An important firearm made
by a renowned gunmaker for a renowned United States President now resides in
that President’s historic home.
The
gunmaker: Phillip Creamer
The
President: Andrew Jackson
This distinguished firearm, a dueling pistol
once owned by the illustrious President Jackson, currently resides at “The
Hermitage”, a historical landmark and museum located at Jackson’s restored plantation
home near Nashville Tennessee.
Jackson was lauded as a national hero during the
War of 1812 for his successes in the Creek Indian campaigns and his astounding
victory over the British at New Orleans in 1815. He is also is known to have fought many duels in his career
as a lawyer and politician, He was also elected the seventh President of the
United States from 1829 to 1837. One would expect a dueling pistol owned by Andrew
Jackson to be a very special firearm, and indeed it is.
The “Andrew Jackson Pistol”
has been duplicated by one of America’s finest gunmakers, NMLRA member Bob
Browner of St. Louis, Missouri for the Contemporary Longrifle Association’s
2013 Annual Fund Raising Auction in August. The original Jackson dueling pistol
truly is a truly exceptional piece; exceptional enough that many contemporary
gun makers would never even attempt to copy it. But Bob Browner not only has
the skill, experience and talent to do it; he has a special reason to copy this
pistol and that reason is Philip Creamer, a gunsmith once known as “the most
celebrated gunsmith in the west” and the maker of Jackson’s pistol.
Initially, in the late
1790s, Philip Creamer was a classically trained gunsmith living in Taneytown
Maryland where he built rifles in the famous “Emmitsburg School” style. But soon
after settling the estate of his deceased father around 1805, he relocated to
the western frontier regions of St. Clair County Illinois near St. Louis. There
he not only built and repaired guns for local settlers, but numerous account
entries for his work are found in the ledgers of the influential trading firm “Bryan
& Morrison” located in nearby Cahokia. This was the outfitter that collaborated
with and supplied Manuel Lisa’s 1807 expedition, and there is a strong
possibility that some of the guns they provided Lisa were locally manufactured
by Creamer. In fact it is strongly believed that Creamer may have played a
significant role in the initial design and development of what would become known
as the famous St. Louis plains rifle especially because of his role in
supplying firearms to some of the earliest western expeditions.
By early 1809, William
Morrison, co-owner and representative of “Bryan and Morrison”, along with other
prominent local citizens including the fur traders Jean and August Chouteau,
Ruben Lewis (the brother of Louisiana territorial governor Meriwether Lewis)and
William Clark (U.S. Indian agent and Brigadier General of the Louisiana
territorial militia) had joined Lisa in forming the Missouri Fur Company. At
this time, Bryan and Morrison’s Cahokia store ledgers not only indicate that Philip Creamer still made and
repaired rifles for them, but that through them he was likely supplying rifles to
the men of the Missouri Fur Company as well.
It was also during this
time that Creamer made a brace of fancy pistols for William Morrison’s own
personal use. As a trader with powerful eastern connections Morrison could have
ordered pistols from virtually any maker he chose. The fact that he opted to
arm himself with a set crafted locally by Philip Creamer is a very strong
endorsement of the young gunmaker’s growing popularity
and skill.
With such endorsements,
Creamers reputation quickly spread throughout the frontier. It was soon a
colloquialism that a man of dependable reputation and character was “as sure as
a Creamer lock”(1). This in turn earned his work a special place in
the hearts of gentlemen compelled to
defend their own reputations on the field of honor, to the extent that men about
to engage in such affairs were known to seek Creamer out beforehand so he could
personally put their pistols “in the most perfect condition” (2) for
dueling.
Sometime, presumably between
1817 and 1824, a local collection was taken up and Creamer was persuaded to
make a pistol for the then Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun. It’s a matter of
record that Calhoun not only accepted the gift, but that he was so taken with its
workmanship and quality that he wrote to personally inquire about Philip
Creamer and how he had learned to make pistols like that, an inquiry that the
proud gunsmith absolutely refused to reply to on the grounds that he was “no
showman or stud-horse to be advertised” (3).
John C. Calhoun would go on
to serve two terms as the Vice President of the United States. First in 1824
under John Quincy Adams, and again in 1828 under Andrew Jackson, so perhaps it
is no coincidence that Old Hickory would have been familiar with Creamer’s
work, or that he would eventually come to own a fine set of dueling pistols
made by this celebrated gunsmith as well. Although Jackson’s set was eventually
separated, one of the pistols is now in the possession of the Hermitage. Marsha
Mullin, VP, and Museum Services & Chief Curator graciously
allowed David Wright to examine, measure, and photograph
it in detail in order to supply Bob Browner with all of the information he
needed to confidently build a faithful copy for the C.L.A. auction.
Building a fine early
American dueling pistol is challenge enough, but just as Bob had anticipated, carefully
recreating the work of a master gunsmith like Philip Creamer would prove doubly
so. However, Bob Browner and his wife Margie have a special reason for accepting
this particular challenge because they are both doing their best to raise
awareness about Philip Creamer and his influential work. To the extent that
they not only invested the 200
plus hours that Bob estimates it took him to copy Jackson’s pistol, but they
have also dedicated countless additional hours to the preservation of Creamers
old Federal style double log house and gun shop.
