Unraveling the Mystery of an Early Lexington Rifle ©
Foreword: An unsigned, somewhat different Lexington School rifle recently sold at auction with an early form of the iconic Lexington patchbox. It had the large “Q” finial indicating a pre-War of 1812 rifle, but its side leaves lacked the usual two small “crowns” emerging from their edges. The patchbox was made from sheet brass with a surface hinge rather than cast brass with concealed hinge like later patchboxes used on most Lexington guns. The rifle appeared to be one of the earliest known Lexington guns mounted with an identifiable Lexington patchbox.
Figure No.1: This long-barreled Lexington School rifle has a Lexington style patchbox with the large “Q” finial that indicates a pre-War of 1812 rifle. The early form of the patchbox is made from sheet brass rather than cast brass like later patchboxes, suggesting the gun may date as early as 1795. Barrel: 47-1/2 inches long with .36 caliber bore. Author’s collection.
The Rifle: The newly discovered Lexington rifle illustrated in Figure No.1 above has a slender forestock, triangular butt stock, Lexington style patchbox, and double line forestock and lower butt moldings, trademarks of a Lexington gun. Several details suggest the gunmaker had Virginia roots including the guard’s rounded bow rather than a sloped bow with heavy front post, three ramrod pipes rather than four, and three flats on the guard’s outer surface rather than the two flats on North Carolina influenced Lexington guns. The Virginia influenced guard is shown in Figure No.2 along with the more common North Carolina influenced guard in Figure No.3 for comparison purposes.
Figure No.2: The new rifle has a rounded Virginia style guard that lacks the more typical forward sloping bow and heavy front post seen on North Carolina influenced guards by the Bryans and others in/near Lexington.
Figure No.3: This guard is typical of the more common Lexington guards with Bryan family influences from North Carolina. It has a forward sloping bow with heavy front post and two flats on its outer surface.
The early rifle has two major variations from the traditional Lexington rifle in its patchbox and side plate. The simplified “captured lid” patchbox is highly important due to its unique side leaves that lack the traditional small “crowns” along the outer edges. Rather, its smooth edges expand slightly toward the rear rather than abruptly running up to the butt plate and down to the toe plate as on later rifles. The patchbox’s sheet brass construction with a surface hinge is an early detail that differs from Lexington’s traditional cast brass box with hidden hinge. The original lid was flat and probably had a silver overlay for the owner’s name; it was lost and replaced by an incorrect raised lid with reinforced upper hinge plate as seen in Figure No.4.
Figure No.4: The early Lexington patchbox lacks small crowns along its side leave’s outer edges, and the replaced lid should be flat instead of raised. A small added plate has the hinge’s top knuckles.
Figure No.5: The reverse of the early Lexington rifle has a unique militia style lock bolt plate with English engraving. The cheekpiece is short with two molding lines and the butt plate is thin, both early details.
Another variation from the traditional Lexington rifle is the military style lock bolt plate on the gun’s back side shown in Figure No.5, suggesting the gun may have been made with militia service in mind. Knowledgeable collectors stated the side plate was salvaged from an earlier English officer’s pistol and reused on this rifle [perhaps to spite the British]. Along with the English side plate, the lock appears to be an English Ketland perhaps salvaged from the same English pistol, ensuring bolt hole alignment between lock and side plate. The lock is larger than the typical Lexington gun lock, suggesting an earlier rifle. The military style side plate with English engraving is shown in Figure No.6 and the English Ketland lock in Figure No.7.
Figure No.6: This side plate is unique for a Lexington rifle and was probably taken off an earlier English officer’s military pistol along with the pistol’s lock. Note the fine English rose engraving on the plate.
Figure No.7: The rifle’s lock is rusted but appears to be a Ketland lock based on its shape and engraved details on its tail. It probably came from the same English officer’s military pistol as the military side plate.
Alterations: The gun has survived reasonably intact with its full-length original barrel, but the patchbox lid has been replaced and several inlays added. The original lid was flat and likely had a silver overlay riveted on its surface for the owner’s name. A silver lozenge-shaped inlay on the wrist’s backside may be the salvaged original lid inlay with a “refreshed” engraved name as seen in Figure No.8. A matching inlay was then added on the opposite side of the wrist to “balance” the gun’s appearance. Small diamond-shaped forestock inlays are original work, but multiple silver “teardrop” shaped inlays and a large crescent moon inlay may be later additions, perhaps done to show the owner’s growing wealth. The barrel tang’s tip is missing and its mortise filled in with cast pewter. A forestock break/crack in the grip area has also been repaired in recent years, but in general, the stock is solid. Wood screws attaching the guard appear modern, but the lack of anchor pin marks in the stock above the guard indicate it was originally attached with screws instead of pins.
