Some cousins of mine, about 3rd if I remember correctly have a percussion half stock rifle. It is deeply carved in one side of the stock in very neat block letters Leander H Edwards. This was the name of my G Great Father, Their's also, who fought in the 45th TN infantry. Family lore has it he carried this rifle through the war. It is of course not a military rifle, but he may well have provided it, & kept it for the duration.
I have seen a rifle which belonged to one Jack Hinson. He was an "Independant" Sniper, didn't sign on with either side. This is a .45 or .50 caliber rifle of about 20 lbs weight firing a long picket bullet. He was extremely effective with it firing on blue Coats, especially if they had officrs insignias on them.
If you have never heard of him do a search on that name, he has a very interesting story. He had a plantation south of Dover TN. He in fact helped guide Gen Grant across from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson. After the capture of the fort & the confederate withdrawal the Union arrested two of his young sons, who were out on their property squirrell hunting, for "Gorilla" activity. They were subsequently shot, beheaded & their heads placed on Mr Hinson's gate posts.
They hadn't ortta made the old man mad, a mistake which cost them tremendously, it has been estimated close to 100 lives. Much of his work was done from a cave in a cliff overlooking the Tennessee river. Below this was a narrow channel in which the water was so swift it took the boats of the day a long time to pass through. Many search parties were sent out but he was never found or captured. The Captain of one boat though them surrounded by a confederate force & as the boat was unable to gain speed he actually dropped anchor & ran up a white surrender flag. Jack oif course didn't try to go down singlehanded & capture them, so after no activity on about a half hour, the white flag was pulled, anchor raised & they proceeded on up river (South at this point). Much of the area where this all unfolded is presently in the "Land Between the Lakes" or underwater of either Kentucky or Barkley lakes. The Cave is still accessible. A group from my Sons of Confederate Veterans camp went there a couple of years ago. I would have loved to have gone also, but knew I was simply not physically able to make the long trek up the hillside to the cave.
