Civil War Participation
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 9:25 pm
There was some discussion of participation in the Civil War. Here is some documentation to show participation without enlistment of the Borden and Anthony families:
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Originally published in Man At Arms Magazine, Volume 1, Number 2, pp. 12-21, 5557, March/April 1979)The Civil War brought about a radical change.
Following the outbreak of hostilities, Providence Tool expanded its lines to include light cavalry sabers and Model 1861 caliber .58 rifled muskets. Under the direction of treasurer John Brighton Anthony (18291904) -- nephew of the firm's president and major stockholder, Colonel Richard Borden of Fall River, Massachusetts -- Providence Tool secured six government contracts resulting in gross sales to the Ordnance Department of $1,433,755.10 for 10,434 sabers and 70,000 Springfield rifles. In the process, the company invested about $350,000 in additional machinery and refurbished the Wickenden Street mill as its armory.
The end of the war found Anthony pondering the same problems which faced other arms contractors: What to do with the gunmaking machinery? The neighboring Burnside Rifle Company had made a complete break by selling its specialized machinery and going into the locomotive business. Providence Tool, however, decided to retain an armaments program, and on October 26, 1864, the company signed a preliminary agreement with Henry O. Peabody for patent rights to his cartridge breechloader. On March 15, 1865, a limited manufacturing right was obtained from the owners of the patent for the Ball breechloading repeater. Whichever way the winds at the Ordnance Department blew, for single-shot or repeater, Providence Tool would be prepared.
After the success of the Peabody rifle at the government breechloading trials held at Springfield in the spring of 1865, the tool company abandoned the Ball repeater and signed a final patent rights agreement with inventor Peabody on April 15.
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