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I Was Free Born

This grand rifle has just re-surfaced after many years of being tucked away in a private collection. It is featured in Shumway’s, Rifles of Colonial America, Volume II, #114.

The detail that immediately strikes the handler is the wonderful engraved inscription along the lower edge of the patchbox lid, “ I WAS FREE BORN  - ACTS 22 28.” The biblical verses 25 through 28 recite: And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? 26) When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, take heed what thou doest; for this man is a Roman. 27) Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.  28) And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, “But I was free born”.

I feel that much can be perceived about the discord in our fledgling nation by this inscription. Some Tory…some Rebel…at a time that persecution and hanging was the order by the prejudice of both sides. It was a time that one could not easily change his mind and take allegiance to either faction without the fear of death. Perhaps the owner, which I am presuming this message was focal too, had indentured himself in order to pay for travel to the Colonies; or perchance had been a prisoner of war… maybe only a prisoner of his own conviction. Regardless, I feel this inscription presents the revolutionary spirit that had developed in early America in those years prior to the declaration of “our” Liberty and Freedom.

Secondly is the wonderful early lock that is inscribed “ I. Daykin”. The lock is also marked such on the inside of the plate. It has been rumored that this lock is a modern restorative replacement, however upon close perusal, if the lock is not initial to the rifle, (which it appears to be) it was indeed used during the period and is in original flint condition. The lock is somewhat of a deluxe version of an early Ketland trade lock that was being imported early on to the Colonies. “I. Daykin” belonged to a family of gunsmiths working in Nottingham, England during the middle of the 18^th. century and no doubt made some locks that made their way into the American trade.

The patchbox design is curiously similar to the design of an escutcheon on a Moravian plate latch. The original somewhat complicated spring and door latch/release mechanism, leads one to believe that the maker of this rifle could have indeed been a “lock” maker. With him rather over-engineering what later became a very simple devise leads one to wonder if perhaps this innovative American invention of a brass box that was quickly replacing the awkward  “European” sliding wood box, was a new concept and undertaking for him.

Notice the iron rivets at the toe and the screw coming through about 1/3 of the way up the butt plate. They are the feet of the integral bracket and the screw that -once upon a time- held the release and spring which were both attached to the buttplate and inlet into the end of the stock. You can also see the tiny rivet hole in the lid for the release button that originally was attached to it as well. There is a small nail hole on the upper side of the box that appears to have held the lid shut after this device had failed. The more sophisticated apparatus of several parts has long been replaced with one very simple spring steel notched post that efficiently holds the lid shut and allows for easy opening.

I agree with Dr. George Shumway in that there are really no details that specifically tie this rifle to any particular area in Pennsylvania. It has been suggested that it could possibly be the product of a Moravian craftsman that traveled the great wagon road into the south, perhaps as far as the settlements in North Carolina or maybe he stopped along the way and worked for a while in the Valley of Virginia. I appreciate that in the study of the American Longrifle, most students feel motivated to speculate; labeling or in some way classifying each rifle that they encounter.  The often “un-answerable” questions about these rifles of “unknown” origin, do indeed add much intrigue to our research. And… occasionally another associated piece will surface with a signature or some other documentable feature, but for an example so distinguished as this rifle … I truly feel it just does not matter where this grand artifact from our glorious past was produced. As for period of manufacture, once again I agree with Dr. Shumway in that the rifle could possibly date into the 1760’s, but probably is circa 1775 give or take a couple of years. It does have the Roman numeral VII inside the patchbox. Could that be in reference to the “year of the bloody 7’s” ???

The brass, from which the simple two-piece box is fashioned, shows evidence of being cast. Not into the shape we see, but rather into a sheet, and then shaped and hammer formed into the convex shape of its design.

The rifle has a very warm and mellow patina. It shoulders very nicely and its architecture is very pleasing with the lines of its style elegantly flowing. The profile of the toe is slightly curved with the cheek piece being rather low and deeply dished. The relief moldings that accent the lock and sideplate mortise are shaped into elongated beaver tails extending gracefully on either side of the wrist and boldly develop in front of, and rolling slightly under the fore-stock in front of one of the most elegant trigger guards I’ve ever encountered.

It was truly a pleasure to finally hold, study and fondle this capitol rifle that I had admired from pictures for many years.

                                                                                                   Mel Hankla - Kentucky

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