The Texas Tower Flintlock

[XVIIc Wheelock]

Interesting flintlock, now in the collection of Southwestern University, Texas Collection, Georgetown, Texas. I am sure there will be a lot of speculation on why a flintlock at this late date. The Republic of Texas had a very small treasury. The vast remote frontier of Texas with plenty of natural flint, Apache and Comanche wars and only 5 years after the Alamo perhaps created the necessity of flint rather than percussion. Comments?

https://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/12492-tower-musket

 

[Sam squanch]

I had an old gunsmith book, printed 1885. They stated flintlocks were very common in Texas as the percussion caps were expensive for dirt poor settlers, and many lived miles and miles away from any store. I read an account ( maybe on here) about some captured outlaws circa 1850’s. Most had single shot flintlocks!

 

[Rudyard]

I had an old gunsmith book, printed 1885. They stated flintlocks were very common in Texas as the percussion caps were expensive for dirt poor settlers, and many lived miles and miles away from any store. I read an account ( maybe on here) about some captured outlaws circa 1850’s. Most had single shot flintlocks!

Showing good taste therein ! .I believe the same was true in New Mexico I visited the museum in Santa Fe one time . Then theres that famous matchlock made late dated 1844 or so and dated . Catalan style stock if I remember correctly, just an escopeta its in Blackmores Guns & Rifles of the World great picture book but good text The gun is housed at the RSM.
Rudyard

 

[Lead Snowstorm]

I don't know I'd consider that an especially "late" date for flintlocks. The US was still designing and producing flintlocks until the M1840, only seriously fielded a percussion musket the year before Texas was annexed, and there were supply issues with percussion arms in the Mexican-American war. Fuller reproduces correspondence between the Ordnance Office and Springfield Armory at the outbreak of the war:

ORDNANCE OFFICE,
Washington, September 22, 1845.
SIR: It is seen from your monthly return that percussion muskets were issued to Captain Taylor; the order for arms of the same kind as those issued to the First Regiment of Artillery under order for supplies No. 22, of August 5, 1844. It is also seen that you have issued to Captain Thornton 104 percussion muskets on the requisition of Colonel Bankhead. Now this is all wrong and must be disapproved. There is no percussion ammunition sent to Texas. Flint-lock ammunition can be found everywhere, percussion no-where; and besides, the matter was fully discussed here by the proper authority, and it was decided that the moment of beginning a campaign was not a proper time to effect a change of arms, involving, as it does, an entire change of the manual.

 

[roedgecomb]

Interesting flintlock, now in the collection of Southwestern University, Texas Collection, Georgetown, Texas. I am sure there will be a lot of speculation on why a flintlock at this late date. The Republic of Texas had a very small treasury. The vast remote frontier of Texas with plenty of natural flint, Apache and Comanche wars and only 5 years after the Alamo perhaps created the necessity of flint rather than percussion. Comments?

https://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/12492-tower-musket

I believe that even after percussion caps were introduced they were sometimes hard to obtain in remote areas and several folks preferred flintlocks for this reason.