When the Fenians had their weapons from the 1866 raids confiscated, the weapons were sent to what is believed was Watervliet armory. Aboard the Fenian arms ship, EB Pray, were the Fenians muskets marked with the IR Shamrock. These arms were also seized and sent to Fort Sullivan in Eastport Maine. Whether by design, ineptitude or who knows, the weapons were allowed to remain out in the elements and all the metal parts were rusting away. After about six months, the Fenians exerted political pressure and were able to get their weapons back. Since the weapons were now basically unusable due to rust on all the metal parts, the Fenians had a cleaning party and all the guns were stripped and cleaned.
Back in the 1860’s, the idea of one part fits all was almost there but not as should be. As a result when all the parts were assembled back into working guns, a lot of the parts were pittied due to the earlier rusting and many of the parts were ill fitting. Today these same weapons when they come on the market it is not unusual to see deeply pitted parts such as barrell bands and butt plates. So while pitted parts is not something you would normally want in a Civil War weapon, they are accepted on a Fenian gun due to their history.
Examples of rusty parts from a Fenian weapon in my collection.
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