I finally got a replacement battery pack for my digital camera. If you're looking to buy a new camera, don't make my mistake and get one with a proprietary battery. Yuck.
Anyway, I put it to good use. My great great grandfather, George H. Dunn, served in the 27th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War. They did a lot of traveling, from Port Huron down to deep in the south and eventually to Washington, DC as part of the Grand Army of the Potomac. Then, after four years of service, the regiment was disbanded back at Port Huron, Michigan.
I guess that in those days, a soldier could either keep or buy his rifle. I say that because I'd hate to think that a relative of mine would actually steal it! So it's been handed down through the generations and now it's in my hands.
Here's my great great grandfather:
And a few pictures of the rifle, a contract 1861 made by Lamson, Goodnow and Yale after the Colt Special 1861 pattern:
The 27th Infantry mark in the stock, above
The armory cartouches in the two photos above are fading away. Part of that is because my great great grandfather used this rifle for hunting until at least the late 1880s when he replaced it with a Colt Lightning in .38-40 (I've got that one, too). The other part is that I remember playing with it when I was a child. It was a piece of history, but it was also a toy, as long as we didn't bang it around. Also, the white spots that you see here and there are paint. Don't ask me how or why. I guess that at some time somebody painted and didn't cover everything up. I've been carefully cleaning paint off of guns for the past month.
Even with all that (ab)use, it's still completely functional and shootable. The rifling is strong, all of the original parts are still there and solid and it works perfectly. It's a really nice link back to the past!