Dragoon Pistol
date: label: date made
content: ca 1780
name: label: maker
content: Hunter, James
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description:
label: Description
content: This .69 caliber smoothbore flintlock U.S. Light Dragoon Pistol was made by James Hunter’s Rappahannock Forge for the Continental Army. The pistol has brass mountings and a gooseneck hammer. It has a bulbous hexagonal shaped butt.
label: Description
content: The lockplate is stamped “RAPA/FORGE” and is marked “FK K VIII” on the inside. The barrel is stamped “I. HUNTER”. The numerals “VIIII” are stamped on the inside of the brass mountings
label: Description
content: History:
label: Description
content: Rappahannock Forge is also referred to as the Hunter’s Iron Works. It was built before the American Revolution by James Hunter of Stafford County, along the Rappahannock River in Virginia. The only official record of his communication with the Council of Safety deals with horseman’s swords.
label: Description
content: This pistol is very similar to other Rappahannock Forge pistols. It is thought that only the 3rd Regiment marked their pistols because those are the only found with markings. This particular pistol was found in a house in Brookline, Ma in 1967. It was purchased by Arnold Mills then sold to the Bitter Collection.
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. 157.
label: Description
content: Smith, Samuel E. and Edwin W. Bitter. Historic Pistols: The American Martial Flintlock 1760-1845, Scalamandre Publications, New York: 1986, p. 58.
label: Location
content: Currently on loan
place: label: place made
content: United States: Virginia, Falmouth
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: The Bitter Collection of Firearms
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: 1989.0149.02
label: accession number
content: 1989.0149
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0149.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pistol
label: Object Name
content: pistol, flintlock
label: Other Terms
content: pistol; Firearms; Flintlock; .69 In; Smooth Bore; Muzzle Load; Sa
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in; 38.1 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 5 5/8 in x 2 1/4 in; 38.1 cm x 14.2875 cm x 5.715 cm