This house was built by
Creamer shortly after he arrived in Illinois from Taneytown Maryland in about
1806, and is where he and his family lived until about 1816. Their home was located
in the small “American Bottoms” town of Dupo, in St. Clair County, located about
a mile south of Cahokia Illinois. According to authors and Creamer researchers Curt
Johnson and Victor Paul, the Creamer house in Dupo is built to nearly the same dimensions
as similar houses Taneytown (3). Remarkably, on the same property the
building that originally housed Philip Creamers gun shop also remained standing,
although at some point it had been converted to a chicken coop.
Even after miraculously surviving
the epic Mississippi River floods that inundated the region during 1993, the Creamer
house and gun shop seemed destined to rot and ruin until they were obtained
from the land owner and donated to the Lindenwood University and Historic
Boonesfield Village located in Defiance Missouri. In 1997 the Village oversaw
the careful and systematic dismantling of the buildings and facilitated their
relocation to Defiance where they will be reassembled and restored. Taking its
place among the other historical restorations at the “Daniel Boone Home and Boonesfield
Village”, the Creamer gun shop itself will be a working exhibit with a full
time traditional gunsmith on site.
The Browner’s have worked
long and hard with their likeminded friends to see the Creamer buildings
properly rescued and restored, and that makes it a little easier to understand
why Bob would undertake the challenge to copy and donate a copy of a pistol made
by Creamer to the 2013 C.L.A. fundraising auction, especially one once owned by
Andrew Jackson, the Hero of the Battle of New Orleans. The Jackson dueling pistol
owned by the Hermitage is an outstanding example of Creamers overall mastery of
the art of gunsmithing, and stands out as special even in that bygone age when
all fine firearms and dueling pistols especially were held to the highest
standards. It’s also a sure bet that a man like President Andrew Jackson would
demand and be satisfied with nothing less than the absolute finest. Even today
in the 21st century to accurately replicate such a piece requires
that the gunsmith attempting it be one of the very best, and one look at the finished
copy of Jackson’s dueling pistol is enough to prove that Bob Browner definitely
is.
Bob started with a piece of
walnut that he already had on hand and shaped it into the pistol’s stock. He
obtained the .50 caliber smooth bore barrel from De Haas, and tapered it to
match the original’s dimensions by hand. The semi-patent breech was obtained
from Muzzleloader Builders Supply. Bob Browner made the lock plate himself, then
enlisted lock maker Bob Roller to carefully craft its internals. The unique
hammer was obtained in the rough from Jerry Wertz, and finished by Bob Browner
as well.
Like many finer pistols of
the day, the original Creamer pistol sported inlaid bands of gold and a gold
covered maker’s cartouche. For his copy, Bob obtained the 18kt gold inlay wire
from the historic St. Louis firm of Houser and Miller, who incidentally have
provided refined and fabricated precious metals to their customers, including
gunmakers in the St. Louis area for over one hundred years. The gold leafing
for the cartouche was provided by Judd Brennan.
Bob totally reworked the
single set Davis trigger to match Creamer’s work, and fashioned the guard
himself. The entry pipe was obtained from Muzzleloader Builders Supply, but Bob
had to craft the black horn nose guard by hand. Because no one was certain if
the original tip for the ram rod in Jackson’s pistol should be brass like the
one it has now, or black horn to match the nose cap like the ram rod on another
fine original Creamer pistol, Bob has provided one of each just in case.
After the pistol was built,
Bob sent it to Layne Zuelke of Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
who is the master engraver for Red Jacket Firearms. You may have seen the folks
from Red Jacket on the Discovery Channel T.V. series called “Sons of Guns”. If
you have then you will know why they are considered the nation’s most unique
firearms business, and also why Layne is considered one of the nation’s finest
engravers.
Philip Creamer’s hand engraving
is some of the finest to be seen, especially for a gunsmith located on the
frontier in early 19th century America, and the engraving done on the
Jackson pistol was undoubtedly some of Creamer’s best.
But like the exacting building, checkering, and finishing done on the pistol
copy by Bob Browner, Layne Zuelke was equally up to the task of copying Creamer’s
original engraving too. The fine work Layne has done on Bob’s pistol is absolutely
superb; in fact I’m certain that Old Hickory or even Philip Creamer himself
would be hard pressed to tell it from the original.
Even though Andrew Jackson
was President between the years of 1829 and 1837, you will notice that the both
the copy and the original Jackson dueling pistol are outfitted with fine percussion locks. That’s because
Creamer was one of the earliest frontier gunsmiths to specialize in making
them, and it’s probably no coincidence that another pair of local St. Louis
gunsmiths, the Hawken brothers, were also known for their early use of and
perfection of the percussion ignition system on both fancy pistols and their
famous St. Louis plains rifles.
