This is an increasingly rare original Northern Plains Indian used 1861 Tower cut-down rifled musket Blanket Gun. The blanket gun (also referred to as a Blanket Rifle, Canoe Gun, Blanket Pistol) exhibits Indian hide wrapped pistol grip, carved stock, cut-down rifled musket and incised with “JHL” along the side. The Tower British .58 caliber rifled musket was ordered and delivered mainly to the Confederacy during the Civil War. This finely made weapon saw widespread use through the entire American Civil War conflict. After the war, many of these Tower muskets were retained by the soldiers who were issued them and many of these went West with the thousands of Ex-Confederate soldiers who did not want to remain in the defeated South during Reconstruction. According to the book Arming The West: A Fresh New Look at the Guns that were Actually Carried on the Frontier, “Myth-busting details from the Western shipping records of firearms giant Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, 1868-1886,” by noted arms historian Herbert G. Houze, beginning in 1868 and continuing through the 1870s, many thousand of these British .58 caliber Civil War surplus muskets were shipped to dealers and distributors in the West. They were considered reliable, powerful and accurate arms for economy minded westward pioneers. It also helped that many if not most men going West during this time had military experience and were familiar with the workings of the .58 caliber rifled musket. The blanket gun features a 11 7/8 inch long round barrel that is secured to the original wood stock with a machined original screw on the barrel backstrap. The barrel is stamped with the correct British Birmingham Proof House marks to date from 1855 to 1868 (lock plate marked 1861) which include the crown over a stylized “RP”, two pike spears crossed with a crown above and “V” below, two pike spears crossed with a crown above and B P C as well as “25” shown twice. The end of the barrel shows the hand cut original rifling with nice grooving. The large solid brass trigger guard is present as well as a brass section which can been seen through the wrapped hide at the base of the pistol grip. An original iron ram rod is still present as well. The wood shows many carving like marks and is nicely patina’d from honest age and use. The gripping section is completely wrapped in Indian tanned hide leather which is sewn and tacked at the top with iron nails to hold it into place along with what appears to be hoof glue remnants. The lock plate is marked 1861 Tower as well as the correct crown stamping. All exposed steel parts are also a deep aged brown patina. The hammer spring remains intact, clicks back twice and is released by the pulling of the trigger (appearing to work and function correctly). The hammer and lock plate has an incised engraved border line. One of the main uses for these shortened blanket guns or blanket rifles was, as the name implies, to be hidden or concealed in a blanket, long coat, saddle blanket, tipi blanket or other coat for protection as well as for mounted buffalo hunting in which Indian hunters galloped their horses into herds of buffalo and then firing at point blank range into the stampeding animals, and also including mounted warrior battle and close contact battle. The piece is from a fine Native American collection in Montana along with other authentic blanket guns of the era and was said to have been collected from the Indian directly. Here is a remarkable musket that has Civil War, Western, Indian Wars, and finally Indian history all combined into one artifact! These Tower muskets have been documented as being used by the Native American Indians of the 1800's Plains and Northern Plains, such as the Northern Plaisn Indian Tower Musket listed by our company NAAC in 2018 for $3,700. The rifle qualifies as an Antique Long Gun, and does not require FFL Transfer or NICS Background Check. Serial Number: NSN.