The Spencer Rifle
Invented by Christopher M. Spencer, the Spencer rifle was unlike any other firearm—save the Henry—used during the Civil War. With a magazine located in the rifle’s butt-stock, the Spencer held seven metallic rim-fire cartridges. The federal government purchased more than 95,000 Spencers during the conflict.
The rifle, so famously tested by President Abraham Lincoln, played critical roles on many battlefields of the Civil War, including Cool Spring on the night of July 18, 1864, and into the following morning.
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