This is an immensely scarce and unusual C.D. Schubarth Model 1861 U.S. Civil War musket. This is one of only 500 known “U.S. / C.D. Schubarth / Providence (with Spread-Winged Eagle between the hammer and bolster) marked Civil War Model 1861 muskets to exist as documented by author and historian George Moller. This is a musket with an unusual and scandalous history including an immigrant, bribes, Congressional subpoenas, shame and eventual a failed business. The musket is dated on the lock plate 1862, along with the Spread-Winged Eagle between the hammer and bolster and under the bolster in three lines “U.S. C.D. Schubarth Providence”. It is also marked on the breech of the barrel “V/P”, on the flat of the left of the barrel breech “H”, “US” on the top flat of the original metal butte plate, and “U” on each of the three barrel bands. Casper Daniel Schubarth was born in Norway 1830 and apprenticed under a Norwegian gunsmith. He immigrated to the United States in 1850 and settled in Massachusetts, later opening a gunsmithing shop in Providence, Rhode Island in 1855. Schubarth brought on his brothers, Amos D. and James Y. Smith, as investors who later introduced him to Republican Rhode Island Senator James F. Simmons. He introduced his US Patent #32,895, an “Improvement in Breech-Loading Firearms”, which was turned down, and then bid to undertake the manufacture of US Model 1861 Rifle Muskets. Due to Senator Simmons, Schubarth received a contract for 20,000 US M1861 Rifle Muskets at $20 each, supposedly landing the contract due to Senator Simmons strong arming Secretary of War Cameron, who passed the order to General Ripley, who offered the contract to Schubarth on October 11, 1861, only one day after being denied for his breechloading design. The contract was a mixed blessing, as it was not large enough to cover the cost of tooling and production, so Schubarth’s partners pressured him to return to Washington and increase the contract to a more profitable number of arms. Schubarth, relying on Simmons’ help, obtained a larger contract for a total of 50,000 arms on November 26, 1861, along with an invoice from Simmons for $50,000, which Simmons considered his “commission”, an obvious illegal act. At this point, his brothers and financial backers considered this a bribe and abandoned the venture, leaving Schubarth with no investors and no ability to produce the arms and pay Simmons. James Smith, his brother had political aspirations himself and didn’t want the controversy ruining his career, which turned out to be a wise decision as he was elected the Governor of Rhode Island in 1862. On February 15, 1862, he formed the C.D. Schubarth & Company corporation with backing from new partners, James M. Ryder and Frederick Griffing. Simmons was so set on receiving his “commission” or bribe that he met with the new backers demanding his payment and left the meeting with two $10,000 promissory notes. Due to President Lincoln replacing Secretary of War Simon Cameron with Edwin Stanton and the Holt-Owens Commission Casper, Schubarth was subpoenaed before Congress. Schubarth, in his testimony, persuaded the elected officials to see that he entered into the morally incorrect, but not technically illegal, bribe agreement without nefarious intentions, blaming his foreign birth and lack of understanding for government procedure. They were much harder on Senator Simmons, who took advantage of a national emergency and an emigrant. President Lincoln signed a bill into law, which made accepting bribes from contactors as an illegal act punishable by prison and fine. Simmons resigned from the Senate. The order was decreased to 30,000 rifles, but Schubarth only delivered 500 by December 1862. There was another delivery of 950 in April of 1863 and a total of supposedly 9,500 between December 1862 and October 1863 (later finding that the number was likely lower as many of the firearms delivered were a 4th class of quality and rejected). Research by arms historian and author, George Moller, suggests that only about 500 of the Schubarth arms were delivered with C.D. Schubarth marked lock plates, with the balance of the guns being marked either by Providence Tool or Alfred Jenks and, later, Norwich Arms Company. Overall, this is an exceptionally rare example of US Model 1861 Rifle Musket by C.D. Schubarth, with an estimated 500 being marked as such and even fewer still inexistence today. With a total of slightly more than 448,000 contact US M1861 rifle muskets delivered by contractors between 1862 and 1865, the Schubarth produced guns represents only about 2% of all those guns and the C.D. Schubarth marked rifles only account for 00.1%, or 1/10th of 1%, making this one of the most scarce and storied Civil War Model 1861 muskets ever produced. A Schubarth example is missing from even some of the most advanced Civil War musket collections and museums and is sure to be the prize of any collection. This example shows dark metal blue coloring with crisp stamping and clean wood. The metal all appears to be the original bluing and patina (please use your own judgement for condition) and the wood appears to have been cleaned or refurbished over its 159-year age. The rifling has not been entirely inspected and is smoothed out. The firearm was tested and fired without a ball and was in functioning condition. NAAC makes no guarantee of the safety of shooting such an old firearm. Antique Firearm requires no FFL or NICS background check and can be shipped directly to buyer. The musket is accompanied with a Watervliet Arsenal stamped leather sling, a later addition.