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Henry Walter
Master Gunsmith
by John Kolar, K.R.A.
The Ohio country that Henry Walter entered in the early 1800’s was a true wilderness. It was a result of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that Campus Martius (Marietta) and Fort Harmar were established at the mouth of the Muskingum River. Fort Washington (present day Cincinnati) was built in 1789. By 1790 settlements in Ohio were confined to land close to the Ohio River. Settlements were located at Point Pleasant, near present day Gallipolis, at Marietta and Fort Washington and adjacent to the Ohio River in a band less than fifteen miles wide from Wheeling in the south, to current Columbiana County in the north. This last area encompassed the present towns of Steubenville and East Liverpool.
The Ohio country was land that for well over a century had belonged to the Shawnees. It took St. Clair’s defeat, Anthony Wayne, and the Greenville treaty of 1795 to open up part of Ohio for settlement. By 1800 settlement was still confined to those areas already described with the addition of only the counties surrounding present day Cincinnati and Cleveland.
Although Ohio became a state in 1803 and great expansion was taking place, it should be remembered the country was in its infancy. There were no smoke stacks on the horizon as this was pre-industrial revolution America. Less than one American in 25 lived in a town having a population greater than 1000 persons. Philadelphia, our country’s largest city had a population of less than 60,000. The Indian wars had been over for only a few years and Thomas Jefferson’s “Corps of Discovery” was still in the future.
Only a handful of gunsmiths were working in the Ohio country when Henry Walter located in Elkrun Township, Columbiana County just prior to 1800. Some of the other early gunsmiths and where they worked are listed as follows:
John Treber, 1798, 12 miles east of Maysville, Kentucky in present day Adams County, Ohio.
David Small, 1806, and John Small, 1804, Lisbon, Columbiana County.
Stephen Bunnell and another man named Campbell sent to Fort Washington (Cincinnati) in 1789 to repair firearms.
John Doyle, 1800 Cincinnati.
Andrew Dunseth, 1800 Cincinnati, Dunseth was also a silver-smith.
Elijah Ross, 1804 Muskingum County (Zanesville).
Henry Albright, 1800 Gnadenhutten, Tuscarawas County.
Nicholas Carpenter, 1788, Marietta. Carpenter was killed by Indians in 1791.
We know more about Henry Walter than we know about many of his contemporaries. The Walter family of gun-smiths was large and complex both in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Henry was born in 1776 and was probably the son of John Walter, a gunsmith working in Lancaster Boro from 1780-1807. Hutslar, states that Matthias Walter, born in 1767 was probably the brother of Henry. By Tradition he was active as a gunsmith. He worked with Henry for a while in Elkrun Township.
There is another Henry Walter, listed as a gunsmith in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, working between 1820-1830, possibly a nephew. Kauffman lists a John Walter working as a gunsmith in Shartleysville, Berks County in 1861. Hutslar lists a M. N. Walter gunsmith, born in Pennsylvania working in Marion Twp. Henry County, Ohio in 1850. I believe all these men were related.
Henry’s name appears on legal documents for Columbiana County at different times. We know for example he was witness to a deed in 1807. In 1810 and again in 1811 he is listed in partnership with Lewis Shroyer and Henry Martin at Randolph County Virginia. Henry Walter was under contract to manufacture rifles for the Virginia militia. Specifically, John Tyler the Governor of Virginia was authorized to provide 300 rifles annually for the militia. The cost of each rifle could not exceed fifteen dollars. Walters, Shroyer and Martin contracted to make 30 of these rifles a year under each contract.
During the war of 1812 Henry served in Capt. Isaac Warner’s Company, Columbiana County from March 11th to September 11th, 1814 as a private. Henry’s wife Mary was two years younger than him. She died in January of 1848 and is buried in the Lisbon cemetery. Henry died in January of 1855 and is also buried in the Lisbon cemetery.
Hutslar’s work suggests a connection between the following gunsmiths: John and David Small, John and Peter White, John Armstrong and Henry Walter. All of them worked in Columbiana County except Peter White and John Armstrong. John Small, born in Germany came to the United States in 1792 and Columbiana County by 1806. He was the father of David Small who was born in 1792. John White was the son of Pennsylvania gunsmith, Peter White. John White was born in 1800, in Emmetsburg, Maryland. His father, Peter White, was associated with John Armstrong. When John Small first came to Columbiana County in the years 1806-1808 he was associated with Henry Walter. By association, we can assume he probably learned the trade from Henry Walter. Later, John White joined the gunsmithing firm of John and David Small.
If all this sounds confusing it really isn’t, just look at the photographs of the Henry Walter rifle. From architecture to engraved silver work many of the decorative elements are similar to those used by Peter White or John Armstrong. For example, the engraved silver inlay behind the barrel tang is almost identical to those used by Armstrong as is the stock architecture. Other engraved silver elements are similar to those on rifles by Peter White. The author has recently seen a signed John White rifle in which the pattern and form of the eagle inlay on the cheek piece is identical to that on the Henry Walter rifle. There is no doubt that these gunsmiths probably all knew each other or at least had seen and were familiar with each others work.
The Henry Walter rifle shown in the photographs is a wonderful example of the gun maker’s art. In architecture, composition, decoration and quality of workmanship it shows that Henry Walter was a master gunsmith and master engraver. In architecture, composition and workmanship, his work is equal to that of George Eister or Martin Fry albeit at a later period. As an engraver, he is in the same league with the best of his contemporaries such a Jacob Kuntz or John Noll.
Signed and dated Kentucky Rifles are rare. There are very few signed and dated rifles that also have the location of manufacture. The rifle in the photographs is signed H. Walter, Ohio 1804. There is some question about the date. Independent examination by an art restorer indicates that the date may have been altered from 1807 to the earlier date of 1804. Why someone would have altered the date is only speculation. One written source references Henry Walter as a gunsmith in Ohio starting in 1804. In any event, even a date of 1807 would still make the Henry Walter rifle the earliest signed and dated rifle made on the frontier.
The rifle has been reconverted to flint. It has an over-all length of 59 inches, with a 43 ¼ inch swamped octagonal .45 caliber deeply rifled barrel. It has double set triggers and blind barrel wedges. The butt is 1 ½ inches wide and 4 ½ inches high. It has 24 finely engraved silver inlays including the oval thumb piece and inlay in the barrel for signature, location and date. The stock is fine curly maple raised and incised carved and although well balanced it weights about 9 pounds.
References used in the article will be provided upon request.
John Kolar, Ohio
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