When the Civil War came to a close in May of 1865, the U.S. military had hundreds of thousands of firearms of various makes and designs in the arsenals. Many were now outdated and sold as surplus, and even some of the more advanced arms like the Spencer repeaters were not all retained. J. P. Gemmer, who took over the Hawken brothers' shop in St. Louis in the early 1860s, and other firearms dealers converted surplus carbines and rifles into sporting rifles for settlers headed to the West. Many by Gemmer and Meacham were styled after the classic plains rifles used before the war. This example has a German silver blade front sight, adjustable sporting notch rear sight, "ST. LOUIS" stamped ahead of the rear sight dovetail, "S. HAWKEN" behind the dovetail under the rear sight, standard Spencer marking on top of the action, a poured pewter forend cap, a wooden ramrod, removed saddle ring bar, custom elongated trigger guard/lever with spur, and double set triggers. The Hawken marking highly suggests the rifle was built by the Gemmer shop in St. Louis.

Very good as period customized with primarily brown and gray patina, some minor pitting, and oxidation. The wood is good with some cracks and repairs, numerous small dings and marks, some chipping at the edges. Mechanically fine.