Page 193 - 4092-BOOK2-FLIPBOOK

The slaying of the general is said to have turned the battle for the Union. The story was featured in “Mile-Long Shot to Kill” in the “True” series. In some versions of the story, “Little George Lainhart” is identified as the Confederate general killed and in others it is the nickname given to the rifle by Abe Williams. Display materials relating to “Mile-Long Shot to Kill” and the rifle are included.
In truth, the story is pure myth. Captain John H. Metcalf III never existed and there was no General George Lainhart killed by a sharpshooter in 1864. In “Tall Tales of the Civil War” by William C. Davis notes, “The story first appeared as a history account in Charles Winthrop Sawyer’s Our
shop listing “C” or “G”“Lainhart, dealer in Gold, Silver, and Plated Ware. Fancy Goods, Notions Table and Pocket Cutlery, Fire Arms and Fishing Tackle, Also Manufacturer of Guns, Variety Store, Front St. opp. Ahwaga House, Owego, N.Y.” Swinney indicates George H. Lainhart was married to Libbie Ogden/Gardner and that Williams and Lainhart lived together for many years. “The big target rifle illustrated by Sawyer undoubtedly comes from a later period. Either George Lainhart commissioned it or Williams made it as a present for his friend.” He also notes, “The famous rifle is now owned by a Mineral Wells, TX, collector, and I have handled it. It confirms my opinion that it was made about 1880, not 1860.”
CONDITION: Fine with fading original blue finish fading to an even brown
The revarnished stock is also fine aside from a split along the grain down the left side of the stock and has crisp checkering and minor wear. The scopes have good options and considerable finish. Mechanically excellent. The case and accessories are generally very fine with minor wear. Overall, this is an iconic rifle connected to a famous myth from the Civil War. Provenance: The Major John De Merritt Collection; The J.C. Harvey Collection; The Herb Green Collection; The Johnie Bassett Collection; The S.P. Stevens Collection; Property of a Gentleman.
Estimate: 12,000 - 18,000
Rifles, appended to the description of the target rifle with Lainhart’s
name engraved on the stock. The rifle was real enough, though Lainhart’s identity remains a mystery. But the whole Metcalf fabrication Sawyer
took from an earlier novel he had written, John Metcalf, Old Time American Rifleman. The fictional Metcalf was a marksman in the American Revolution, fabled for long-distance shooting. Sawyer simply moved the fiction forward and attached it to this actual gun. The story, despite being exposed as a fraud, has been told and retold, even televised in the 1960s. Today at least two target rifles are on display—one in a tavern in Texas—as the one Metcalf used. Instead of being the rifle’s nickname, the inscription is likely for the rifle’s original owner.” This indeed is the case based on
the history of this rifle and its maker as discovered by noted firearms researcher and author H.J. Swinney and discussed in detail in “The New York State Firearms Trade” on pages 1692-1695. Period records indicate Abram/Abraham Williams was active in Owego, New York, in “1864-1885 and later.” Swinney notes that Williams lived and worked with the
Ogden family of gunsmiths. The New York
Census of 1865 lists him living in the home
of Charles Ogden, the youngest of the three
Ogden brothers. By the 1870s the fancy
goods business Ogden & Lainhart appears
in directories. We located on example in The
Gazetteer & Business Directory of Broome
and Tioga Counties, N.Y. for 1872-3” which
lists “Ogden & Lainhart (Owego,) (Walter
Ogden and Geo. Lainhart,) variety store and
manufs. firearm, Front opposite Ahwaga
House” another advertisement card for the
patina along the barrel, traces of original case colors in the protected areas and otherwise smooth gray and brown patina, aged patina on the German silver, and generally minor overall wear.
191