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In 1861 Alfred Jenks of Bridesburg, started building his M1861’s for the war effort. Instead of placing the date at the tail of the lock as the Springfield pattern called, he placed the date under the name Bridesburg. This continued throughout 1861 and at some point in 1862 the date started appearing in the pattern position at the tail of the lock. It is not yet known if the government forced Bridesburg to change the date location.
In Moller Vol. 3 page 299 he states, “Jenks is the only contractor who deviated from the U.S. M1861 armory pattern by delivering some rifle muskets that were otherwise of the M1861 configuration, with convex surfaced barrel bands. These muskets were marked U.S. over Bridesburg over the year date on the lockplate”. I have several 1861/62 forward dated Brideburgs in my collection as well as in this database. All 1861 dated Brideburgs are forward dated as well as some 1862 dated. There are also some 1861 dated Bridesburgs with convex bands. However, it is often hard to tell with Fenian weapons since there parts were mixed up as many as three different times.
Of 20 Needhams in the database:
10 are dated 1861
10 are dated 1862
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Bridesburg 1862
Lock Only
O and Forward date
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#28 (1861)
Solid convex bands
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#110 (1862)
Convex bands with screws
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#287 (1861)
Flat barrel bands
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