In 1825, Philip Creamer
returned to the east for a short time and worked at the Harpers Ferry Armory in
West Virginia. Born in the town of Harpers Ferry, Jacob Hawken is also believed
to have worked for the Armory from 1808 until 1816. Then he came west and
partnered with the St. Louis gunsmith James Lakenan until 1825 when Lakenan
died.
Relocating from Xenia Ohio,
Jake’s brother Sam operated a separate and independent gun shop in St. Louis
until Lakenan died and the two brothers entered into business partnership together.
Though things would soon change, remember that at this time it was Philip
Creamer who was considered to be “the most celebrated gunsmith in all the west”,
and not the Hawken brothers. In fact it is believed that gun repair work was
given to James Lakenan, Jake Hawken and then to J&S Hawken by the American
Fur Company only because at the time there was no gunsmith at the Indian
Department (2). Doubtless the Hawken brothers knew Creamer and his
work, and likely benefited directly from his short absence.
In 1827, Creamer left the
Armory and relocated to St. Louis where he was employed as the gunsmith for the
newly opened St. Louis Superintendency for Indian Affairs until 1833. He
remained in St. Louis until 1835 and operated his local civilian gun shop on “Olive
near Fourth”. It is during this time that he likely built Jackson’s dueling
pistols. It is believed that Creamer died about 1846, but by then St. Louis
boasted an influx of many fine gunsmiths, most of them following in the
tradition established by Philip Creamer and recently popularized by the Hawken
brothers.
Fittingly, Bob Browner is also one of today’s premier
builders of truly authentic Hawken rifles. Bob has over twenty five years of
experience in the proper restoration and the highest quality reproduction of
antique firearms, and with good reason he considers building historically
accurate “St. Louis” guns his specialty.
“Here is a bit of my
background story and my part in the project:
I am a master jeweler
and worked in the trade for 27 years. I engraved guns and tools on the
side. In the fall of 2012 I was approached by Will Hayden about engraving
muzzleloaders for his new company Redjacket Muzzleloading. After spending a few
months in the shop was hooked and I decided to leave the jewelry
bench to focus on gun engraving and learn to build flintlocks. I left my
retail jewelry job to open Southern Custom Engraving and Gunworks. I do
all my engraving out of the Redjacket shop. When not engraving, I'm
apprenticed under Shawn Webster learning to build flintlocks. Our skill
sets complement each other well. He knows the wood and architecture and I've
done custom metal smithing my entire career.
I was asked by Bob Browner
about collaborating on the Creamer pistol and I couldn't resist. The project
suited me as my work is heavily influenced by early English and American
engraving styles. Every engraver has a unique style and the
biggest challenge was to recreate the work of another artist. Working from
the extensive photos supplied to me, I was able to get a very close
approximation of the original. The nice thing about engraving and gun building
is that the basic tools and techniques have not changed in hundreds of
years. I love the idea of documentary work as it is the closest
thing many of us will ever get to being able to hold and shoot some
of these historic guns. It was a fun project. “
Layne Zuelke
You
can contact Bob Browner about his work at:
Bob Browner
435 Southside Avenue
St. Louis MO. 63119
Email: RVMRBROWNER@ATT.NET
Phone: 314-918-9093 (home) or 314-566-0991
(cell)
And you can contact
Layne Zuelke and “Southern Custom Engraving” about his work at:
Web site: www.southerncustomengraving.com
Hotmail: scengraving@hotmail.com
Phone: 225-620-2439
Phone: 225-620-2439
Footnotes:
1. “Pioneer History of
Illinois”, by John Reynolds, 1852
2. “Recollections of
Persons and Places in the West”, by Henry M. Brackenridge; second edition, 1868
3. “Philip Creamer, the
most celebrated gunsmith in all the west” by Curtis Johnson and Victor Paul, Obscure
Place Publishing; Washington MO, 1993”
THE
PROVENANCE OF A CELEBRATED PISTOL
From
Marsha Mullin, Vice President, Museum Services & Chief Curator at The
Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee:
“There
is a note in the file dated 1880 which gives the pistol’s ownership to that
time.”
Andrew
Jackson:
gave it to,
John Eaton: who gave it to,
General Alexander
Hunter:
who lost the case and second pistol at a gunsmith shop, the remaining pistol was
gifted to,
William
D. Nutt:
who received in January 1849, and gifted it to,
Joseph
Deakins Mcguire:
who received in January 1880,
James
Clark Mcguire:
(son) who inherited it from his father,
Miss
M. Mcguire:
of New York, who was James Clark Mcguire’s sister and General Secretary of the
Girl’s Friendly Society and sent the pistol to,
Miss
Marjorie Spurr:
of the Girls Friendly Society of St. Peter’s Church Nashville so that it could
be given to The Hermitage.
Note:
The Mcquires were collectors during their day and donated items to both the
Smithsonian and White House collections.
Reprinted by permission of
Muzzle Blasts, June 2013 issue, copy by T.C. Albert,
Copy and photos supplied by the Contemporary Longrifle Foundation. 
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