Preserving and Sharing Rhode Island Military History to Inpire and Educate the Public.
The Varnum House Museum is gearing up for its 2016 season, and we are currently seeking volunteers to act as docents (tour guides). Training will be provided.
Built in 1773, the House is the former manor home of General James Mitchell Varnum. Please contact Barbara Weaver at house@varnumcontinentals.org or call 401-377-0047.
We got some great shots of the Varnum House Museum grounds and neighborhood in the aftermath of the snowstorm on February 5, 2016.
If you want to support the Varnum House Museum, make a donation by clicking here!
For as long as anyone can remember… indeed, for many decades … this once rusty, broken down, and nearly forgotten flintlock sat in a corner of the Varnum House Museum’s Keeping Room near the kitchen hearth. The brass trigger guard with its simple, hand-engraved symbols had come loose from the stock. The brass ram rod pipes were loose or had fallen out completely. The metal ram rod was a later replacement. And the lock and its internals had been badly cobbled together rendering the old firelock non-functional. There was also a badly-filled hole in the top of the barrel and its thin muzzle was flayed and blown out at the end. The fragile, oil-stained stock was cracked in several places and was nearly black from lack of care.
Despite its worn condition and mismatched parts, this musket has historical value … and mystery. Who made this musket and when? Who owned it and what did they do with it? What do the hand-carved letters “IG” in colonial-era script represent? The owner’s initials? And who was the French (or Spanish?) “De Tovrette”… the name engraved in large letters along the top of the barrel? Could this have been cobbled together by an American gunsmith long ago and used by a local militia during the Revolution? These questions may never be answered, but here’s what we do know thanks to Varnum Member Russ Malcolm’s evaluation…
The gun is in original flintlock configuration. It is thought to be an early (1st half of 18th century) “put-together” by an American gunsmith using parts from different arms. Determining the date and origin of all parts may be difficult; some may be post 1750 and some appear to be commercial. The latter suggests fabrication for civilian use. The gun may also have been restocked. Overall length of the gun is 61.75 inches.
The 6-3/8-inch Dutch-style lock appears unmarked externally and is likely of commercial origin. The lightly engraved cock appears to be of the period, is likely of commercial origin, and may be a replacement. All external lock components except the frizzen (pan, frizzen spring, and associated screws) appear original to the lock. There is no external bridle to support the frizzen. The lock’s inner surface may be marked with the filer’s name but is not currently legible. Interior components look original. There is no interior bridle to support the sear and tumbler.
The 46.5-inch, .68 caliber barrel is marked “D E TOVRETTE N ?4” on the barrel top flat suggesting French origin. It is octagonal at the breech for about 9.75 inches, then round to the muzzle. An iron sight is brazed to the barrel top 1-1/8-inch from the muzzle. The uneven configuration of the muzzle suggests the original barrel may have been slightly longer. Additional letters (?VL?) or numbers and a possible barrel maker’s icon appear on the left flat at the breech. The barrel is pin-fastened to the stock.
The rough-grained stock appears to be walnut and of Dutch-Germanic configuration as denoted by the 0.5-inch flat extending from the butt plate to the trigger plate. It rates about good plus. The left butt stock shows the letters “IG”.
The stepped iron butt plate is attached with three screws and is probably commercial. The S-formed rounded iron side plate is probably early French. The side screws, tang screw, trigger, trigger plate and lower ramrod pipe are iron. The middle ramrod pipe is brass; the upper pipe is missing. The cut-down trigger guard assembly is brass and likely commercial. Its attachment to the stock with studs rather than screws was common on period put-together arms fabricated for civilian and even militia use. The steel ramrod is a much later replacement.
With the aid of Varnum Member Mike Bennett, Russ Malcolm graciously spent many hours restoring and preserving this now beautiful longarm that was hand-made before the American Revolution. All of the defects described above have been sorted and corrected. An old powder charge was also found and removed. Based on the newspaper wadding that was also removed, the charge had apparently been in there since the late 1800s! The musket will be returned to the Varnum House Museum and proudly displayed there in a more prominent location.
By Varnum Trustee & Armory Curator Patrick Donovan.
