31283- RARE REVOLUTIONARY WAR RHODE ISLAND MILITIA FLINTLOCK MUSKET WITH TIGER MAPLE STOCK CIRCA 1770-1776. 60” overall with .75 caliber smoothbore 44” barrel with top mount bayonet stud at muzzle. French Model 1728 lock as well as Model 1728 French butt plate, trigger guard with Model 1728 style barrel bands of Colonial manufacture. Model 1728 side plate. American made tiger maple stock with butt finely curved with long wrist and pronounced comb bevel characteristic of Rhode Island Militia muskets. Very typical use of old model French parts acquired by the New England Militias after the French and Indian War with the acquisition of Canada. See the Captain Kendall Williams Rhode Island musket in the Fort Ticonderoga Museum collection pictured on page 128, figure 248 of Bill Ahearn’s excellent book “MUSKETS OF THE REVOLUTION”. All original and in original flintlock configuration and not a reconversion from percussion. Additionally, it retains all the original lock parts including the lock plate screws and side plate. Metal with the original aged dark patina. Lock with French arsenal Ordnance “E” stamp beneath frizzen pan. Stock has the original finish with fine old handling patina and a very beautiful pronounced tiger maple grain over the entire butt and the full length of the forend. Lock in working order and reasonably good bore. Very rare American Revolutionary War musket in original condition that saw extensive service. Rhode Island militia companies were among the first troops engaged in the war serving at the Siege of Boston and Bunker Hill and in all the major engagements thru the Battles of Bennington and Saratoga and the Battle of Rhode Island. Also of current historic interest in that the First Rhode Island Militia Regiment has been noted as the first American regiment composed of large numbers of African American and American Indian soldiers as well as white soldiers.