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LOT 1200
Historic Finely Engraved and Silver Mounted American Half-Stock Percussion Rifle Inscribed
“Benjamin French” with Book - NSN, 42 cal., 33 5/8 inch octagon bbl., blue/casehardened/silver
finish, curly maple stock.
The original inlaid silver
plaque on the left side of
this c. 1830s-1840s rifle
below the cheekpiece is
finely period inscribed
“Benjamin French”.
The rifled barrel has
traditional dovetailed
blade and notch sights
and “J.H. RECTOR
SYRACUSE/NY/27”
marked at the breech. The standing breech is tapped for a peep sight
(absent). The lock is marked “C. BAKER” and has scroll and game scene engraving. The
forend cap and inlays, ramrod entry pipe, trigger guard, patchbox, toe plate comb
plate, cheekpiece inlay, panel inscribed “Benjamin French” below the side plate, and the
rear side plate are all silver, and most are engraved. The patchbox is particularly ornate
features engraved columns on the side plates, a keystone arch on the finial, and scroll
accents. The brass buttplate is engraved and was silver plated. The curly maple
stock has a checkered wrist with evidence of having been a thin
band wrapped at one time. The rifle is accompanied by
a copy of “Witness to the Young Republic:
A Yankee’s Journal, 1828-1870” by
Benjamin Brown French (to whom this rifle is attributed) edited by Donald B.
Cole and John J. McDonough
Benjamin Brown French (1800-1870), in the period often known as
Major French, was a witness to many historical events, especially
in the nation’s capital from the 1830s to the 1870s. He had been a
representative in the New Hampshire legislature in the early 1830s as
well as a major in the state militia prior to working in a variety of roles
in Washington, D.C. For much of his life, he lived within a block of the
Capitol. He became the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives in the
mid-1840s, president of the Magnetic Telegraph Company in 1847-1850,
Grand Master of the Knights Templar of the United States in the 1850s,
president of the inaugural ball committee for Abraham Lincoln’s first
inauguration, and Commissioner of Public Buildings in Washington, D.C.,
during the the Pierce, Lincoln, and Johnson administrations. French laid
the cornerstone of the Washington Monument and Smithsonian Institution as Masonic Grand Master of the District of Columbia and wore
the same apron and held the same gavel used previously by George Washington during the laying of the cornerstone of the Capitol. French’s
masonic connections as well as his significance to the public buildings in Washington, D.C., could explain the unusual masonry designs on the
patchbox. At the consecration of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, French served as the marshal-in-chief, and the Consecration Hymn written
by French was sung by the Baltimore Glee Club between the oration of Edward Everett and Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address. French was
in frequent contact with President Lincoln during the war and was one of his confidants and also close with Mary Todd Lincoln. He oversaw the
arrangements for the funeral of Willie Lincoln in 1862 and rushed to be by Lincoln’s side after learning he had been shot. After his death, French
made the funeral arrangements, and his son Benjamin French Jr. designed the catafalque upon which Lincoln’s casket rested in the Capitol
Rotunda. It has since been used for every person who has laid in state in the rotunda. Major French’s nephew Daniel Chester French was the
sculptor of the famous statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial as well as other notable patriotic sculptures. After the turmoil of the Johnson
administration, Major French worked as a clerk in the Treasury Department until shortly before his death.
Benjamin B. French
200