ENFIELD, DATED '1852'

The Pattern 1851 rifle-musket was the first rifled longarm to be adopted for issue to all line regiments and the Rifle Brigade. It was quickly succeeded by the smaller calibre Pattern 1853 after around 35000 had been set up and production ceased. The Pattern 1851 rifles were widely issued in the Crimea before being stored as surplus in 'the ditch' adjacent to the Tower of London. In the rush for small arms at the outbreak of the American Civil War approximately 15000 of these rifles were refurbished and sold to the Confederacy.