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In recent days we talked about many Asian muzzleloader stories and found many clues about the developments of the muzzleloaders. So this time let’s make a different topic for a change. In this video/article we will go back to America 200 years ago and let’s talk about the Mississippi rifle.

Origins and Development

Firstly, why the Mississippi rifle is worth talking about. If you focused on the history of wars in the United States, you will find that the Mississippi rifle definitely was a very important character. From the battlefields of the Mexican-American War to the rugged terrains of the Western frontier, this rifle has a storied legacy worth exploring. But today’s video/article is also a first look. Because nowaday there are too many stories and collections that we can find out on the internet or museums. If we want to totally learn about all of the details, that will be a very hard mission. So this time we will also talk about it simply.

At the first stage of history, this kind of rifle didn’t have the name of Mississippi. When Eli Whitney Blake took over management of the Whitney Armory in 1842, he set about tooling up under his new contract from the U.S. government for making the model 1841 percussion rifle. In order to complete the mission, Blake hired armourer Thomas Warner as foreman, who was the master armourer at Springfield Armory so Warner introduced and equipped the same as Springfield’s new precise machines. Then the birth of the M1841 rifle also meant that the United States got the first standard military rifle to use a percussion lock system.

Design and Modification

The originally produced Mississippi rifles were .54 caliber. But with the Minie Ball tech got popular and became the standard bullet in the 1850s, which we talked about last year, in 1855 the newly produced Mississippi rifles was changed to .58 caliber, so that it could use the .58 caliber Minie Ball. Besides the new version rifles, many older Mississippi rifles were modified into .58 caliber as well in order to match the new bullet. Plus, since the sword type bayonet, which also was talked about last year, was applied in the battlefield, the Mississippi rifle got more modifications in order to be able to equip this new type bayonet.

Then, the iron sight also had some upgrades. The first Mississippi rifles had a v-notch sight. But later the leaf sights were replaced with 100, 300 and 500 yard ranges. In order to meet in 100 yard increments, a ladder sight with ranges from 100 to 1100 yards was equipped on some later versions of the Mississippi rifles.

The Name 'Mississippi'

Speaking of which, why did this M1841 rifle have the name “Mississippi”? Briefly, it should be from the groups of Mississippi Rifles, which responded to Albert Gallatin Brown's call for volunteers to supplement the forces of the regular army during the Mexican–American War and this man was the Governor of Mississippi from 1844 to 1848 so most of his terms was covered in the time of Mexican-American War.

Then, in history, there were 3 groups of Mississippi rifles, the 1st Mississippi Rifles that were led by future U.S. Senator and CSA president Jefferson Davis and had a glorious victory at the Battle of Buena Vista, the 2nd Mississippi Rifles that very unfortunately got a very poor and very horrible experience in the war and the third group was Anderson's Rifles, also known as the Mississippi Battalion, could fairly be called the third string of the Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican–American War.

In the 1st Mississippi Rifles, Colonel Davis just sought to arm his regiment with Model 1841 rifles but during the time, smoothbore muskets were still the primary infantry weapon and the unit that equipped the rifles should be considered special and designated so this Davis’s group might have some special “elements”. In the Battle of Buena Vista, Davis and his 1st Mississippi Rifles also won some historical fights with their weapon. Maybe from this time, Model 1841 rifles finally had this name: Mississippi rifle.

Plus, because this rifle also looked like the German Jäger rifles in the shape, sometimes it also was called the “yagger” rifle.

In the American Civil War

Although the M1841 Mississippi rifle had so many exploits, it was a rifle built in the 1840s to 1850s after all. At the time in the Civil War, it was already an old-fashioned weapon. But in use, it still was strong enough to prove itself still effective. In addition, weapons were always the urgent goods in the Civil War. So some Union troops still carried it until 1863 or the end of the Civil War.