Figure No.8: This silver wrist inlay is probably the original inlay on the patchbox lid for the owner’s name. It was salvaged when the original lid was damaged/lost and did not fit on the new raised lid. Fortunately, it was salvaged and inlaid into the wrist, with a new companion inlay added on the other side. The engraving looks more recently refreshed and may, or may not, resemble the original name on the lid.
Dating: Dating early rifles from Kentucky is always a bit subjective, but the large “Q” finial patchbox pre-dates the War of 1812. Use of sheet brass for the patchbox suggests the gun could date as early as 1795, based on the first Lexington advertisement for cast brass gun mountings appearing in 1796. The thin butt plate and simple patchbox design with only three mounting screws also suggest an early rifle, as does the larger flintlock plate. A pinned barrel and screw-mounted guard seem later but could also indicate an earlier piece in Kentucky. The patchbox is probably the best indicator of age with its less evolved shape, sheet brass construction, and three mounting screws. The author dates the rifle to about 1795, a year or two before the first cast brass patchboxes appeared in Lexington, but it could be a few years later if made outside of the Lexington area.
Attribution: The gun is unsigned. Virginia influences appear in its guard shape with three flats on its outer surface, use of three pipes instead of four, and butt plate without the expected raised ridge on the top extension. Those details suggest the gunsmith had Virginia roots or training. While speculative, the number of known gunsmiths in the Lexington School area with Virginia backgrounds in the 1795-1800 period are limited: Fayette County - Edward West Jr. 1785-1827 in Lexington, John McQuiddy 1788; Bourbon County - Conrad Humble 1777-1791, Levi Cross 1795-1805, Joseph Duncan 1794; Scott County - Edward West Sr. 1784-1791 and Lynn West 1796-1836, both at Georgetown; Woodford County - John McQuiddy 1790-1841 at Versailles; Jessamine County - Robert Shanklin 1799-1820; Clark County [later Montgomery County] - William Smith 1790-1816 at Mt. Sterling. Virginia details in the new rifle tend to rule out John Clinkenbeard and Emanuel Wyatt of Bourbon County, both with surviving pre-war of 1812 rifles with more conventional Lexington patchboxes. Only a few of the early gunsmiths with Virginia roots were known to make Lexington style rifles. Edward West Jr. worked in Lexington at the center of the Lexington School, so he must have worked in the early Lexington style. The only other above gunmakers known to work in the Lexington style were Lynn West of Scott County and William Smith of Clark County [based on rifles by his son Enoch Smith].
Figure No.9: The reverse of the early Lexington rifle has numerous small silver inlays along the butt and forestock, with a crescent shaped inlay in the forestock grip area and a lozenge shaped wrist inlay probably added in more recent years. The rifle differs from Lexington guns made by North Carolina influenced gunsmiths with its rounded guard, no Lexington “bump” on the rear ramrod pipe, and no raised ridge at end of butt plate extension.
No vetted rifle by Edward West Jr. is known, but an early Lynn West [cousin to Edward West] rifle is available for study. It has several small differences in stocking: longer cheek with more closely spaced double molding lines, less abrupt drop in comb at wrist, side-facings with stronger step-down halfway out on nose. Its triggers and tang also differ significantly. Those small differences tend to rule out the West gunsmiths. However, when comparing the rifle to the only known, signed Enoch Smith rifle from Lexington, those differences melt away. The Smith rifle has the smaller cheek with more widely spaced molding lines, a more abrupt drop in comb at wrist, and a more subtle step-down in the side-facing nose, much like the unsigned rifle in Figure No.9. In addition, triggers [particularly front trigger] and longer tang are more similar. But the new rifle may be a bit too early for the work of Enoch Smith; he had just completed his training in 1793 and his only known rifle has a fully developed Lexington patchbox. That leaves Enoch’s father and trainer, early Kentucky gunsmith William Smith Sr., as the most likely maker of the new rifle. No signed William Smith rifle is known, but if one is found, it will probably look a lot like the unsigned rifle.
Conclusion: The author attributes the newly discovered Lexington rifle to Lexington School gunsmith William Smith at Mount Sterling in early Clark County on Fayette County’s east side, probably around 1795. If so, it is his only known rifle, despite much being known about the man.