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Historical Highway MarkersFredericksburg Gun ManufactoryN-7
Virginia's third Revolutionary Convention passed an ordinance establishing the Fredericksburg Gun Manufactory on 26 Aug. 1775. Built near this site soon thereafter and primarily managed by Fielding Lewis and Charles Dick, it was among the first public arms factories in America. Workers repaired and manufactured small arms for the regiments of numerous Virginia counties during the Revolutionary War. The factory’s principal product was modeled after the British Brown Bess musket, the standard infantry arm of the day. Only a handful of the Fredericksburg muskets survive. The factory closed in 1783, and the General Assembly transferred the property to trustees charged with establishing a school.
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References/Bibliographic Citation: The Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates…on Monday the 17th of July, 1775 (Williamsburg, 1775), 52, 56. William Waller Hening, Statutes at Large (Richmond, 1821), 9:71-73. Robert L. Scribner and Brent Tarter, comps., Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence, 4: 138-139. L. Clyde Carter Jr., “Fredericksburg Gun Manufactory,” National Defense, vol. 65, no. 363 (Dec. 1980), and vol. 65, no. 364 (Jan. 1981). Elizabeth Dabney Coleman, “Guns for Independence,” Virginia Cavalcade, vol. 13, no. 3 (Winter 1963-64): 40-47. https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/asset/virginia-state-gun-factory-musket/ Fredericksburg Gun Manufactory Site, NRHP nomination (1978) |