CIVIL WAR SABER, PISTOL AND BULLET MOLD
Sent by Scott Zesch
Although Texas voted to secede in 1861 by a solid three-fourths majority, the German settlers in the Hill Country tended to remain loyal to the Union. Mason County voted against secession by 97 percent, the highest margin in the state. More than 1,900 Texans fought for the Union during the Civil War. One of them was German immigrant Melchior Beyer of Guadalupe County, who used this saber, pistol and bullet mold when he served as a private in Company A of the First Texas Cavalry, USA. His cap-and-ball pistol is a Remington New Model Army 44-cal. revolver. Very popular during the Civil War, this gun was manufactured from 1863 to 1875 and is sometimes referred to by its patent year as “Model 1858.” Beyer’s son Fred married Alice Hey and settled in Mason, where he owned and managed the Mason Cotton Gin. Note: This is at the Mason Square Museum as a display. |