Rare U.S. Model 1851 Cadet Musket VMI - Virginia Military Institute
Guns International #: 100498452 Seller's Inventory #: 25941
Category: Military Rifles - US - Springfield Rifles - Antique
Seller's Information
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Seller: Joe Salter com
Company: Down East Antiques - Joe Salter
Member Since: 9/10/10
First Name: Garrick-March-Jim-Joe
Last Name: Salter
State: New Hampshire
Zip: 03031
Country: United States
Phone: (603) 732-4000
Fax: (603) 732-4200
Platinum Seller
Number of Active Listings: 1191
Total Number of Listings: 20199
Seller: FFL Dealer
Return Policy: 3 day inspection and return policy on used guns.
FREE SHIPPING FOR ORDERS OVER $500! We also have a 30 day Inspection Period and NOT a 3 day Inspection.
Payment Types Accepted: We take all major credit cards with NO CREDIT CARD FEES! Also Check or Money order.
About Us: Joe Salter has been in the Antique and Collector Weapons business for 60 years as both a collector and dealer. Our company is based in Southern New Hampshire and we have had an internet based store front for the past 20 years. We are federally licensed and deal in all types of firearms and related material. We offer free Shipping for orders over $500.
Description:
NSN, .54 caliber, 40" barrel with an excellent, bright bore. This is one of the 500 initial production muskets, manufactured during 1851, that were sent to the Virginia Military Institute for issue to the cadets. The musket has matching 1851 dates on the lock and barrel tang with the once armory bright metal retaining an overall dull gray pewter patina with some hints of darker freckling starting to form, most noticeably at the muzzle and on and around the barrel breech. The freckling does continue onto the furniture but detracts little from the handsome patina present on the metal. The walnut stock was armory refinished at some point and has some softened edges with scattered light handling marks in the otherwise excellent military oil finish. The inspector's cartouche is illegible but still plainly visible on the left side and a small brass number or inventory tag has been added to the right side of the butt. The mechanics are tight, function flawlessly, and the original scaled down trumpet-headed ramrod is still present. The first 500 examples of the Cadet Musket were the only examples marked with the 1851 date and the entire was run sent to the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington (300 browned and case-hardened muskets in the first shipment in May; 200 muskets finished armory bright in the second shipment in August). The muskets had been personally promised to the school by President Zachery Taylor (a Virginian) during the cornerstone ceremony for the Washington Monument and so VMI cadets received the new musket even before their rivals at West Point. These muskets were intended to be used for drill and training but the oncoming Civil War necessitated that they be issued ad hoc to local militia and cadets serving the Confederacy (but usually only to units serving in a guard or rear echelon capacity, not those in front line service). This on and off service history occurred throughout the campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley until VMI itself was raided by Federal troops under Maj. Gen. David O. Hunter and the entire store of surviving muskets (then being transported by barge down the Maury River to Lynchburg) was seized and disposed of by dumping them into the water. Even so, some muskets managed to escape this watery grave, taken as souvenirs by Federal officers. One of them, Col. (and future President) Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23rd Ohio, would write to his wife: ?Stonewall Jackson's grave and the Military Institute are here...I got a pretty little cadet musket here which I will try to send the boys?. These VMI guns are extremely rare and desirable, unique among American cadet muskets due to their actual use in the field and subsequent status as a secondary Confederate arm and their very small survival rate. This example is in in Museum quality condition and in fact is in allot better condition then the one in the VMI Museum. It may be the best condition 1851 VMI left in existence. It would obviously make a stellar addition to any collection of 19th century American and Civil War weapons. There is a neat little article on these cadets done by the VMI Museum. If you google "1851 VMI" it should come up. {Ref. "American Military Shoulder Arms" Vol. III by George D. Moller; 2011}
SOLD
Antique: Yes
Manufacturer: Spfld
Model: 1851
Caliber Info: .54 Cal
Gauge Info: .54 Cal