Second Lieutenant Reynolds of the 22^nd Connecticut was taking no chances on losing his pistol. He, his family, or his friends, had his initials engraved in block letters “B F R” on the grip strap below the triggerguard and added his rank and full surname in script on the back strap, “Lieut. B.F. Reynolds” where it is nicely framed by the factory clamshell fan engraving at top, around the base of the hammer, and the floral scrolls at the bottom. This identifies him with certainty. Neither of other two officers in the army named B. Reynolds were ever lieutenants.

The grip and back strap show wear to the silver wash finish at natural points of contact in handling, but the exposed brass has a very pleasing, untouched patina, and the floral engraving, standard on a Moore, is still crisp and detailed. The rear sides of the frame and recoil shield show similar wear to the silver, but there is perhaps 20 percent or better remaining on the forward sides of the frame, stronger on the left than the right, on the triggerguard, and on the bottom of the butt strap. The grips have good color, though the varnish is worn from handling, and show a few minor handling marks. The cylinder shows some thin blue. The barrel assembly shows mostly as a very thin bluish gray with a few tiny dings at the rear, pretty natural for a Moore since it is natural to hold it there while reloading, done by swinging out the barrel assembly to the side. The barrel is 5-inches long. The mechanics are good except it does not hold at half cock.

The underside of the barrel assembly is crisply serial numbered 3096 in a production run estimated at 5,000 to 8,000 by Flayderman, ending as a result of a lawsuit for patent infringement by Smith and Wesson in 1863. The barrel address on the top flat is sharp: “D. MOORE. PATENT. SEPT. 18. 1860” and correctly lacks the later Smith and Wesson stamping, added to remaining pistols after Moore’s loss in the suit. Like the Smith and Wesson, the Moore used a .32 rimfire cartridge, making it a popular sidearm for officers who did not then have to mess with separate percussion caps or worry about cartridges being damaged by moisture or handling. S&W won the lawsuit by holding Rollin White’s unintentional patent on the bored-through cylinder, and it easy to see why they would have been worried on other counts: the Moore offered seven shots rather than six, and a silvered, engraved frame as standard. (A few have also suggested the Moore swing-out system for reloading was also more robust than the top hinge of the S&W No. 2, despite the latter’s more pleasing lines.)

Benjamin F. Reynolds enlisted 8/25/62 and was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Company E as of 9/20/62. The regiment was raised in response to Lincoln’s August 1862 call for 300,000 militia to serve nine months and was recruited mostly in Hartford County. Recruiting began August 20; the regiment rendezvoused at Camp Halleck in Hartford on Sept. 3, and mustered into service there on Sept. 20. It left the state Oct. 2 by steamer to New York, ferry to New Jersey, and then train to Washington. It slept near the station that night, and spent two days on East Capitol Hill as part of the Second Provisional Brigade under Casey, and then moved to make camp near Fort Ethan Allen, where it performed its first picket duty at Langley, on the Leesburg Pike, which the regimental history humorously remarked was full of more hair-breadth escapes and thrilling incidents than all the rest of its service, though the closest enemy pickets were a full fifty miles away, no doubt a reference to the nervousness of every new soldier. In late October they were posted to Miner’s Hill as part of Cowdin’s 2^nd Brigade, Abercrombie’s Division, in the Military District of Washington. In December they were given marching orders to join the army at Fredericksburg, but orders were changed at the last moment, literally while they waited to board a train a Falls Church, and at the end of the month were called out on an eight-mile march in ankle-deep mud to Mill’s Cross Roads, in a vain attempt to intercept Stuart’s cavalry, following which they erected a log-hut winter camp.

Reynolds was discharged on February 7, just before the regiment moved camp to Hunter’s Chapel, near Arlington, and later to the defenses of Suffolk. We can only guess that the winter had affected his health. He does not seem to have served in another outfit. He had been born in Spencer NY in 1834, and moved to Hartford when a boy. He married about 1867 and pursued a medical career in Pittsburgh, having graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He died in Hulton, PA, in 1901, survived by his wife, son, and three daughters.

This Moore rates very good for condition, is complete and all original, has very pleasing look, and a dead-real period inscription.    [sr] [ph:m]

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