This 1862-dated Colt special model 1861 contract rifle musket bears the “Z” final inspection stamp of a Confederate Ordnance officer working the CS cleaning and repair system preparing “captured and collected” arms for reissue to Confederate troops. The basic text on these is Steven Knott’s 2019 study, which cataloged a number of different arms passing through the system, the work done on them, and included several different inspector’s stamps, including this “Z.” At the time the mark was associated with Capt. Louis Zimmer, who supervised C&R operations in Richmond from late 1864 to 1865, though the subsequent cataloging of an ampersand stamp suggests letter stamps may not necessarily reflect initials. Nevertheless, the “Z” is present on a number of these weapons and is among those initially listed by Knott. He estimates as many as 200,000 weapons were captured or collected by CS ordnance teams or civilians, along with another 50,000 turned in by CS forces, may have passed through the system, mostly from eastern battlefields that fell under Confederate control.

The special model blends American features with the British Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket in a design by Colt, who thought it would be the pattern used by Springfield as well, but the only other producers of the special model were Lamson, Goodnow and Yale, and Amoskeag, both using Colt plans, patterns and gauges. The most readily observable external differences are the contoured hammer, flat-faced bolster, and clamping, convex surface barrel bands. Springfield, of course, started introducing these changes in 1863.

The wood to metal fit is good and the wood shows some good edges, indicating it was not roughly handled during the war, though there are no markings visible on the side flat, likely from the C&R process, and buttstock shows some shallow divots, and dings, mostly on the left wrist and on the underside of the stock near the buttplate. There is a little chipping around the breechplug tang. The color and surface of the wood overall are good, and the “Z” stamp, applied on its way out the armory door for reissue, is fully legible. The Colt company markings and an 1862 date on the lock are crisp, indicating it was one of 8,005 supplied that year by Colt. The barrel shows it was cleaned, leaving a partially visible date that appears to be 1862 as well. Similarly, the barrel proofs and eagle on the bolster are largely gone. The left side flat shows a small “A,” but no “steel” marking that appears on 1862 dated Colts. This is likely missing not from the cleaning but because Colt had trouble with barrel suppliers when first manufacturing this pattern. This likely accounts also for the 1858 pattern rear sight with the same “B” subinspector stamp as the barrel bands rather than the 1861 high-wall pattern.

Confederate “captured and collected” arms are a relatively new field and there is a lot of work to be done, but they are interesting part of how the Confederacy tried to compensate for its lack of resources in a very organized and systematic way. This would fit well in a collection of Confederate infantry arms or specifically of Confederate C&C arms, which show a lot of interesting variation in both the models that passed through the system and the types of repairs and cleaning they underwent.  [sr] [ph:L]

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