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51-579: The Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket (also known as the Pattern 1853 Enfield , P53 Enfield , and Enfield rifle-musket ) was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifled musket , used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867; after which many were replaced in service by the cartridge-loaded Snider–Enfield rifle. The term "rifle-musket" originally referred to muskets with the smooth-bored barrels replaced with rifled barrels. The length of

102-518: A 3 feet (91 cm) bull's eye, with any man scoring 7 points with 20 rounds at that range being designated a marksman. With war breaking out between the Turks and the Russians, Britain realized that it was only a matter of time before they would be drawn into the conflict. The British Army was in the midst of a significant weapons transformation from smoothbore muskets to rifled muskets. While three of

153-525: A decade later. The Enfield 1853 rifle-musket is highly sought after by US Civil War re-enactors, British military firearms enthusiasts and black powder shooters and hunters for its quality, accuracy, and reliability. The Italian firms of Davide Pedersoli & C. and Armi Chiappa (Armi Sport) manufacture a modern reproduction of the Enfield 1853 rifle-musket, which is readily available on the civilian market. Davide Pedersoli's reproductions are imported into

204-605: A farcical election. As ruler of Nicaragua, Walker then revoked the Transit Company's charter, claiming that it had violated the agreement, and granted use of the route back to Garrison and Morgan. Outraged, Vanderbilt successfully pressured the U.S. government to withdraw its recognition of Walker's regime. Walker had also scared his neighbors and American and European investors with talk of further military conquests in Central America. Vanderbilt financed and trained

255-511: A military coalition of these states, led by Costa Rica , and worked to prevent men and supplies from reaching Walker. He also provided defectors from Walker's army with payments and free passage back to the U.S. Realising that his position was becoming precarious, he sought support from the Southerners in the U.S. by recasting his campaign as a fight to spread the institution of black slavery , which many American Southern businessmen saw as

306-454: A previous Nicaraguan administration to Wall Street tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt 's Accessory Transit Company. Garrison and Morgan had wrested control of the company from Vanderbilt and then supported Walker's expedition. Vanderbilt spread rumors that the company was issuing stock illegally in order to depress its value, allowing him to regain controlling interest. In July 1856, Walker set himself up as president of Nicaragua, after conducting

357-492: A ramrod and mallet into the bore of the barrel, and also created considerable cleaning problems. The short-lived " carabine à tige " system used a pin at the bottom of the barrel which deformed the bullet against the wall of the barrel when the bullet was pushed to the bottom. This system was very problematic for cleaning, especially with the black powders of the period. A test in Vincennes in 1849 demonstrated that at 15 yards

408-533: A rout. Juan Alfaro Ruiz was responsible for clearing the filibusters from the church. He died of cholera after the battle. One of Alajuela's cantons was named after him. Walker and his surviving soldiers fled to Granada during the night. Several factions inside the Costa Rican Army sought to pursue and kill Walker, thus ending the war. President Mora cancelled the plan, seeing his troops were already battle-worn. Mora wanted to use his resources to bury

459-718: A single cartridge until their first engagement. After the end of the war, hundreds of formerly Confederate Enfield 1853 muskets were sold from the American arms market to the Tokugawa shogunate , as well as some prominent Japanese domains including Aizu and Satsuma . These units were later used in the Boshin War , and some remaining in Satsuma were also used by rebelling former samurai in the Satsuma Rebellion about

510-822: The Austro-Prussian War , the Prussians again defeated their enemy in the form of the Austrians who were also equipped with Minié rifles. In France, the existing Minié rifles were then retooled to accommodate a breech-loading mechanism reminiscent of a snuff box , and became known as Tabatière (snuff-box) rifles . Soon after, the breech-loading Chassepot system was adopted by the French army. Second Battle of Rivas Costa Rican victory The Second Battle of Rivas occurred on 11 April 1856 between Costa Rican militia under General Juan Rafael Mora Porras and

561-700: The Battle of Shiloh (April 1862) and the Siege of Vicksburg (May 1863), to the final battles of 1865. The gun was highly sought after in the Confederate ranks. According to a survey taken by British officials during the early stages of war on the arms of the Western Confederate Forces, nearly 70% were armed with smoothbore arms, such as the Model 1842 Springfield. Later in the war the same survey

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612-584: The Boshin War (1868–1869) in Japan, where they had an important role in tipping the balance against the Tokugawa forces in encounters such as the Battle of Toba–Fushimi . In the Second Schleswig War , the muzzle-loading Minié rifle became obsolete in 1864 as the Danish foundered, equipped with Minié rifles, against the Prussians, who had the innovative early bolt-action Dreyse rifles. Later, in

663-665: The Nicaraguan forces of American mercenary William Walker . The lesser known First Battle of Rivas took place on the 29 June 1855 between Walker's forces and the forces of the Chamorro government of Nicaragua. Among the casualties was Charles Wilkins Webber , an American journalist and explorer serving in Walker's forces, whom some scholars suggest inspired the antagonist in Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian . At

