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covers “Colonial and Revolutionary Object (of the fair)” specifically page 170 which states “A number of interesting relics connecting the earlier Spanish
colonial life with he later English, French, Swedish, and Dutch colonial, were found in the Louisiana State building...A Sword of
General Jackson’s and sword and sash of Gen. J.B. Planche all worn at the New Orleans, and relics of the war of 1812 and of the Mexican War, were to be found in this collection.” The exhibition label remains on the right side of the stock. He also notes that Colonel Reuben T. Durrett of Louisville, “an authority on such matters” said, “It is a danged fine old gun, and must have cost $500. in it’s day. [sic].” An old photograph of the gun leaning on a chair that was sent by Mustain to Potter when they were negotiating the sale is also included. The receipts indicate Potter purchased the gun for $20. The William Piatt swearing the affidavit in the 1892 would be Lieutenant Colonel William Piatt’s nephew.
He was the son of Daniel Piatt Jr. (1774-1808) and died at his home near Cave City, Kentucky, in 1894 shortly after selling the gun to Mustain. The fact that he had owned the gun for approximately 60 years when he sold it in 1892 after being willed it by his uncle properly lines up with his uncle’s death in the 1830s and provides an chain of provenance of the gun back to the officer that received it.
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Mustain indicates that the gun was used in the Battle of New Orleans and he
paid William Piatt $20 for the gun. Piatt had owned it for 60 years and had been wealthy, but “he lost out and sold me the gun because he needed bread.” Mustain
then owned it himself for 20 years exhibiting the rifle at the famous World’s Fair in Chicago (World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893). Pages 169-189 of the “Report of the Committee on Awards of the World’s Columbian Commission”