Henry Rifle Forums

The weapon belonged to Charles H. Gibbs of Raymond. He carried the rifle in the Mexican-American War in 1847. On the weapon, you can see both his name and the dates of the battles he fought inscribed.

“This Rifle was put in the hands of Jefferson Davis’ regimens at this time of year, late July and 177 years ago in 1846, and the men salivated because, as you can see, it’s a beautiful weapon even by today’s standards,” Grady Howell, a retired historian at MDAH said.

The .54 caliber Eli Whitney rifle was initially donated to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in 1903 by his daughter, along with a bullet-cartridge box and belt. However, the weapon was stolen more than forty years ago in the 1970s while on loan at Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis in Biloxi. This launched an FBI investigation.