This historic British Long Land Pattern Brown Bess musket dates to prior to the French & Indian War and is identified as having been owned by Revolutionary War soldier Beriah Holcomb (1746-1824) and then passed down through his family for generations. The smoothbore barrel has a block front sight that doubles as the lug for the included socket bayonet and has the following markings on the breech section: "I", Ordnance/King's proofs, "84", "*/1", and "IF". The rounded and curved lock plate has double line borders, the Georgian cipher at the center, a "crown/broad arrow" mark below the priming pan, and "FARMER/1743" signed on the tail section. The furniture is brass. Additional stamps are found behind the trigger guard tang, and the stock is carved with "SH" and an inverted conjoined "MV" marking on the right side of the butt and a light "NY" and deeper "B H" on the left side. A copy of "The History of a Gun" by Henry G. Throop indicated that this musket had been passed down to relatives on his mother's side, Rachel and Mildred Holcomb of Stephentown, by 1895 and had belonged to Throop and Mildred's shared great great grandfather Beriah Holcomb. Around 1951, he reached back out to Mildred Holcomb to inquire about the musket and learned she had sold it and soon tracked down the buyer, gun collector Elmer Conklin of Stephentown, and bought the musket and indicates the musket had remained in the family aside from the brief period between when Mildred Holcomb had sold it and he purchased it. The included copy of a 1975 letter to Ronald N. Throop from C.R. Suydam states: "You are extremely lucky to have a fine Brown Bess by Farmer: in that condition, it will be one of the most valuable of the pre-Revolutionary military arms in US history." Additional information indicates that the gun was passed down through the Throop family until the present and that Beriah Holcomb (Holcombe) had served in Captain George White's company of the New York Second Regiment during the American Revolution and is buried in Stephentown, New York. The 2nd New York Regiment was formed in Albany to the west of Stephentown in the summer of 1775 and was initially commanded by Colonel Goose Van Schaick, a veteran of the French & Indian War, and fought in several of the most famous battles of the War for Independence, including battles of Saratoga (a major turning point in the war), Monmouth (a key test of the Continental Army after Valley Forge), and Yorktown (the major decisive victory for the Americans and their allies). In addition to more conventional battles, the 2nd also fought on the frontier, including in the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, a scorched earth campaign against the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Mohawks in response to their destructive raids on the farms and settlements of the New York and Pennsylvania, including the Wyoming Massacre and Cherry Valley Massacre. Colonel Van Schaick's men made a successful attack on the Onondaga, destroying their village and much of their crops, taking several captives, and killing about a dozen warriors without suffering any casualties. Washington wanted the expedition to force the hostile nations of the Iroquois far enough back and destroy their ability to wage war on the frontier settlements and forced many of them back to Fort Niagara. Provenance: Revolutionary War Soldier Beriah Holcomb; The Holcomb Family; The Elmer Conklin Collection; The Throop Family

Very good. The barrel and lock exhibit gray and brown patina, some mild pitting concentrated at the breech, and general mild overall wear. The bayonet exhibits similar patina and wear. The brass furniture displays attractive aged patina. The metal overall shows mild wear. The stock is also very good and has moderate overall wear, some gaps by the lock, a split along the bottom to the left of the trigger guard, general divots and dents, and distinct carving. Mechanically fine.