First of 20 Enfield rifles to be preserved emerges from wood treatment at Georgia lab. After 160 years in water, weapon made for South appears to be doing fine

Right side of treated rifle, bottom portion, nose cap at end of barrel, two rifles chosen for treatment (Georgia DNR)

Conservation in Georgia of 20 Enfield rifles has reached a significant milestone, with the first walnut stock emerging from treatment and appearing to be doing well outside a wet environment.

“I was thinking about it; this is the longest this rifle has been out of water in over 160 years,” said Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

“I want to give it a little time to monitor it closely and make sure nothing bad is going to happen to it. However, I think it’s going to work. The rifle seems pretty stable,” he said.

The British-made weapons – which went down with a Confederate blockade runner in Charleston Harbor -- have been displayed for nearly 15 years in a 300-gallon aquarium at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Douglas County as corrosive salts are removed.

The stack of Enfield rifles in lining and crate at Sweetwater Creek State Park.

Saltwater destroyed most of the iron components, including barrels, locks and bayonets. The trigger guards, butt plates and nose caps at the end of the barrels are made of brass and are still intact.

The state’s aim is to eventually exhibit the wooden remnants of the rifles.

Lab picked two rifles for initial treatment

Headlee in 2022 selected two rifles (left, Georgia DNR) to be treated with a solution made by Preservation Solutions. Conservators previously used SP-11 to treat an intact coffin found in 2013 on the edge of the marsh at Fort McAllister, a Confederate river outpost below Savannah.

Before chemical treatment, the rifles are kept in water, which protects their cellular structure. 

Without immersion in a preserver, pieces of wood will shrink, warp and crack. “They could literally just fall apart,” Headlee previously told the Picket. (Treated rifle above, Georgia DNR. View shows were the lock and hammer would have been.)

SP-11 is designed to displace water in the wood with preservatives that help to solidify the wood so it can be permanently exposed to the air.

The curator said he is watching the preserved rifle to see if there is leaching, cracking or splitting of the wood as it continues to dry.

If this weapon remains stable, Headlee said, the second Enfield will undergo the treatment. “We’re slowly picking the hard crusty layer off of it before we put it in the wood preserver,” he added. (Left side of the rifle, above)

The items are being treated at a facility at Panola Mountain State Park east of Atlanta.

Divers pulled up prized weapons decades ago

The Pattern 1853 Enfields were carried by the blockade runner CSS Stono and were bound for Charleston, S.C., in 1863. The rifles, stored in a wooden crate, were placed in an alternating butt to muzzle pattern, and blocks were used to prevent the weapons from shifting.

The Stono, laden with precious arms, munitions and goods from Europe, in 1863 ran aground on a submerged sandbar off Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor while trying to evade Federal ships.

An archaeological diver pulled up the box carrying the 20 rifles in the late 1980s. One end was damaged, apparently when the ship sank. Some of the Enfields were damaged.

Officials did not initially know how many of the highly prized Pattern 1853 rifles were inside, their position or condition. 

Each weapon originally weighed about 9 pounds and was approximately 53 inches long. The bore is .577-caliber. (At right, treated gun, Georgia DNR. It shows were the trigger guard and assembly would have been.)

The craftsmanship involved in the manufacture of the guns was very good, Headlee previously said. “Enfield was top quality.”

The Enfield was the second-most widely used infantry weapon in the Civil War after the Springfield.

The 1851 and 1853 Enfields, made for the British army, were an important technological advance from smoothbore to rifled muskets, increasing the accuracy and distance.

At least one of the weapons bears the mark, “T. Turner,” a reference to well-known English gunmaker Thomas Turner, who turned out quality weapons in the mid-19^th century.

Barrel plugs called tampions remarkably survived

 A tin and lead lining that sealed the cargo from salt air and ensured the rifles were not tampered with is in bad condition.

But there is a silver lining to all of this: Components made of brass withstood the onslaught of corrosive saltwater. Conservators are still trying to determine how to treat them.

Iron or steel screws holding the butt plates in place deteriorated over the years and the plates just slid off, said Headlee.

Conservators years ago found in the crate a bullet mold, tools and tampions -- cork and brass plugs inserted into the muzzle to ward off moisture.

The team counted 20 tampions (above, Georgia DNR) “in various states” of condition. Tampions are used on cannons and rifles to keep debris from falling into their barrels.

Headlee finds it remarkable much of the cork used for the Enfield tampions remains.

“They were just found in a grouping. We feel like they were in a box or bag in the crate.”

A closer look at chains and bayonet remnants

The Enfields featured a nipple protector, which kept the hammer away from the firing mechanism when not in use. A chain was attached to a plug placed over the weapon’s nipple.

Headlee last year sent me a photo of one chain from the Stono guns (above, Georgia DNR). “Some of them are still on the rifles.”

He reached out to Enfield experts in England and elsewhere about the half dozen remnants of iron bayonets found stacked together. They told him bayonets normally would be shipped in a separate box.

“Why bayonets (remnant below, Georgia DNR) were in this crate I have no idea,” Headlee said. “They are all but gone. The fact we have this much is amazing.” The pieces are about an inch and a half long.

The Enfield fired a Minie ball. No ammunition was found in the crate.

Eventually, if all goes as hoped, the 20 rifles will go on display somewhere in the state.

“Even up to the end of the (Civil War), the Enfield rifle was kind of the M16 rifle of the day,” said Headlee. “It had been used for years and years. Bang for the buck, it was as good as any standard weapon.”

Springfield and Enfield rifles were neck and neck in effectiveness, he added. “They were like a Ford and a Chevy.”

Interestingly, the  nose cap is the only metal piece still attached to the wooden stock of the treated rifle. It appears to be riveted in place and conservators don't want to risk breaking the fragile stock to remove it for treatment.