Swords and Muskets Galore: An Overview of the Museum of Old Newbury's Weaponry

West Newbury's Sam and Noah Clewley have loved history for as long as they can remember, and first met executive director Bethany Groff Dorau as part of His Majesty's 10th Regiment of Foot at a Revolutionary War encampment at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury.

Thanks to a generous Massachusetts Future Leaders Grant from the Essex National Heritage Commission, the Clewleys, now with graduate degrees (they grow up so fast!) have been cataloguing and studying the significant Revolutionary War collection at the museum, and have broadened their study somewhat to include weaponry from other eras. 

Read the title story following event announcements!

We Need Your Help!

We rely on volunteers and donors to keep us afloat, especially as we prepare for the 45th Annual Old Newbury Garden Tour! While there are many ways to be part of our crew here, we especially need the following:

• Donations of plants for the Garden Tour Plant Sale! Are you dividing and conquering? Have more seedlings than you need? Bring us your extras and they will make someone's day. Drop-off labelled plants at the Museum of Old Newbury, 98 High Street, Newburyport anytime from June 1-7.

• Tuesday morning gardening volunteers - spend a couple of hours (we start around 9) with experienced gardeners planting, weeding, mulching, and generally keeping the garden in ship-shape. Call 978-462-2681 and we'll tell you more.

• Docents! Do you enjoy sharing this community's history with locals and visitors alike? Volunteer three hours a week and get to know our remarkable museum. Training and support are provided, of course. Email Shelley@NewburyHistory.org for more information.  

• Garden Tour Sitters - Just a few spots left! If you are available for 3 hours (or more) on June 8 and/or June 9, please consider helping us greet visitors to our beautiful gardens. Click here to pick your shift and sign up. 

Upcoming Museum Events

45th Old Newbury Garden Tour

Saturday, June 8 and Sunday June 9, 2024 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Museum of Old Newbury Guided Tours are back!

Thursday - Friday, 11:00am - 4:00 pm on the hour, beginning May 30

Architectural Walking Tours: Newburyport's Fashionable Old Houses

*NEW DATES ADDED!*

Due to popular demand, we have added 5 additional dates: June 23, July 14, August 11, September 8, and September 22

Swords and Muskets Galore: An Overview of the Museum of Old Newbury's Weaponry

...by Noah and Sam Clewley

Take a walk to the third floor military room in the Museum of Old Newbury and you will find a collection of weaponry as varied as the citizens that have called this region home for the past four centuries. Among these weapons are large garrison defense guns, swords carried by colonial militiamen as well as Civil War officers, and even one gun that split its barrel in the act of firing (we can only imagine how frightening this must have been). All these weapons were at one time in the hands of someone who called Newbury, or the surrounding area, home, and whose story is a small part of what makes our history. Despite often scant accompanying evidence - the bane of the historian's craft - the weapons collection offers unique insight to this region’s past.



The region's earliest European colonists were most concerned with local defense. If the size of weaponry is any measure, then this is certainly true. Two of the earliest guns in the collection are large garrison defense pieces, though they were also used for hunting waterfowl. One blast would bring down huge numbers of ducks, useful during the slaughter-mad years of market hunting in the late 19th century in the Great Marsh.

We think the photographs speak for themselves, but both these guns would have been (and still are!) unwieldy and difficult to travel with and operate. Likely, they would have seen most of their service as defense pieces for the town. There is, however, some evidence that the larger of these two guns, known around the Museum as “Long Tom,” traveled with the militia to the Siege of Louisbourg in French Canada during the Seven Years’ War in 1758. Other records claim a presence at Bunker Hill. This is certainly a weapon that sparks the imagination and deserves more research.

Garrison defense gun “Long Tom” with a length of over 9 feet. 

Model 1816 Harpers Ferry musket with garrison barrel. 

Amongst those who went to Louisbourg was Gen. Ralph Cross. While there, Cross captured a French infantry sword which he brought back to Newbury and likely carried during his service in the American Revolution. We believe this sword is of particular note not only because it is the oldest in the collection but also because of its story. From its manufacturing in a French village, to its service in the French Empire, to falling into the hands of a British colonist from Newbury, this sword has seen much in the way of history. The sword likely saw use against the British in the Revolutionary War, as Gen. Cross served once again. This heavy French sword has, in many ways, become the épée internationale (international sword). We see a strong connection between this international sword and the international nature of Newbury’s (subsequently Newburyport’s) seafaring history; or more simply, the region’s connectedness to the broader world. Perhaps the sword has found a home at last, kept just minutes from Old Hill Burying ground, the resting place of its former owner, Gen. Cross.

