Bilharz, Hall and Co. Musketoon,During the US Civil War the Confederacy had little in the way of ind
Bilharz, Hall and Co. Musketoon,During the US Civil War the Confederacy had little in the way of industrial infrastructure. Primarily an agricultural country, the Confederacy had to either purchase arms imported for Europe (mostly Britain) or capture weapons from the Union. However Confederate industry was not entirely non-existent. Spread throughout the south were a number of workshops and factories that produced weapons for the Confederate military. One such producer was Bilharz, Hall and Company who operated a workshop out of Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia. They produced a compact musketoon for Confederate cavalry, engineers, and artilleryman. Essentially it was a shortened and compact version of the Springfield Model 1855, in .58 caliber to conform with the ammunition used by most muskets of the day. Unlike the mass produced Springfield used by the Union, or the mass produced Enfield manufactured by Britain for the Confederacy, each Bilharz, Hall and Co. musketoon was made by hand one at a time by an individual gunsmith. As a result only 400 - 700 were produced for the Confederate government.The example pictured above has an estimated value of $13,000 - $18,000 -- source link
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