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Henry Lever Action Rifle with Extensive Research - Serial no. 7594, 44 Henry RF cal., 24 3/8 inch octagon bbl., blue/bright finish, walnut stock. This rifle is accompanied by a Steve Stevens Henry Rifle Research Project letter that states that this rifle is from Stevens’s collection. He notes: “This Henry rifle is one of a group of 500 Henrys that was ordered by the U.S. Government on 4/7/1865 and shipped on 4/19/1865. All of these rifles were issued to the 3rd Regiment U.S. Veteran Volunteers and awarded as an enlistment bonus for a 1 year enlistment. The rifles were taken home by the soldiers upon discharge in 1866. Of the ten companies in the 3rd U.S. Veteran Volunteers, five recorded the serial numbers of their issued Henrys beside the name of each soldier in their company record book. The other five did not. This rifle was issued to a soldier in one of the former companies and the records show that it was issued to private George Bemfer of Company B. This Henry was engraved by one of his fellow Company B soldiers, Lewis Reibrecht. This rifle was featured in my article about the Reibrect [sic] Henrys written for the February 2016 issue of ‘Man At Arms’ magazine.” A copy of that issue with “Lockwood Sanford, you
Another of the engraved Company B rifles is featured in the American Society of Arms Collector article “Civil War U.S. Martial Henry Rifles and an Examination of Engraved U.S. Veterans Volunteer Infantry Martial Henry Rifles” by Vincent L. Rausch. In that article, Rausch identifies Companies
B, C, I, H, and K as the five reporting the rifle serial numbers and who the rifles were issued to. Company B’s Type II Henry rifles were spread across the 6,809-9,701 range. He explains that “Based on the evidence, it is much more likely that an individual in the 3VVI, namely Private Lewis Reibrecht of Company B, was the engraver of the 26 known 3VVI engraved martial Henry rifles.” Reibrecht was born in Germany in 1839 and is believed
to have arrived in the U.S. shortly before the Civil War. He served as a musician in Company B of the 27th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He re-enlisted in the 3rd U.S. Veter Volunteer Infantry on March 29, 1865.
At that time, his “Volunteer Enlistment form” listed his occupation as an “engraver.” He and the rest of Company B were stationed at Camp Butler in Illinois and then Camp Randall in Wisconsin. The remained at the latter
Rifle” by Wiley Sword. Sword features Pvt. Jacob Werle’s Henry which has similar style of engraving.
The rifle has a square back, nickel-silver blade front sight fitted in the slot at the muzzle, the notch and folding ladder rear sight with 900 yard top notch, “HENRY’S PATENT OCT. 16. 1860/MANUFACT’D BY THE NEWHAVEN ARMS CO. NEWHAVEN. CT.” on top ahead of the rear sight, the serial number behind the rear sight, larger magazine follower, larger trigger pin, no rear sight dovetail on the frame, “&” on the lower tang, sling loop on the left side of the barrel/magazine tube, corresponding sling swivel on the left side of the buttstock, “Henry bump” below the swivel, the “AWM” acceptance stamp on the left side of the wrist, pointed heel buttplate with smaller door, and correct four-piece iron cleaning rod.
LOT 75
Historic Documented Soldier Identified Lewis Reibrecht Engraved Civil War 3rd U.S.Veteran Volunteer Infantry
Regiment New Haven Arms Co. Martially Inspected
are off the hook!” by Stevens is included. In it, he discusses how the engraved 3rd Veteran Volunteer Infantry rifles were
previously attributed as engraved by Lockwood Sanford, a wood block engraver in New Haven, Connecticut. He notes that just over half of the engraved Henry rifles known from the 3rd U.S. Veteran Volunteers belong to Company B (13 of 24) and that the engraving was clearly done after the rifles were issued given some have the men’s names, unit, etc. He explains that Lewis Reibrecht of Company B was identified in the period as an engraver, the only known engraver among the approximately 1,000 men in the regiment. His own engraved Henry is also known, sn. 7419, sold at Rock Island Auction in 2013, and that rifle was part of what led Stevens to discover that Reibrecht was likely the engraver of these rifles.
until March 1866. He later
worked as a jeweler and
engraver in Newark, New
Jersey, until his death in
1904. Given Reibrecht
was an engraver and that
most of the engraved
3VVI rifles come from
Company B, the evidence
certainly points towards him being the man responsible for the engraving on this rifle and others. This rifle is also listed by serial number on page 75 of “The Historic Henry