714-672: The Pattern 1853 Enfield , the Springfield Model 1861 and the Lorenz rifle ) were the dominant infantry weapons in the American Civil War . The large-caliber, easily deformed conical lead bullets, ranging in diameter from .54 to .58 inches (14-18mm), combined with the high-speed spin from the rifling, created terrible wounds. The Pattern 1851 Minié rifle was in use by the British Army from 1851 to 1855. 34,000 of

765-515: The 20 March with no sentries posted, Mora's Costa Ricans surprised and attacked the small group; Schlessinger himself ran away, leaving his troops vulnerable, disorganised, and without leadership. Walker alarmed by the defeat heard unfounded rumors that Mora's army was going to attack from the North. So he foolishly decided to abandon the key city of the Nicaragua at that time and meet the army from

816-550: The Baddeley barrel bands. This model (the 4th) was originally made too late to have been fielded in the American War. Appropriate models for that use would be 2nd or 3rd model three band rifle muskets. Mini%C3%A9 rifle The rifle used a conical-cylindrical shaped soft lead bullet, slightly smaller than the barrel bore, with three exterior grease-filled peripheral grooves and a conical hollow in its base . When fired,

867-482: The Central American Coalition and Vanderbilt's agents. Costa Rican President Juan Rafael Mora watched with concern as Walker consolidated his forces and power in Nicaragua. Fearing that Walker would become unbeatable and at the urging and backing of Vanderbilt's business empire Mora declared war, not on Nicaragua, but on Walker and his filibusters, on the 1 March 1856. Having been talking about

918-715: The Snider-Enfield, many of the Enfield Muskets in the Armed Constabulary's armouries were sold off to members of the public, and they remained a popular sporting and hunting arm in New Zealand well into the late 19th century, long after the introduction of metallic cartridge-loading firearms. The Enfield 1853 rifle-musket was also used by both the North and the South in the American Civil War , and

969-652: The United States by the Italian Firearms Group located in Amarillo, Texas. The British company Parker Hale also made reproductions of the Enfield 1853 rifle-musket and of the Pattern 1861 Enfield musketoon in the 1970s. Those pieces were made to original patterns but are not particularly suitable for use by American Civil War reenactors because they were made to 4th model specs, including having

1020-695: The adventurer and mercenary William Walker imposed a military dictatorship in Nicaragua, reimposing slavery and threatening to conquer all of Central America. The 1853 Enfield rifle was used in the Filibuster War exclusively by the Costa Rican army, beginning with the Battle of Santa Rosa and the Second Battle of Rivas in March and April 1856. The Enfield P53 was introduced to Indian troops under British rule in 1856. The Enfield rifle-musket

1071-463: The approach to Rivas church; from the towers of the church Walker's snipers enjoyed a wide firing range. According to the traditional account, on April 11, Salvadoran General José María Cañas suggested that one of the soldiers advance towards the hostel with a torch and set it on fire. Some soldiers tried and failed, but Santamaría finally volunteered on the condition that in the event of his death, someone would look after his mother. He then advanced and

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1122-559: The ball was typically a 530-grain (34 g) Boxer modification of the Pritchett & Metford or a Burton-Minié , which would be driven out at approximately 1,250 feet (380 m) per second. The original Pritchett design was modified by Col. Boxer, who reduced the diameter to 0.55 after troops found the original 0.568 too hard to load during the Indian Mutiny, changing the mixed beeswax-tallow lubrication to pure beeswax for

1173-401: The barrels were unchanged, allowing the weapons to be fired in ranks , since a long rifle was necessary to enable the muzzles of the second rank of soldiers to project beyond the faces of the men in front. The weapon would also be sufficiently long when fitted with a bayonet to be effective against cavalry. Such weapons manufactured with rifled barrels, muzzle loading, single shot, and utilizing

1224-413: The basis of their agrarian economy. With this in mind, Walker revoked Nicaragua's emancipation edict of 1824. This move did increase Walker's popularity in the South and attracted the attention of Pierre Soulé , an influential New Orleans politician, who campaigned to raise support for Walker's war. Nevertheless, Walker's army, thinned by an epidemic of cholera and massive defections, was no match for

1275-486: The bullet was able to penetrate two boards of poplar wood, each two-thirds of an inch thick and separated by 20 inches. Soldiers of the time spread rumors that at 1,200 yards the bullet could penetrate a soldier and his knapsack and still kill anyone standing behind him, even killing every person in a line of 15. The Minié rifle saw limited distribution in the Crimean War and similar rifles using Minié bullets (such as

