By Dave Ehrig, Muzzle Blasts Editor
Within the membership of the National, Muzzle Loading Rifle Association are many who study the evolution, history, restoration, techniques, and reproductions of the American Longrfiel. This fills the gap on early North Carolina Longrifles and the book focuses on the relationship of the Moravians to long rifles.
Moravian records describe how Andreas Hoger, Peter Boehler and Herman Loesch traveled in 1754 from Pennsylvania to North Carolina to assist in creating the Moravian’s first settlement in the southern colony. Hoger was a builder and a surveyor and was sent from Europe to survey the church’s acquired tract of about 100,000 acres that became known as “Wachovia.”
In this book, Briggs and Stevenson demonstrate how the relationship of the Moravians to longrifles did not end with Andreas Hoger. Wachovia became a center of the early gunsmithing trade with talented craftsmen like Andreas Betz, Valentine Beck, and Jacob Loesch. The Salem rifle became a “gold standard” for early southern rifles that influenced the style of the non-Moravian craftsmen.
“Their tradition continues to the present day. In 1968, Old Salem master gunsmith, John Bivins, published the “Longrifles of North Carolina", which allowed students and scholars to better understand the history of the state’s gunsmithing craft and the pivotal role of Salem within it.
‘The Longrifle Makers of the Salem School’ compiles a mountain of information about these early Moravian craftsmen and creates a visual catalog of the surviving examples of their work. (credit: Robert Leith, Senior Director, Collections, Research & Archaeology, Old Salem Museum and Gardens).
Michael Biggs stated, “It is the goal of the authors to provide the records as we have found them. We believe the earliest rifles made in Bethabara would have been little changed from the rifles made in Christian’s Spring, Pennsylvania, where several of the early gunsmiths were trained. There was a large amount of evolution between the early Moravian rifles from Pennsylvania, to the slender, elegant and ornate rifles made by the Vogler family and George Foltz in Salem between 1800 and 1820. There can be no question that the Salem School also had an influence on the gunsmiths of the Jamestown School located 15 miles east of Salem. There are photographs of seven examples of eagle patchbox finial, Jamestown rifles by William Lamb and Jabez Stephens in this book to examine.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 198 pages of high resolution photographs which would allow present day builders to accurately recreate the Moravian/North Carolina Longrifle. The text supports all of these photos with background on makers and their history.
If you enjoy collecting or recreating powder horns, there are 26 pages of photographs to whet your appetite. The powder horns from 1801 to the 1880 period. There are a number of Appendixes ranging from the Salem triggers to those designating gunsmith homes, graves, gun shops and Wachovia maps. Another includes Wachovia Gun Shop Inventories. Appendix 7 discusses the Salem School Rifle at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. Others include (near and dear to my heart) a description of a J.J.Henry lock and barrel from Boulton, PA. (Jacobsburg Historical Society) In 2005, Wallace Gusler published four articles in Muzzle Blasts magazine, in which he attributes this rifle to have been made by John Valentine Beck during his time working at Bethabara in the Wachovia Tract.
This book is a detailed history of the Moravian gunsmiths who worked in the Wachovia Tract. The book contains total 370 pages, with 260 pages in color. Seventy-eight riflesare featured with detailed color photographs. The book is available in hardcover ($80) or softcover ($60) Briggs books are available by mail order at 103 Battle Road, Greensboro, N.C. 27410; 336-854-2244.