The War of 1812 revealed many weaknesses in the design of American muskets,. That shortcoming gave way to the development of better muskets to be used by the US Army in future conflicts. The 1816 rifle was one gun developed as a result of the War of 1812.
The 1816 Springfield replaced the model 1812 Springfield, and brought with it several improvements, including a 42” long, .69 smooth bore barrel, similar to the model 1812 but with a longer lock plate, a shorter trigger guard and a longer bayonet. The model 1816 was a flintlock musket, originally manufactured at the Springfield and Harper’s Ferry armories between 1816 and 1844, with over 700,000 made.
But, after having read all of that, you may ask, why is the photo captioned “1828 Springfield”? That’s because, like many other older rifles used in the Civil War and later, many were converted to percussion caps, and our featured rifle is no exception. The side plate is indeed marked 1828 Springfield. At some point in its lifetime, it was converted by kit to be a percussion rifle. The parts marked 1828 are the parts that specifically converted it from flintlock to percussion.
This specific rifle saw use during and after the Civil War. Soldiers used Model 1816 Springfield Rifles more in the early years of the Civil War, specifically 1861 and 1862, before largely replacing them with the Model 1861 Springfield Rifle.
After the War, their owners kept a lot of these rifles and transitioned them into hunting rifles, especially those folks who lived in more rural areas such as Greene County. If this converted model 1816 could talk, the stories it could tell!
