Model 1826 Navy Pistol
date: label: date made
content: ca 1830
name: label: maker
content: Evans, W. L.
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description:
label: Description
content: This .54 caliber smoothbore flintlock U.S. Model 1826 Navy pistol was made by W.L. Evans. It has iron mountings including an iron backstrap from the tang to the buttcap with an iron belt hook. All the iron parts are browned. The barrel bands are secured by springs. It has a swivel type steel ramrod and a brass flash pan.
label: Description
content: This pistol has a very rare stamp on the lock plate. It is stamped “W.L. EVANS/E. BURG” under an eagle head. The military stamps “C /IUSN/P” are on the barrel and the inspector’s mark “CL” is stamped on stock and barrel.
label: Description
content: History:
label: Description
content: In 1825, John Rogers – a gun manufacturer in Valley Forge, Pa – could not get enough money to fund his government contracts, so he went into business with W.L. Evans. They produced these Model 1826 pistols between the years 1830 and 1831.
label: Description
content: This pistol was part of a Navy contract and is nearly identical to a Model 1826 pistol made by Simeon North. It is one of a pair of U.S. Model 1826 pistols made by Evans with an Evansburg, Pa stamp. It was separated from its mate in 1948. Francis Bannerman bought the pair in the 1930s and sold them to a dealer , W. Stokes Kirk. In 1940, Kirk sold them to Dr. S. Traner Buck. When Dr. Buck died, the collection was purchased by the Kimball Arms Company. They sold the pair in 1948 to Henry Stewart and William Locke. Stewart sold his to Dr. James Lucie who sold it to Johnnie Bassett. This pistol was purchased for the Bitter Collection from Locke in 1973.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Flayderman, Norm. Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms…and their Values, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2007. 9th edition
label: Description
content: Gardner, Robert E. Col. Small Arms Makers: A Directory of Fabricators of Firearms, Edged Weapons, Crossbows and Polearms, Crown Publishers Inc, New York: 1963, p 61.
label: Description
content: Houting, Scott. The Evans Family of Valley Forge: The US Model 1816 Flintlock Musket.” Valley Forge Historical National Park <www.tehistory.org/hqda/pdf/v40/Volume40_N4_115.pdf>.
label: Description
content: Smith, Samuel E. and Edwin W. Bitter. Historic Pistols: The American Martial Flintlock 1760-1845, Scalamandre Publications, New York: 1986, p. 318.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Evansburg
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: The Bitter Collection of Firearms
label: See more items in
content: Military
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Adriana and Edwin W. Bitter Family Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0014.12
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0014.12
label: accession number
content: 1987.0014
label: collector/donor number
content: P111
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pistol
label: Object Name
content: pistol, flintlock
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 13 1/2 in; 34.29 cm
label: Measurements
content: barrel: 1.372 cm x 21.908 cm; 9/16 in x 8 5/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in x 2 1/8 in; 34.29 cm x 13.97 cm x 5.3975 cm