1326-459: The bush but after their first expedition into the bush covered hills of the Hunua ranges, south of Auckland, most Enfields were returned and replaced with a mixture of much shorter and lighter, Calisher and Terry breech loading carbines , and Colt Navy .36 and Beaumont–Adams .44 revolvers. The special units kept a handful of 1853 Enfields for long range sniping. The Enfields continued to be used by

1377-564: The dead and take care of the wounded and sick. Although Costa Rica was victorious in the Battle of Rivas, the country could not enjoy the victory. Bodies from the fighting were dumped in the wells of the city causing a huge outbreak of cholera. Thinking the cholera was brought by the hot weather of the Nicaraguan lowlands, the troops wanted to go back home. The Costa Rican troops brought the disease home to Costa Rica with them where it ravaged

1428-444: The entire country, killing one tenth of the population. Mora was blamed for the cholera outbreak, the severe losses inflicted to the army and for the economic damage to the country because of the war debts. A coup was planned for his return to the capital but this was aborted. The war against Walker would continue, joined now by the armies of other Central American countries under the overall command of General Mora, focused on cutting

1479-512: The expanding gas forcibly pushed on the skirted base of the bullet, spreading it to engage the rifling. This provided spin for accuracy, a better seal for consistent velocity and longer range, and cleaning of barrel detritus. Before this innovation , the smoothbore musket commonly using the buck and ball was the only practical field weapon. Rifled muskets had been in use since the Renaissance , but they required hammering projectiles with

1530-544: The filibusters for a while, Mora made this declaration in a famous speech that begins with the words, "Countrymen, take your weapons, the time that I've been warning you has arrived" (a paraphrase of the opening words of the Marseillaise ). Enraged Walker ordered the invasion of Costa Rica and a filibuster force crossed the border into Guanacaste, while the Costa Rican army moved down from the Central Valley in

1581-503: The first Enfield rifles being issued to troops from February 1855. The instability in Central America after the collapse of the Federal Republic of Central America forced Costa Rica to reform and modernize its army, especially after a threat of invasion from Nicaragua in 1848. With the arrival of Juan Rafael Mora Porras as president in 1849, Costa Rica acquired between 500 and 2000 1853 Enfield rifles in 1855. Later that year,

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1632-573: The four divisions of the field army in the Crimea had been supplied with the pattern 1851 Minie rifle-musket, the other regiments of the army around the Empire still carried the 1842 pattern smoothbore musket. By the end of 1853, the Enfield rifle-musket was approved by the War Department for the army and was put into production. The Enfield saw extensive action in the Crimean War , 1854–1856, with

1683-472: The guns were made under the formal name of Regulation Minié rifle. The rifle was .702 caliber with the intent that in emergency it could fire musket balls. In practice it was found that only about 12 could be fired before it became impossible to reload. The Minié system was also used extensively by various manufacturers, such as Springfield (the Springfield Model 1861 ) and Enfield (the Pattern 1853 Enfield ). Minié rifles were also used extensively in

1734-579: The many British line regiments in the more open fern and tussock covered country of the Waikato interior. Numbers of Enfield muskets were also acquired by the Maori later on in the proceedings, either from the British themselves (who traded them to friendly tribes) or from European traders who were less discriminating about which customers they supplied with firearms, powder, and shot. After the introduction of

1785-470: The north. Mora quickly slipped into Rivas with 3,000 men. Walker, just four days after giving up the city, marched his men back into Rivas to try to take it back. His small force was able to score a number of victories through street to street fighting and were able to create a stalemate at a key building in town, El Mesón de Guerra, the Guerra family home, which was located in the corner of the park, covered

1836-480: The now thinner walls, the barrel would bulge, and bursting was not an unknown problem. Furthermore, with the bayonet fitted excessive flexing became an issue. To remedy this, an urgent order was placed in England for around 12,000 new barrels made specifying with a thicker barrel wall. This became the very scarce Enfield Pattern 1859 which in good to very good condition attracts a premium. The Enfield 1853 rifle-musket

1887-482: The powder." As a consequence of British fears, the Indian infantry's long arms were modified to be less accurate by reaming out the rifling of the Pattern 1853 making it a smooth bore and the spherical / ball shot does not require greasing, just a patch. This greatly reduced the gun's potency and effectiveness, as did replacing the variable distance rear sight to a fixed sight. This became the Pattern 1858. However, due to

1938-521: The same direction. With the army traveled the President but command was in the hands of his brother, Jose Joaquin Mora, and his brother-in-law, General Cañas. Upon hearing that a small contingent of men were encamped near the city of Guanacaste 's Hacienda Santa Rosa Mora led three thousand of his men to attack. Walker's men were under the command of Colonel Louis Schlessinger, an inexperienced officer. On

1989-443: The same firing mechanism, also came to be called rifle-muskets. Royal Small Arms Factory developed the Pattern 1853 Enfield in the 1850s. The 39 in (99 cm) barrel had three grooves, with a 1:78 rifling twist, and was fastened to the stock with three metal bands, so that the rifle was often called a "three band" model. The rifle's cartridges contained 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 drams, or 68 grains (4.4 g) of gunpowder , and

