Pattern 1853 Enfield .577 inch Percussion Rifle Musket, Windsor Pattern, 1856

Pattern 1853 Enfield .577 inch Percussion Rifle Musket, Windsor Pattern, 1856. Manufactured under contract to British War Department by Robbins and Lawrence, Windsor, Vermont, USA, 1856. During the Crimean War (1854-1856) there was a shortfall of Enfield rifle muskets. Insufficient numbers were being produced in the United Kingdom and, despite a contract for their manufacture being placed in Belgium, further assistance from both the United States and France was sought. An American contact was swiftly set up in February 1855 for 25,000 US rifle muskets, altered to the Enfield bore, to be made by Robbins and Lawrence of Windsor, Vermont. Enfield rifle muskets made in Britain were variously stamped on the lock ‘ENFIELD’ - for those made at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield - ‘LAC’ for those manufactured by the London Armoury Company or ‘TOWER’ for other contract gunmakers. The American produced Enfields were stamped with ‘WINDSOR’ on the lock. Unforeseen financial difficulties at the company and complaints in Britain that the American Enfields were of inferior quality resulted in a total of only some 16,000 rifle muskets being produced in the US for the British Army.