This is an attractive example of a Winchester Model 1866 Musket that was manufactured in 1869. This musket has the Third Model features which include visible serial number stamped behind the trigger on the lower receiver tang, single upper tang screw and receiver flare at the junction with the forearm. The musket has the distinctive features that include: (1) 26 1/2-inch round barrel, (2) extended forearm, (3) 3/4 length, 17-shot magazine, (4) three barrel bands,(5) sling swivels on the stock and middle barrel band and (6) steel block front sight base that serves as a lug for a socket bayonet. The stock has a brass, carbine style, buttplate with sliding brass trapdoor. The barrel has a folding leaf rear sight with 900 yard ("9") center notch. The barrel, magazine, barrel bands and loading gate are blued, and the hammer, trigger and lever are color casehardened. The stock and forearm are oil-finished, straight grain, American walnut. The top of the barrel is roll-stamped: "WINCHESTER'S-REPEATING-ARMS. NEW HAVEN. CT./KING'S-IMPROVEMENT-PATENTED-MARCH 29, 1866, OCTOBER. 16. 1860" in two-lines between the lower barrel band and the rear sight. The serial number, "32198", is stamped in block numerals on the lower tang behind the trigger. The musket is accompanied by a copy of a handwritten document dated September 7, 1974, that states it was the property of the author's grandfather "Geo. L. Dial" who "carried this rifle with Hampton's Red Shirts". The South Carolina Red Shirts were a white supremacist group organized in the early 1870s to intimidate black Republican Party voters. The Red Shirts played a major part in the election of former Confederate General Wade Hampton as the Democratic Party state governor in 1876. The election of Wade Hampton ended the Republican party control of South Carolina for 90 years. An included November 1969 dated newspaper editorial by Charles Wickenberg references South Carolina Republican governor Robert Scott forming a state militia group armed with Winchester rifles at the time of his reelection bid of 1870.

Very good plus. The musket retains at least 30% of the thin original blue and finish. The blue on the barrel and magazine has mostly faded to a smooth, plum color. The barrel bands have a silver-gray patina. Most of the blue finish is present on the loading gate. The case colors on the hammer, trigger and lever have faded to a silver-gray patina. The brass receiver and buttplate are in excellent condition with a handsome, untouched patina. The side plate joints are perfect. The only significant wear on the receiver is a 3/4-inch scratch on the left side plate. The buttplate has the usual light scratches on the heel and toe but remains in very fine-excellent condition. The stock and forearm are both in fine overall condition with minimal handling wear and retain approximately half of the original oil finish. The Winchester legend and serial number are crisp. This is a historic Winchester Model 1866 Musket in solid original condition.