French infantry sword captured at Louisbourg siege in 1758.    

French infantry sword captured at Louisbourg siege in 1758. Inscribed “VIVE LE ROY.”    

Also of note among many of the items in the weapons collection is the do-it-yourself-attitude that has become synonymous with New Englanders - a sentiment we believe our readers will understand. Several of the firearms are locally made or modified older weapons. Among these is the Ballard rifle, a single-shot rifle manufactured by Brown Manufacturing Company in Newburyport which saw use after the Civil War. 

Ballard rifle manufactured in Newburyport by Brown Manufacturing Company.     

Ballard rifle manufactured in Newburyport by Brown Manufacturing Company.     

 Another example is an 18th century British Land Pattern musket which has its manufactured flintlock mechanism replaced with the more reliable 19th century percussion cap mechanism. However, look closely enough and still visible on the weapon are the original faded crown, “Tower,” and manufacturing marks denoting the gun as distinctively British.

Modified British Long Land Pattern musket.  

Lock of modified British Long Land Pattern musket with “Tower” just visible.

Lock of modified British Long Land Pattern musket with crown just visible.

Barrel of modified British Land Pattern musket with manufacturing proof marks visible.

Another set of weaponry in the collection are those of the Civil War period and the years following. While the Newbury region was far from the front lines of the Civil War, the area nonetheless prepared and participated in the grand conflict. One needs only to look in the library to see the volumes of Civil War service records and the many names from the Newbury area who answered the call of military duty. As a testament to this, a large number of the swords in the collection are from the Civil War period.

We have had the unique opportunity to look over the museum’s robust collection of swords that were carried during the Civil War, and although most of the swords are not identified with an individual, some give clues as to who may have carried them. A ceremonial sword, likely used as part of Grand Army of the Republic ceremonies with the name C.H. Goodwin on its scabbard caught our attention - we wanted to find this individual (and after cataloging numerous swords with no individual to match them to, we felt it was even more important). After consulting the service records, we found that one Charles H. Goodwin served as a corporal with “A” company of the 8th Regiment Massachusetts volunteer militia between 1862 and 1863. We know that we were likely holding his sword. At the time of his enlistment, Goodwin was 27 years old, a carpenter, and a resident of Newburyport. 

C.H. Goodwin’s sword.   

As further testament of the dedication to service and cause, many of the remaining firearms in the collection are Civil War era. However, it was a small gun with a unique feature that caught our attention most. A wooden barrel, could this be right? Yes! Through our research we found that this particular gun had been used as a training gun for the “Boys” Brigade which operated out of the Belleville Congregational Church on High St. in Newburyport during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“Boys” Brigade training gun.

Wooden barrel of “Boys” Brigade training gun.

Likely the first gun to catch anyone’s attention in the Museum’s military room is an 1861 Enfield rifle with a split barrel. It is not inconceivable to think the owner of the gun might have been killed by such an accident. However, research points to private Alexander H. Libby of Westford, MA as the owner of the gun. Libby left service with the 2nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery in September of 1865 and therefore survived the War and his gun exploding. It is unclear how Libby or his rifle came to be in Newburyport. As is often the case, the information we are able to glean from objects leaves us with more questions than answers. Nonetheless, Libby’s rifle adds to the extensive list of Civil War weapons in the collection. 

Alexander H. Libby’s Enfield rifle with split barrel. 

The weapons collection at the Museum of Old Newbury provides unique insight into the area's varied collective history. The collection consists of weapons large and small, and of different periods, which each tell their own unique story. Collectively, they share something about how this region’s people have thought about and dealt with conflict. Many of the stories about these weapons have been lost to time. Nonetheless, we think they still carry with them a window to the past. We hope you do, too.                      

Something Is Always Cooking...

Ghlee's Gorgeous Granola

This crunchy, delicious granola is a regular favorite of local historian and writer and gravestone restorer Ghlee Woodworth. She enjoys it with yogurt or all by itself!

INGREDIENTS

3 cups quick oatmeal

1 cup each of chopped walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup canola oil

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

• Mix all ingredients, spread on cookie sheet, stir when oatmeal is starting to brown.
• After 20 minutes, check for desired crunch and remove when achieved!

Optional add-ins: coconut (either before or after baking) or raisins or chocolate chips after the baked mixture cools.

Puzzle Me This...

This is one of the hidden gardens featured in our 45th Annual Old Newbury Garden Tour. It is an oasis of calm and beauty just off a busy street!

Get your ticket today and find out where this is...

Click the image to do the puzzle