Hallo!
No they did not.
Amoskeag received three contracts for SM1861's... January 17, 1862 for 10,000 stands, November 5, 1863 for 15,000, and January 6, 1865 for 2,000. For a total of 27,001 delivered between June 1863 and April 1865.
Amoskeag is something of a mystery, and may be somewhat intially somewhat bogus as it is not known where they got their machinery and it is possible/likely that they got parts from Lamson, Goodnow, & Yale. And may have also purchased complete SM1861's from Colt to fill their first contract. But, by 1864 Amoskeag were turning out complete guns from their own factory.
They also made a number of SM1861 'artillery rifles' as well as 200 "poorman" shotguns. The 16 gauge smoothbores were made of condemed SM1861 parts and Lindner stocks.
Anyways, where the M1861 thing comes from is...
In August of 1861, Sarson & Roberts had gone to Amoskeag (run by Ezekial Straw) with an offer to subcontract their contract for 25,000 M1861's based on the recommendation of Edward Lindner. Lindner suggsted that Amoskeag could be tooled up to take on 10,000 and then when production was up and running, 25,000 more.
Amoskeag and Straw had an excellent relationship with Lamson, Goodnow, & Yale (one of the other SM1861 makers) who had purchased the machinery from the failed Robbins & Lawrence. And thought they could modify on R & L's failed Enfield production to make the SM1861. Sarason & Roberts sold Straw on the idea to make SM1861's instead of the standard
M1861's.
Meanwhile Amoskeag got their first contract, but it was for three cook wagons not muskets. Having made a favorable impression on the Government with the cook wagons, the thinking was that it was a good time to push for a musket contract from Ordnance Chief James Ripley which they did on November 4, 1861. Meanwhile, Straw was pulling his own strings, and approached Secretary of War Simon Cameron. Straw was ready to convert to the new Republican Party (he would later be elected governor of NH in 1872). Straw promised deliveries of 1000 per month, and Amoskeag forontman and merchant Charles Dalton claimed Amoskeag could produce 200 per week. with deliveries starting in ten weeks (a bold claim as they did not have machinery yet).
Assistant Sec. of War Thomas Scott endorsed Straw, and refered him to Ripley to work out the details and fine print. And the first contract was let on January 7, 1862.
On January 27th 1862 Springfield sent a pattern or model gun to Amoskeag for BOTH Amoskeag's AND L, G & Y use. So they shared it, going back and forth using it to create the machinery to make it at both locations. Shaw went ahead and got dies from L, G, & Y for Amoskeag's use. Keeping it short, both faciities built factories and staffed them with skilled workers. By June 11, 1863 Amoskeag had delivered its fist batch of 500 SM1861's. The last batch of 894 was delivered to the Government April 12, 1865. Large numbers of surplus Amoskeag made
SM1861's were sold by the Government in Europe.
An odd piece of trivia. Amoskeag's second contract called for the barrel bands to be case-hardened and blued. The other two makers also did not bother, but Colt did on theirs.
Amoskeag also made breechloading Lindner rifles and carbines. They also made odd things such as McKay sewing machines for shoe-making, and 550 fire engines.
I guess I could have just replied.. "No."
Curt
In gleichem Schritt und Tritt, Curt Schmidt
Not a real Civil War reenactor, I only portray one on boards and fora.
I do not portray a Civil War soldier, I merely interpret one.
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