On April 24, 1776, prominent patriots Richard Herring and John Devane founded a gun factory on the Black River north of Wilmington in what’s now Sampson County.
Money to build the factory, buy some of the initial materials needed and pay the workers was provided by the colonial government. The 1,000 British pounds the government allocated would be worth about $40,000 in today’s money. Records indicate that the factory produced simple muskets with 3-foot, 8-inch barrels and one-and-a-half-foot-long bayonets.
Documents from the period indicate that the objective was to produce guns at a cost of no more than five pounds apiece. The bayonets were to include a “trumpet mouthed” loop at one end. The point of the factory was to ensure a well-armed local militia.
The factory made about 100 muskets and a few rifles and smooth-bore guns before being destroyed by forces loyal to the Crown.
Learn more about the arms the average soldier carried during the Revolutionary War on NCpedia.