Canadian War Museum gunning for vintage musket
Cathie Coward, the Hamilton Spectator
The British India Pattern musket, known also as the Brown Bess, was manufactured between 1797 and 1805 and used by British troops in the War of 1812 on Canadian soil.
Cathie Coward, the Hamilton Spectator
rare, vintage musket
By Paul Morse
The Hamilton Spectator
(Apr 6, 2006)
The Canadian War Museum is appealing to Hamilton police not to destroy a rare, vintage musket likely used in local battles during the War of 1812.
The Spectator e-mailed photos of two guns to the Ottawa museum late yesterday afternoon. Thirty seconds later, the museum phoned back.
"You just ruined my day," said special projects director Daniel Glenney. "How do I get that Brown Bess?"
Glenney said the British India Pattern musket was manufactured between 1797 and 1805 and used in Canada by the regular British troops in the War of 1812. It was then used by the Canadian militia in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.
"Based on the picture, you only see ones in that nice a condition very rarely."
Even more interesting is that a soldier's name (WBY Shelburne) is carved into the stock, which should help historians trace the weapon.
Nicknamed Brown Bess for its dark colour, the flintlock was issued to soldiers in Sir Isaac Brock's 49th Regiment of Foot, the King's Regiment and the 41st Regiment of Foot at the turn of the 19th century.
"They would have been carrying those right out of the armouries from England," Glenney said.
The Brown Bess, now locked up with 1,253 other firearms turned in during a month-long police gun amnesty, "could have been used at Queenston Heights, Lundy's Lane and Chippewa," he explained.
"It would have been used by the garrison troops at Burlington Heights all through the war or the Battle of Stoney Creek."
So few remain because the British sold most of the muskets as surplus to the Mexican army, where they were used at the Battle of the Alamo.
Hamilton police have several other weapons that museums would like to have, he said, including a rare Johnson rifle and German MG-34 machine gun from the Second World War, a Remington Rolling Block and a Martini Henry rifle from the 1800s.
And there are suggestions that a weapon owned by a Hamilton man killed with General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn is on the destruction list.
All are due to be melted in a Dofasco blast furnace at the end of April.
"It would be a shame just to melt them down without consideration," Glenney added.
Police subtly softened their stance yesterday, after maintaining all through the amnesty that all weapons would be destroyed regardless of historic value.
The whole point of the gun amnesty is community safety, said Deputy Chief Ken Leendertse. Owners who turned in guns did so knowing they were entering into a contract with police.
"They signed a form that acknowledged they turned it over to the police service for destruction.
"Citizens had an opportunity to turn these weapons over to museums before they turned them over to us."
Nevertheless, police now say they will be flexible if an owner who turned in a gun wants to renegotiate the contract. One owner, who handed over more than 60 firearms, recently asked police to return one with significance to the family.
That will only happen if the owner produces proper papers for it, Leendertse noted. He also left the door open for special entreaties from museums, saying they would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Police have also agreed to check a rumour that a .50- calibre cap-and-ball flintlock belonging to Lieutenant William Winer Cooke was turned in and is slated to be destroyed. If true, the weapon would be of extreme historical importance, given that Cooke, who grew up in Hamilton, died next to Custer in 1876.
He was the author of the famous "last message" to Frederick Benteen that read: "Benteen. Come On. Big village. Be quick. Bring packs. WW Cooke. P.S. Bring Packs."
Police say people must not lose focus on why Hamiltonians want to get rid of guns.
"The people of Hamilton have an intolerance for gun violence," Leendertse said. "If we save one life, that's worth more than any history."
