Fifty-five years ago, on October 24, 1968, a Revolutionary War-era musket, along with 31 other historic items, was stolen in an overnight burglary from the Valley Forge Historical Society in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. To date, only the musket has been recovered.
On July 1, 2024, just three days before Independence Day, I participated in the gifting of that musket by Chubb, who had insured the musket, to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. It was my last last official act for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The musket had been recovered by federal and local law enforcement earlier that spring, thanks to the sharp eyes and excellent memory of Joel Bohy, an historic firearms expert and Antiques Roadshow appraiser, who recalled seeing the musket on display at a gun show, as well as to the civic-mindedness of the individual who possessed the musket.
The other pieces of history stolen that night were four items of George Washington memorabilia (ring, seals, button), twelve 18th century pistols and fifteen 18th century flintlock long arms, one of which was the Ferguson Rifle.
A Little History About Where the Theft Happened
On George Washington’s birthday in 1903, the Reverend W. Herbert Burk, the rector of a suburban Philadelphia area church, suggested in a sermon that a “wayside chapel” should be built as a memorial to George Washington in what was then Valley Forge State Park, the site of the 1777-1778 winter encampment of the Continental Army and the first state park in Pennsylvania. His suggestion came to fruition and the cornerstone for the Washington Memorial Chapel was laid on June 19, 1903, the 125th anniversary of the evacuation of Washington’s Army from Valley Forge.
While Reverend Burk was raising funds for the construction of the chapel, he was also collecting funds and artifacts for what he named The Valley Forge Museum of American History, which opened on Washington’s birthday in 1909. Reverend Burk described his museum as “educational in the best sense of the word,” with the hope that visitors would appreciate “what it has cost, in the work of soldier and artisan, for the American people to enter upon their heritage of prosperity and peace..”
Perhaps the most important piece that Reverend Burk acquired was George Washington’s Marquee, a Philadelphia-made tent that served as Washington’s headquarters, as well as his dining and sleeping quarters, from Dorchester Heights, Massachusetts in 1776 to Valley Forge in 1777 to Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. In 1918, Reverend Burk’s museum became the Valley Forge Historical Society.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania gave Valley Forge State Park to the United States as a gift for the nation’s Bicentennial celebration and, on July 4, 1976, Valley Forge National Historical Park was added to the National Park System.
In 2000, the Valley Forge Historical Society began its effort to establish the Museum of the American Revolution. More than a decade later, on April 19, 2017, the 242nd anniversary of the battle of Concord and Lexington, which marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, the Museum of the American Revolution opened in Philadelphia, with the cultural treasures that had been the collection of the Valley Forge Historical Society, including Washington’s Marquee, but missing the items stolen in 1968 and from several later thefts in the 1970’s.
Details About the Theft
Very little is known about the theft, other than it took place on the night of October 24, 1968 and that the thief removed keys for glass cases in the museum from a key box in an outer room of the museum. Those keys were later found just outside the grounds of the Washington Memorial Chapel. An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer in November 1968 detailing the theft and making a plea for the return of the stolen items, “no questions asked,” did not yield any results.
How to Identify This Missing Piece of History
The missing Ferguson Rifle is an English Ferguson breech loading rifled carbine by London gunmaker Joseph Hunt, patented 1776. It is stamped “FERGUS” directly behind the vertical breech plug. Immediately forward of the breech plug, it is engraved with “HUNT” and stamped with “14.” There are intaglio cartouches on either side of the breech – a strike of a crown over entwined initials “GP,” and a crown over “V.”
The lock is engraved between the cock and the pan with a large crown and the Royal cypher “GR.” “HUNT” is vertically engraved across the tail of the lock plate.
This firearm, made of walnut, is 43 ½” long, with a 28” barrel and a 5 ¼” lock. It is considered to be a mounted officer’s model, with lanyard slide and ring. The brass trigger guard is an accurate replacement of the original, which would have been iron. The engraved vertical plug is original.
Images from Richard Gordon’s personal files pertaining to the Valley Forge Historical Society and American Rifleman, NRA Publications, August & September 1971.
Why This Missing Piece of History is Important
The Ferguson Rifle was presented to the Valley Forge Historical Society in early 1962 by a donor who wished to remain anonymous in the name of The First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry. It had been offered for sale to the historical society by an individual in York, PA for “half price” ($2,500) with the proviso that it had to be purchased “within 24 hours.”
Major Patrick Feguson, a Scotsman and officer in the British Army, developed this rifle in the 1770’s and patented it in December 1776. It was the first breech loading rifle placed into official service by any army in the world. Its advantage, compared to a muzzle loading rifle, was that the user loaded the ammunition from the breech, the rear end of the barrel, which reduced reloading and unloading time. It was also more accurate.
Joseph Hunt, one of the finest gunsmiths in London in the last part of the 18th century, was one of the few makers of Ferguson rifles, and this firearm is one of five made by Hunt. Each of those five bears a unique number struck on the upper surface of the barrel. For this firearm, it is the “14” on the upper surface of the barrel. “17” is in a private collection in New Jersey, “18” is in the collection of the Museum of the American Revolution, “23” in a private collection, and “25” is in the National Army Museum in London, England. At the time of its theft, the Ferguson Rifle was in mint condition and considered to be “the rarest in the Museum’s collection.”
What to Do if You Know Where This Missing Piece of History Is
If you recognize the Ferguson Rifle, have any information about it, or know its whereabouts, please call us at 1-202-240-2355 or send us an email at contact@arguscpc.com
One response to “Still Missing. . .The Ferguson Rifle”
[…] Washington Flintlock Rifle is another of the 32 historic items, in addition to the Ferguson Rifle discussed last week, stolen from the Valley Forge Historical Society in an overnight burglary on October 24, 1968. It […]