Tredegar cast no 3 inch Rifles marked "Archer & Burton." As far as the great ironworks was concerned, they were all "Archer Rifles" as Robert Archer himself declared to a reporter for a major South Carolina newspaper during an August 1861 tour of the plant. The state of Virginia called them "Burton Rifles" as seen in the June 1861 list of state issues prior to Confederate Ordnance Bureau takeover of local ammo production. By that time, Virginia's ordnance establishment had purchased 13 or 14 three inch Rifles - none made by Tredegar. Those were the guns marked "B & A" and sometines "S & P". Yes, there was simmering and longstanding hostility between the two. Most, and possibly all, of those new 3 inch Rifles were cast by the Washington Foundry and finished by Samson & Pae who had the biggest lathe in Richmond. There were no good feelings between Tredegar and these smaller foundries. It seem Col. Dimmock and the state's ordnance dept. shared these ill feelings about the dominant ironworks. As the state mobilized for action during the first six months of 1861, they ordered no cannon or Archer ammunition from Tredegar. Samson & Pae billed for finishing 29 six and 12 pounders for the state in May 1861 alone. None came from Tredegar. After new U.S. contracts for heavy artillery were denied Tredegar during 1860 because they refused to adopt the Rodman method of casting the big guns, the ironworks tettered on bankruptcy. No help came from the state. It was the incoming orders from other states and the fledgling CS government that bailed Tredegar out.
During a friendlier period, in a ten page letter to the Virginia ordnance authorities from mid-December of 1860, Col. Burton laid out his ideas for making small caliber rifled cannon and ammunition for the field artillery. He had a lot of experience to draw upon from his involvement with artillery development in Europe. It was Burton who first proposed boring a smaller opening into an existing smoothbore design. We know that is what Tredegar began to do because two Model 1841 bronze six pounder smoothbores drilled to accommodate 3 inch ammo still can be seen in Mississippi (one is shown on the excellent
"Bullrunnings" web site.) This was part of a 4 - gun private order and 5,000 3 inch Archer bolts sent to Miss by Tred. in April 1861. When Archer claimed credit for the design the following August, he might have been referring to the more modern sleek design of the 3 inch Richmond Rifles that replaced the old Model 1841 shape.
When Col. Burton first returned from England during the summer of 1860, he applied to both the U.S. and Virginia ordnance departments for employment. They replied with an emphatic "No!" Burton was a difficult 'genius' to get along with. Robert Archer, a co-owner of the Tredegar partnership, reached out and hired him. Burton, it was hoped, would help the ironworks win big state contract for producing small arms in Richmond. Tredegar soon signed a $156,000 contract to make the machinery necessary for mass producing a state rifle. Relations between Archer and Burton worsened during early 1861, until Burton betrayed his employer with a secret letter sent to the state's Col. Dimmock in April 1861. It is in his records stored by the Winchester, VA, library. Burton declared his supreme loyalty to the state and suggested they seize the cannon and ammo Tredegar was then finishing for Mississippi. (VA did not do this.) He offered his services in any capacity. Burton declared he had a good design for a 3 inch bolt (a.k.a, pointed-nose Archer) and shell (a.k.a., long Archer) to be made by the state. Dimmock soon hired Burton away from Tredegar, and Burton personally convinced the state authorities to cancel the remaining balance of the $156,000 contract following the capture of gun making equipment at Harpers Ferry. One can only imagine the anger that ensued. The story of the 1861 Rifles and their varius types of ammunition can only be understood in this context.
Woodenhead
