You are welcome.

From my studies of Southeast Arkansas and the rearming of the Confederates in Arkansas after Van Dorn in the fall of 1862, I am decided that the armament situation for any Confederate Ordeance Office would have been a nightmare. Anything from Shotguns to 1842 Springfields would have been the standard armaments for the Arkansas and Texas soldier.

The advent of 1st class weapons into Arkansas such as the model 1853 Enfield Rifle Musket does not seen to have happened in any appreciable numbers until 1864. Most of those would seem to have come from captured arms at the Battles of Poison Spring, Praire De Ann, and Marks Mill.

However, as you know I have an original 1864 mod. 1853 London Arms Enfield which was found here in Arkansas. As you know that particular model years production was sold to the Confederacy, so it had to be a blockade weapon. How did this weapon get to Arkansas? In 1864 it had to have come by way of Texas. It could not have been surrendered or captured, or it would have been in some federal arsenal warehouse to have been destroyed or otherwise kept. So it most likely was a weapon which some soldier just took home when the war ended for him. I wish that weapon could talk a little bit more than it does.