Indiana Gunmakers and Their Muzzle-Loading Longrifles 1778-1900 by Jeffrey Jaeger

Table of Contents

In 1960 Joe Kindig Jr., collector and author of Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in its Golden Age described a Golden Age flintlock rifle in a letter to a prospective buyer of the rifle. He applauded the "artistic beauty" of the longrifle with "17 exceptionally well designed and engraved silver inlays and an unusually beautiful brass patchbox". The maker "was a master wood-worker, a master iron-worker, and his brass and silver work shows that he was equal to many of our silversmiths of that period. One can hardly believe that such work of art was produced on what was our then most western frontier."

The rifle that Mr. Kindig described was made in the Northwest Territory or Indiana Territory (now the State of Indiana) about 1790 - 1800 by a gunmaker named John Small and the "western frontier" was Vincennes on the Wabash River.

Indiana Gunmakers and Their Muzzle-Loading Longrifles expands on Mr. Kindig's sentiments through the eyes of a Midwest antique arms collector and shows that many rifles by Indiana makers are works of art despite the minimal presence of rococo style carving and engraving. Quite often they do exhibit folk art, craftsmanship, or design elements that were learned in an earlier day and imported from other states or countries.

Author Jeff Jaeger goes beyond the artistry of Indiana rifles and records biographical facts and stories of nearly a thousand of the state's gunsmiths from 1778-1900. More than seven hundred quality photographs testify to the beauty of the stock architecture and wood in harmony with elements of brass, iron, silver, or pewter.

Indiana Gunmakers successfully sheds new light on Indiana's gunsmiths and places their muzzle-loading longrifles to their deserved spot in American history.