Marked Brown Bess Musket Thumb Plate: 37th Regiment of Foot!!!

[paleomaxx]

Absolutely crazy find today and I just had to post it here! I was in Western Massachusetts and digging up the usual kerosene lamp parts and iron flashing when I got a deep, but faint, high tone. I dug way down in the sandy soil and out popped an odd piece of brass:

The engraved numbers were so bold right out of the soil and I immediately knew from the style that this had to be 18th century! Even better I was pretty sure it was musket hardware!!! Just some quick googling confirmed it was indeed from a Brown Bess.

Below is a photo showing where this particular plate is on the wrist portion of the musket:

I found numerous examples of these thumb plates online that were engraved with the regimental number as well as additional information of the particular soldier. There doesn't appear to be much standardization for the engravings, but the 37th Regiment of Foot was indeed in America for the Revolutionary War and participated in the Battle of Long Island in 1776. The 32 may mean that this was the 32nd man, but it's missing the company number so maybe it means something else.

I'm hoping I can piece together more information about this piece and maybe even how it came to be in Western Mass. At any rate this is the find of a lifetime and I'm over the moon!

 

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[Nathan W]

Absolutely crazy find today and I just had to post it here! I was in Western Massachusetts and digging up the usual kerosene lamp parts and iron flashing when I got a deep, but faint, high tone. I dug way down in the sandy soil and out popped an odd piece of brass:

View attachment 2173536

The engraved numbers were so bold right out of the soil and I immediately knew from the style that this had to be 18th century! Even better I was pretty sure it was musket hardware!!! Just some quick googling confirmed it was indeed from a Brown Bess.

Below is a photo showing where this particular plate is on the wrist portion of the musket:

View attachment 2173537

I found numerous examples of these thumb plates online that were engraved with the regimental number as well as additional information of the particular soldier. There doesn't appear to be much standardization for the engravings, but the 37th Regiment of Foot was indeed in America for the Revolutionary War and participated in the Battle of Long Island in 1776. The 32 may mean that this was the 32nd man, but it's missing the company number so maybe it means something else.

View attachment 2173538View attachment 2173539View attachment 2173540

I'm hoping I can piece together more information about this piece and maybe even how it came to be in Western Mass. At any rate this is the find of a lifetime and I'm over the moon!

Congratulations, there might be more parts in that area

 

[Red-Coat]

Great find. I'm sure you're right that this is 32nd Regiment, 'rack' number 32, without a Company mark.

The standard marks used by the British Board of Ordnance have the top number as the Company number and the “rack” number below it (the latter links to a record of the soldier to whom it had been issued). The Regiment number would then be on the barrel.

If the top number is beyond 10 (as on yours), it’s more likely to be the Regiment number since most regiments had no more than 8-10 companies. The rack number would then be below it. More usually, if the regiment number is on the thumb plate rather than the barrel, it would be separated from the rack number by a letter or a number indicating the company, eg ‘37/1/32’ or ‘37/A/32’ for the 1st Company of the 37th Regiment, rack number 32. But Company numbers aren't always present.

There are other variations, including marks not applied by the Ordnance Board on re-issued guns and also instances of decommissioned weapons with obliterated Regiment marks.

 

[ironhorse]

Very cool piece!
It's a very small percentage of musket parts marked for the regiment for which they were issued that have survived...super rare!

 

[paleomaxx]

Great find. I'm sure you're right that this is 32nd Regiment, 'rack' number 32, without a Company mark.

The standard marks used by the British Board of Ordnance have the top number as the Company number and the “rack” number below it (the latter links to a record of the soldier to whom it had been issued). The Regiment number would then be on the barrel.

If the top number is beyond 10 (as on yours), it’s more likely to be the Regiment number since most regiments had no more than 8-10 companies. The rack number would then be below it. More usually, if the regiment number is on the thumb plate rather than the barrel, it would be separated from the rack number by a letter or a number indicating the company, eg ‘37/1/32’ or ‘37/A/32’ for the 1st Company of the 37th Regiment, rack number 32. But Company numbers aren't always present.

There are other variations, including marks not applied by the Ordnance Board on re-issued guns and also instances of decommissioned weapons with obliterated Regiment marks.

That's great info, thank you so much! I'm curious if it's known who actually engraved the marks. Most of the ones I see online seem too even to have been the soldiers themselves, was it the gunsmiths?

 

[Red-Coat]

That's great info, thank you so much! I'm curious if it's known who actually engraved the marks. Most of the ones I see online seem too even to have been the soldiers themselves, was it the gunsmiths?

You're welcome.

The marks were applied by workers under the supervision of the Board of Ordnance. Re-issued guns may have been additionally marked (or re-marked) by auxiliary workers with engraving skills within the Regiment.

 

[paleomaxx]

You're welcome.

The marks were applied by workers under the supervision of the Board of Ordnance. Re-issued guns may have been additionally marked (or re-marked) by auxiliary workers with engraving skills within the Regiment.

Thank you again!

 

[Jeff H]

WOW! Outstanding find!