page 68.

Lincoln's Seven Hits With A Rifle

(by Rev. W. A. Bartlett, Lewiston, ME)

(probably a reprint from a 1919 0r 1920 article in the Boston Transcript.)

The book is available at http://books.google.com/books?id=q_oKAAAAIAAJ

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"On August 17, 1863, I arrived at the White House with the rifle in hand, and was immediately ushered into the executive room, where I found the President alone. After a brief introduction, I took the rifle from its cloth case and handed it to him. Examining it carefully, and handling it as one familiar with firearms, Mr. Lincoln requested me to take it apart 'and show the inwardness of the thing.' The separate parts were soon laid on the table before him. It was the simplicity of the gun which appealed to President Lincoln, and he was greatly impressed with the fact that all that was needed to take it apart was a screw driver. With this implement he bared the vitals of the gun and replaced them so that the gun was ready to shoot in a few minutes. Neither the President nor I realized at the time that three qualities of the rifle were to make it especially valuable: the fact that the Confederates could not secure the proper ammunition, in case they captured the guns; that a Union soldier fearing capture could throw away one vital part, thus making the rifle useless for his captor; and that it could be used by the cavalry, as by a special catch it could be swung to the saddle and be ready for instant use.

"After the President had made a careful examination of my gun, he asked whether I had any engagement for the following day. Replying that I was at his command, Mr. Lincoln requested me to 'come over tomorrow at about two o'clock and we will go out and see the thing shoot.'

"I arrived at the appointed time and found all in readiness to proceed to the shooting place, which was about where now stands the Washington Monument. Accompanying us was the President's son, Robert, and one of the officials of the Navy Department, who carried the rifle, target and ammunition.

"On the way we stopped opposite the War Department, and the President sent Robert over to ask Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War, to come out and see this new gun fired. While awaiting Robert's return, Mr. Lincoln amused us with some stories. The President discovered that one of the pockets of his black alpaca coat was torn, and he took a pin from his waistcoat and proceeded to mend it, saying, 'It seems to me that this don't look quite right for the chief magistrate of this mighty republic, ha, ha, ha!'

"Robert reported that Mr. Stanton was too busy to go with us. 'Well,' said the President, 'they do pretty much as they have a mind to over there.'

"Arriving at the shooting place, Mr. Lincoln, looking the field over, remarked, 'It seems to me I discover the body of a colored gentleman down yonder,' and ordered the target changed to avoid an accident.

"The target was a board about six inches wide and three feet high, with a black spot on each end, about forty yards away. The rifle contained seven cartridges. Mr. Lincoln's first shot was about five inches low, but the next shot hit the bull's-eye and the other five were close around it.

"'Now,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'we will see the inventor try it' The board was reversed and I fired at the other bull's-eye, beating the President a little. 'Well,' said he, 'you are younger than I am and have a better eye and a steadier nerve.'

"The end of the board which the President shot at was cut off by the Navy official and handed to me when we parted at the steps of the White House. I kept it till 1883, when it was sent to Springfield, 111., to be placed in the collection of war relics."

The following indicates that Spencer's somewhat overblown account of the shooting contest left out some interesting details. The following text is extracted from page 75 of the questia.com text of Inside Lincoln's White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay .

19 AUGUST 1863, WEDNESDAY. This evening and yesterday evening an hour was spent by the President in shooting with Spencer's new repeating rifle. A wonderful gun loading with absolutely contemptible simplicity and ease with seven balls & firing the whole readily & deliberately in less than half a minute. The President made some pretty good shots. Spencer[,] the inventor[,] a quiet little Yankee who sold himself in relentless slavery to his idea for six weary years before it was perfect[,] did some splendid shooting.

An irrepressible patriot came up and talked about his son John who when lying on his belly on a hilltop at Gettysburg, feeling the shot fly over him like to lost his breath--felt himself puffing up like a toad--thought he would bust. Another seeing the gun recoil slightly said it wouldn't do; too much powder: a good piece of audience should not rekyle: if it did at all, it should rekyle a little forrid.

from page 310 0f the same book, footnotes to the above text:

In 1860 Christopher Miner Spencer ( 1833-1922) invented a self-loading (repeating) rifle that the U.S. Army adopted; by the end of the war, over 200,000 had been manufactured. The president was presented with Spencer's "seven-shooter magazine rifle" on 17 August and practiced with it on the two succeeding days. Many years later, Spencer described his experiences with the president. See W. A. Bartlett, "Lincoln's Seven Hits with a Rifle," Boston Transcipt, n.d., reprinted in The Magazine of History 19, no. 73 ( 1921): 68-72.

William O. Stoddard also accompanied the president on similar occasions. He later recalled: On the grounds near the Potomac, south of the White House, was a huge pile of old lumber, not to be damaged by balls, and a good many mornings I have been out there with the President, by previous appointment, to try such rifles as were sent in. There was no danger of hitting any one, and the President, who was a very good shot, enjoyed the relaxation very much. One morning early we were having a good time--he with his favorite "Spencer," and I with a villainous kicking nondescript, with a sort of patent backaction breech, that left my shoulder black and blue--when a squad from some regiment which had just been put on guard in that locality pounced on us for what seemed to them a manifest disobedience of all "regulations." I heard the shout of the officer in command and saw them coming, but as the President was busy drawing a very particular bead--for I had been beating him a little--I said nothing until down they came. In response to a decidedly unceremonious hail, the President, in some astonishment, drew back from his stooping posture, and turned upon them the full length six feet four of their beloved "Commander-in-Chief." They stood and looked one moment, and then fairly ran away, leaving his Excellency laughing heartily at their needless discomfiture. He only remarked: "Well, they might have stayed and seen the shooting." ( Stoddard , "White House Sketches, No. V," New York Citizen, 22 Sept. 1866, p. 1)" Lincoln had a quick comprehension of mechanical principles, and often detected a flaw in an invention which the contriver had overlooked. He would sometimes go out into the waste fields that then lay south of the Executive Mansion to test an experimental gun or torpedo. He used to quote with much merriment the solemn dictum of one rural inventor that 'a gun ought not to rekyle; if it rekyled at all, it ought to rekyle a little forrid.'" Hay, Life in the White House in the Time of Lincoln, Hay MSS, DLC. The essay was published, with slight variations, in Century Magazine, Nov. 1890.

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