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Mosby's Rangers Carbine

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
Mosby's Rangers Carbine

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Auction Date:2016 Sep 14 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
US Model 1816 Musket converted to percussion and shortened to carbine length, used by V. M. Ramey of the 43rd Virginia Cavalry, commonly known as ‘Mosby's Rangers.’ This is a much-shortened, .69 caliber musket that has a 24? barrel with dark, pitted bore. The metal has an overall mottled gray patina with patches of minor pitting along the barrel, heaviest at the muzzle and on the breech. The gun has an 1839 dated Springfield lock with a ‘Belgian type,’ or ‘cone’ conversion to percussion, and the brass pan ground nearly flush with the lock. The original lower band remains on the forend, but a second lower band (from a different musket) has been added in place of a nosecap. The stock, which was crudely shortened, still has a visible inspector cartouche on the left side, along with scratched initials “VMR” above, and has numerous small handling marks across the very dark oil finish. There are some further drying cracks in the buttstock on the left side, as well as a with-the-grain crack along the underside of the forend at the base of the shortened ramrod. The action is fully functional, and the trigger guard has been broken at the rear tang.

The gun comes with a 1937 dated, typewritten affidavit by Celia Ramey, granddaughter of Virgil Matthew Ramey, attesting to the muskets ownership by him as a trooper in Col. John Singleton Mosby's 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion “Partisan Rangers” (better known as “Mosby's Rangers”). Also included are copies of Ramey's original muster sheet which list him as having enlisted in Co. E on July 28, 1864, by Col. Mosby himself. Mosby's cavalry unit specialized in hit-and-run attacks, and intelligence gathering behind enemy lines. They were a definite thorn in the side of the Army of the Potomac, and continued fighting until the dissolution of the unit following Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The letter, which relates that the musket was sold as part of an effort to save the family farm, is also accompanied by a post-war cabinet photo of Mr. Ramey in middle age. This is a splendid Civil War-used weapon, identified to a man who served in one of the most renowned light cavalry units in the Confederate Army.