Weapons of the 91st

MAJOR: I have the honor to report that, in obedience to instructions from Brigadier General Wadsworth, I inspected yesterday the arms in the hands of the 91st regiment Pennsylvania volunteers, and found that the regiment has 800 guns CALLED Enfield rifles, furnished to the government by P. S Justice, of Philadelphia.

I examined about seventy of these guns that had become unserviceable from various causes, each one showing some defect in material or manufacture. Many had burst; many cones had been blown out; many locks were defective; many barrels were rough inside from imperfect boring, and many had different diameters of bore in the same barrel.

These guns have been in the hands of the regiment about four months, and have been fired but little. At practice, with blank cartridges, one gun burst. At target practice so many burst that the men became afraid to fire them. At present it is with difficulty that the men are made to charge their arms for guard duty; those who do load them throw away part of the powder.

These arms seem to have been gotten up in a hurry from old material, and altered without any reference to service or safety. Most of the guns have the United States old musket lock, and in many cases only one of the screws for attaching it to the gun is used. Judging from what I saw of the guns, I pronounce them unserviceable and unsafe.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,