As a child, I remember a story from family lore about a time when ammunition was very scarce. The husband was taking his rifle and going off to battle, so his wife melted down the lead weights from the family clock and ran them into bullets. Therefore, her husband had his needed ammunition.
It is interesting how family stories are passed down to younger generations. Sometimes certain facts and details may be forgotten or misunderstood in one’s memory over time.
There are two versions of this story in our family
Three Chamberlain generations view Spencer Chamberlain’s rifle.
Apparently, John Harry Chamberlain and Alonzo C. Phillips both heard this story as a child. They are first cousins. Chamberlain likely heard the story from his father in Illinois. Phillips likely heard it from his mother in Vermont. Each of them recorded the story in 1926 in their later years. Chamberlain was 77, Phillips was 81.
1- Harry Chamberlain: Northwestern Iowa Its History and Traditions, 1926:
“A great-grandfather of Harry Chamberlain in the paternal line participated in the Revolutionary War. His wife melted and ran into bullets the lead weights of the family clock, replacing the weights with bags of sand. This clock and the old Queen’s Arm musket which the great grand father used are still in possession of the members of the Chamberlain family in Vermont.”
2- Alonzo C. Phillips letter: Runaway Pond Again, April 20, 1926:
“Spencer Chamberlain enlisted in the 1812 war. Before he went he took the lead weights out of this grandfather’s clock and substituted the weights with bags of gravel of the same weight. His wife ran the weights into bullets and he took the bullets and his old trusty (Queen Arm) rifle and started for the front. There he fired away his clock weights in the battle of Plattsburgh. My son, Mazzini Phillips, has the old gun in his possession at the present time with the word “London” on the lock. I have no doubt that this is the same gun that Spencer’s grandfather shot the Indian chief, Paugus, with on the shore of Lovells pond, May 8th 1725.”
Who ran the lead weights into bullets?
Who melted the clock weights into bullets? Was it Sarah Blake French in the Revolutionary War, or was it Millie French Chamberlain during the War of 1812?
In the first story, Silas French would be the great-grandfather on Harry’s paternal line (his father’s mother’s father). It is a known fact that Silas served in the Revolutionary War. Harry Chamberlain’s other great-grandfather on the paternal line is John Chamberlain. However, our family has no written record of him which seems to rule him out. Silas French’s wife was Sarah Blake.
In the second version, Spencer Chamberlain’s wife Millie would be the one who ran the lead into bullets. Spencer went off to fight in the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814.
Not an isolated incident
I searched the internet for similar experiences and found several stories recorded in books published in the late 1800s. All but one case was from the Revolutionary war and occurring between May 1776 and the Battle of Saratoga in 1777.
The melting of clock weights into bullets was not exclusive to the Chamberlain family. The Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, May 9, 1776, and the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, July 16, 1776 passed resolutions. The government then “collected lead clock weights that they might be run into bullets”.1
Apparently many, if not all, of the colonies at this time made a requisition for lead. The following story is from Windsor, Connecticut:
“During the harvest season of 1776 labor was so scarce harvests were done by women and children as all able bodied men were in the army. Constituted authority went forth in search of lead for bullets. The tradition which preserves this fact also mentions that not a clock in the whole town marked the flight of time, their weights having been melted down and run into bullets. This is owing to a requisition. This tradition is well authenticated, both in the case of this, and surrounding towns.”2
This makes it sound like the whole nation went around not knowing the time of day. However, our family solved their time keeping problem. They replaced the lead weights with an equal weight of sand or gravel.
A universal experience of the Revolutionary war
This likely occurred in our family during the Revolutionary War since almost everyone who had a clock and a rifle at that time shared this experience. Of course, lead was scarce in other wars as well. However, I documented only one other such case. In the early 1800s, Tyrolese peasants repulsed the over whelming numbers of Napoleon’s troops. “Lead had become a scarce article with the (Tyrolese), and pewter mugs, clock weights, spoons, and other domestic utensils were melted to make bullets...”3
I attributed this family experience to Silas French and his wife Sarah Blake in Chapter 12- The Chamberlains During the Revolutionary War. The critical need for bullets came when Silas enlisted in 1775, and during a time of extreme shortages in 1776 and 1777. However, Silas French and Sarah Blake were not married until December 8, 1777. Nevertheless, they likely knew each other and may have been engaged at the time.
Spencer Chamberlain’s Rifle was handed down through the Phillips family
Spencer Chamberlain’s rifle and powder horn belonged to Mazinni Phillips in 1926
It is unknown what happened to the family clock adorned with sand bags. However, the musket pictured above is certainly the one Spencer Chamberlain used in the battle of Plattsburgh. It was still in the possession of the Chamberlain/Phillips family in 1926, (and still is). But who owned it before Spencer Chamberlain?
It is unlikely that this rifle ever belonged to Silas French or that it was used in the Revolutionary War. Nor could it be the one which was used by John Chamberlain in the duel with Chief Paugus along the shores of Lovewell’s pond in 1725.
Spencer Chamberlain’s Rifle is marked “Ketland & Company”
Joe Puleo of American Long Rifle Association gives us some information about gun locks marked with the inscription “Ketland & Company”.
“As to the name on the lock… in 1791 there was only one Ketland firm, that of Thomas Ketland with his partners and sons. They probably used the name “Ketland & Co.” from at least 1778 until they went bankrupt in 1821 but there isn’t a shread of evidence they exported anything to America until at least 1789-1790. So far all evidence suggests that the Ketland export business in guns and gun parts did not start until 1794.”4
The rifle is just not old enough to be an import from London for either the War of Independence nor for the battle at Lovwell’s Pond. Nevertheless, it would be available for Spencer or his family sometime between 1794 and 1814. It was ready when Spencer went off to fight the British at Plattsburgh.
Rifle is inscribed “Ketland & Company” under the hammer, and the word “London” on top opposite the hammer.
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References:
1- Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston 1876-1877
2- Henry R. Stiles, History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor Connecticut 1635-1891. Hartford Conn. 1891, Page 324
3- James Knowles, editor, The Nineteenth Century, a Monthly Review, Volume 46, New York 1899
4- Joe Puleo, Technical Editor, Man at Arms for the Gun Collector, Mowbray Publishing, 54 East School Street, Woonsocket, RI 02895, American Long Rifle Association Forum, americanlongrifle.com