2040-548: The same reason, and added a clay plug to the base to facilitate expansion, as the original Pritchett design, which relied only on the explosion of the charge, was found to cause excessive fouling from too slow an expansion, allowing unburnt powder to escape around the bullet. The Enfield's adjustable ladder rear sight had steps for 100 yards (91 m) – the first position  – 200 yards (180 m), 300 yards (270 m), and 400 yards (370 m). For distances beyond that, an adjustable flip-up blade sight

2091-408: The time required soldiers to tear open by biting open the prepared cartridge, pour the gunpowder contained within down the barrel, snap off the greased end of the cartridge containing the bullet at the muzzle, ram it home, bring up the rifle to the hip, replace the percussion cap, ready the rifle by setting the sights and moving it to full cock, then to present the rifle, marking the target and squeezing

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2142-635: The time, a major trade route between New York City and San Francisco ran through southern Nicaragua. Ships from New York would enter the San Juan River from the Atlantic and sail across Lake Nicaragua . People and goods would then be transported by stagecoach over a narrow strip of land near the city of Rivas , before reaching the Pacific and being shipped to San Francisco . The commercial exploitation of this route had been attained from

2193-407: The trigger. The musketry books also recommended that, "Whenever the grease around the bullet appears to be melted away, or otherwise removed from the cartridge, the sides of the bullet should be made wet in the mouth before putting it into the barrel; the saliva will serve the purpose of grease for the time being". The idea of having anything which might be tainted with pig or beef fat in their mouths

2244-651: Was a contributing cause of the Indian rebellion of 1857 . Sepoys in the British East India Company 's armies in India were issued with the new rifle in 1857, and rumours were spread that the cartridges (referring here to paper-wrapped powder and projectile, not to metallic cartridges) were greased with beef tallow, pig fat, or a combination of the two – a situation abhorrent to Hindu and Muslim soldiers based on religious beliefs. British military drills of

2295-416: Was graduated (depending on the model and date of manufacture) from 900 yards (820 m) to 1,250 yards (1,140 m). British soldiers were trained to hit a target 6 feet (180 cm) by 2 feet (61 cm) – with a 2 feet (61 cm) diameter bull's eye, counting 2 points – out to 600 yards (550 m). The target used from 650 yards (590 m) to 900 yards (820 m) had

2346-713: Was issued to the British Army regiments, colonial Militia and Volunteer units and later to the New Zealand Armed Constabulary, and saw extensive use in the mid and later stages of the New Zealand Wars . The first Enfield rifles were issued to the 58th and 65th Regiments, stationed in the country, in 1858. The Enfield was not the ideal weapon for use in the dense bush covered hills of New Zealand because of its length and weight. Special units called Forest Rangers were formed to fight rebels in

2397-419: Was mortally wounded by enemy fire. Before expiring he succeeded, however, in setting fire to the hostel, thus contributing decisively to the Costa Rican victory at Rivas, as the enemy then retreated. Carrasco who was serving the militia as a cook and impromptu medic, filled her apron pockets with bullets, grabbed a discarded rifle and shamed some of the retreating Costa Ricans forestalling what might have become

2448-513: Was rejected as impractical – many of the Sepoys had been undertaking musket drill daily for years, and the practice of biting the cartridge open was second nature to them. Incidentally, after the Mutiny, manuals amended the method of opening the cartridge to, "Bring the cartridge to the forefinger and thumb of the left hand, and with the arm close to the body, carefully tear off the end without spilling

2499-552: Was taken, they found that more than 75% had acquired a rifle, mainly the Pattern 1853 Enfield. The P53 Enfields capabilities were largely lost by the lack of marksmanship training by both the Union and Confederacy. Most soldiers were not trained to estimate ranges or to properly adjust their sights to account for the "rainbow-like" trajectory of the large calibre conical projectile. Unlike their British counterparts who attended extensive musketry training, new Civil War soldiers seldom fired

2550-460: Was the second most widely used infantry weapon in the war, surpassed only by the Springfield Model 1861 Rifled Musket. The Confederates imported more Enfields during the course of the war than any other small arm, buying from private contractors and gun runners and smuggling them into Southern ports through blockade running . It has been estimated that over 900,000 P53 Enfields were imported into America and saw service in every major engagement from

2601-442: Was unacceptable to the Indian soldiers, and when they objected it was suggested that they were more than welcome to make up their own batches of cartridges, using a religiously acceptable greasing agent such as ghee or vegetable oil. This seemed to prove that the issued cartridges were, in fact, greased with pig and/or beef fat. A further suggestion that the Sepoys tear the cartridges open with their hands (instead of biting them open)

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