In a quiet corner of North Kingstown’s Elm Grove Cemetery is the Baker family plot. Among those buried under a simple, moss-encrusted marker is Charles Cahoon Baker, who is said to be the first North Kingstown resident to die in battle during the Civil War. Charley was killed in the Battle of New Bern(e), North Carolina as a member of Company H, 4th Rhode Island Infantry Regiment on the cold, damp morning of March 14, 1862. While he was not the first Rhode Islander to die in the war, his story is eminently representative of the horror of battle and the sadness of its aftermath.
Charley Baker was born in Wickford in 1845, the third of nine children of David Sherman Baker and Mary Cahoon Waite Baker. He grew up in the family homestead at 50 Pleasant Street (the house, still standing, was built in 1785 by Benjamin Lawton Packer and sold to Charley’s grandfather in the 1830’s). When Charley’s mother and father started growing their large family, the house quickly was expanded and took on its present appearance around the time of the Civil War). The Bakers were prominent local residents and active members of the First Baptist Church. A family of strong and patriotic principles, no one was surprised when Charley, who had just turned 17, was among those young men who rushed to Providence to volunteer as a private in the Grand Army of the Republic in September of 1861. Charley and his fellow volunteers left Rhode Island for Washington, DC on October 2. After training, they were attached to the Army of the Potomac and in early January of 1862, under the command of General Ambrose Burnside, they were sent to North Carolina, seeing service at the Battle of Roanoke Island before being sent on to New Bern.
Let’s go back to that cold dark morning on the last day of young Charley’s life. He woke from a likely fitful sleep after having landed with his comrades and marching through rain and mud to a campsite outside the Confederate held Fort Thompson outside the city of New Bern. Shortly after dawn, gunfire broke out. Colonel Isaac Rodman, another well-known Rhode Island name, ordered his 4th Regiment, including Charley’s Company H, into a breech in the Rebel lines.
Corporal George Allen, in a privately published 1887 book “Forty-six Months with the Fourth Rhode Island Volunteers”, recounts the action that took young Charley’s life on the morning of March 14. Union troops had launched an unsuccessful assault on Fort Thompson. Colonel Rodman, seeing the troops fall back, took it on himself to rally the 4th Rhode Island to charge again. Allen describes the action:
Our colonel immediately decided to advance the regiment without orders, taking the responsibility of the movement on his own shoulders; and dispatching an aide to General Parke to inform him of what he was about to do, gave the order, ‘Fourth Rhode Island fall in’. The boys were ready for the work. Moving by the right flank for a short distance to a slight rise of ground, and then right by files into line, they advanced at a quick step on the rebel line. Shot and shell, grape and minie-balls greeted their approach, and the men began to drop before the murderous fire; yet never swerving from their onward course, they steadily advanced, loading and firing as fast as possible, till within a hundred yards of the works, when with a cheer, they charged home, and planting their colors on the ramparts, swarmed over the breast-works. A short, fierce struggle, and the first was ours.
Sadly, Charley Baker was not among those who made it to the fort. As he ran through the breech in the line, his last experience was likely a blinding flash and his war was over. There, Charley became the first of many Rhode Islanders to die in the battle. Union losses were 90 killed, 380 wounded and 1 missing. Confederate losses: 64 killed, 101 wounded, 413 captured or missing.
Charley’s body was brought back to Rhode Island six weeks after the battle and on April 26th, many in the town of Wickford gathered at the First Baptist Church to mourn with the Baker family and also the Church family. Another North Kingstown man, Sgt. George H. Church, had died during the Battle of New Berne and his body was returned for burial along with that of Private Baker. The funeral service for the two men was described as the largest of its kind in the town’s memory. The procession from the church to the cemetery was nearly a mile in length. The caskets were carried on carriages from the Narragansett Engine Company, of which both men had been volunteer members. The two were laid to rest in their respective family burial sites.
In her book, “Wickford Memories”, author Anita S. Hinkley writes:
Charles Baker was one of my father’s older brothers and he was the first casualty of the Civil War from Rhode Island. Every Decoration Day we go to the (Elm Grove) Cemetery and put flowers on his grave. My grandmother never went. She and her only daughter, Abby, sat at home and look at Charlie’s few possessions and grieved as only women can who have lost their best.
One hundred and fifty two years ago in March of 1863, a young man, one of so many from our state to die in the Civil War, gave his life in a brief and violent moment in the honorable service of his country. The motto of the Varnum Continentals, “To Preserve Patriotism”, stands in his memory and for all who have gallantly served out nation through the years.
By Varnum Trustee & Member Brian Wallin