and have not been revealed, as yet.  Your Burnside Spencer was supposed to be produced in March of 1865, using your serial # as a guide.  However, the Burnside Company got way behind in their production dates for Spencers, and your serial # Spencer was eventually made sometime before August 31, 1865.  Your Burnside Spencer may have eventually been shipped as part of arms sale to a European country, or may have been sent out to the American West for use by the U.S. military in the Indian Wars.

The page below is taken from the Roy C. Marcot book, Spencer Repeating Firearms.  There is a short chapter on (Burnside) Spencers.



Two Flints