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LOT 1242
Immensely Historic, Reported Only Known Documented Abraham Lincoln Presentation Firearm in Private Hands: Bristol Firearms
Co. Second Model Burnside Breech Loading Percussion Civil War Carbine with Silver Plaque Inscribed to Kentucky Statesman John
J. Crittenden from President Abraham Lincoln on February 1st, 1862, Accompanied by Large Wooden Sea Chest Inscribed John J. Crittenden - Serial no. 593, 54 cal., 21 inch round bbl., blue/casehardened finish, walnut stock. This carbine is easily the most historically significant Burnside carbine in existence: its silver oval presentation plaque on the right side of the stock reads: “Presented to the/Hon. J.J. Crittenden by
A. Lincoln/President of the United States/As a testimony of affectionate regard/for his long and patriotic Services/to which a grateful people bear/ willing testimony/Feby 1st 1862.” This fascinating carbine remained the property of American statesman John Jordan Crittenden’s family until 1992 when it was sold by Jane Crittenden Harris after being displayed for several years at the Kentucky Military History Museum. This Second Model Burnside carbine was manufactured c. 1861 to very early 1862. Some of these carbines were used at the Battle of Bull Run in July 1861 and other early engagements. The carbine’s five-groove rifled barrel has a pinched blade front sight, notch and folding leaf rear sight, and the serial number “593” on the underside. The frame has “BURNSIDE’S/PATENT/MARCH 25TH/1856/593,” and the matching serial number is repeated on the breech block. The lock has “BRISTOL FIREARMS CO.” The Second Model uses George P. Foster’s patented breech-latch which is marked: “G. P. FOSTER. PAT./APRIL 10th 1860” on the right side. A sling bar and ring are mounted on the left side, and the stock also has a sling swivel on the bottom and
is marked with two cartouches, one a “WAT” cartouche (Captain William Anderson Thornton). The accompanying sea chest measures 38 inches wide by 21 inches tall by 24 inches deep and has “John J. Crittenden” inscribed on the brass lid plaque. It is also documented as remaining in the Crittenden family and was passed down to Mrs. Harris.
When it comes to American history and certainly to 19th century American history, there is no figure as iconic as President Abraham Lincoln, the
Great Emancipator. He has long been regarded to be one of the greatest American presidents alongside the Roosevelts, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. Lincoln sought to avoid the Civil War, but when war came, he mobilized millions of men to fight to preserve the Union and worked tirelessly to keep the Border States from seceding. Lincoln was clear that while slavery had been the issue that caused the rupture, the Union’s goal was to reunify the country under the Constitution. Early in
the war, his administration had to work to assure the slave-holding Border States that remained in the Union that the federal government was not going to meddle in their “peculiar institution.” However, less than a full year into the war, the issue of slavery became intermingled with the war effort and complicated his efforts to retain the Border States. Lincoln and other Republicans in the North came to view emancipation and then the enlistment of freedmen as an important part of the Union war effort, but he had to move cautiously to keep men like his old associate John Jordan Crittenden of Kentucky, Lincoln’s birth state, on his side. Crittenden was by that time one of the most distinguished men in Congress.
Though millions of firearms were manufactured and used during the Civil War, the only other firearms known to have been presented by Abraham Lincoln are pairs of highly embellished Colt revolvers presented to foreign leaders which begs the question of why this Burnside carbine, the only known Lincoln presentation firearm in private hands today, was presented on February 1, 1862, to U.S. Representative Crittenden. The two men had known each other since at least the late 1840s but had taken different political paths after the breakup of the Whigs, and Crittenden was certainly an influential figure both at home in Kentucky and in Washington, D.C.,
but why February 1, 1862? Though this carbine has been known for many years, the details of the presentation have remained a mystery, but there are clues based on the historical context in regards to what else was going on in early 1862 for the Crittenden family, the Union war effort, Lincoln
222 and Crittenden’s relationship, the president’s political goals, and ongoing
“The emotions of defeat, at the close of a struggle in which I felt more than a merely selfish interest, and to which defeat the use of your name contributed largely, are fresh upon me; but, even in this mood, I can not for a moment suspect you of anything dishonorable.”
- Abraham Lincoln to John J. Crittenden, November 4, 1858
events in the important border state of Kentucky that may explain why President Lincoln presented Congressman Crittenden this carbine at that time.
In early 1862, the fate of the Union was uncertain at best. When the war began with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, most Americans in both the North and South expected the war to be quick and decisive, and many of the initial enlistments were only for a period of 90 days. However, as 1861 turned to 1862, there was no end in sight. Many of the nation’s leading military men had resigned from the already small regular U.S. Army to join the Confederacy, and the Union had lost Fort Sumter and other forts throughout the South, the first major battle at the First Battle of Bull Run, and several other engagements with Confederate forces and could only count a small number of minor successes in small skirmishes as victories. The Union’s main success was the blockading of the South and severely limiting the Confederacy’s export of cotton and the importation of arms under Scott’s Anaconda Plan. For the Union, holding Kentucky was critically important. As Lincoln wrote to Illinois Senator Orville H. Browning on September 22, 1862, “I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we cannot hold Missouri, nor, as
I think, Maryland. These all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us. We would as well consent to separation at once, including the surrender of this capitol.”
John Jordan Crittenden (1787-1863) was one of the nation’s leading politicians during the early 19th century, tumultuous antebellum era,
and early part of the Civil War. Without his support, Lincoln could not expect to hold Kentucky and the Border States. Crittenden had started his
career as a lawyer and quickly moved into government. He had been the territorial attorney general of Illinois back in 1809-1810 when the territory was largely still held by Native Americans and sparsely populated by
white Americans and when Lincoln was an obscure infant in a log cabin
in Kentucky. He then served in the Kentucky legislature during the War of 1812 and then in the U.S. Senate off and on until 1861 and also served as U.S. attorney general under William Henry Harrison briefly, as governor of Kentucky in 1848 to 1850, and as U.S. attorney general again under Millard Fillmore in 1850 to 1853, the only man to serve in the role on two separate occasions. When the Whig Party, to which he and Lincoln belonged, fell apart in 1854 after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Crittenden remained committed to preserving the Union through compromise. He was present for the famous caning of Charles Sumner in the U.S. Senate on May 22, 1856, and was nearly attacked himself when he tried to intervene to save Sumner and aided him when the attack ended.
In 1858, he is credited with aiding Stephen Douglas’s campaign and
thus Lincoln’s defeat despite Lincoln writing to Crittenden asking him
to not interfere. After the election, Lincoln wrote again to Crittenden on November 4, 1858, “The emotions of defeat, at the close of a struggle in which I felt more than a merely selfish interest, and to which defeat the use of your name contributed largely, are fresh upon me; but, even in
this mood, I can not for a moment suspect you of anything dishonorable.” Lincoln in this letter clearly indicates Crittenden’s wide influence along with his respect for the elder statesman who many regard as the successor to Kentucky’s famous Whig leader Henry Clay. Crittenden created and led the Constitutional Union Party.