Since the establishment of the armory in 1794-5, there have been fourteen superintendents, all but two of whom are classed as civilians, although a few of these had seen some military service.  The armory has been under military rule but fifteen years out of the sixty-eight which have elapsed since it was established:  namely, from April, 1841, to August, 1854; and from October, 1861, until the present time.  A standing dispute on the subject of the government of the armory, which was kept up with much heat and acrimony for many years, culminated, in 1854, in the passage of a law by Congress, in favor of the civil administration.  This continued until after the breaking out of the Rebellion, when Congress restored the military superintendency.  The question of civil or military government, however, is of no practical importance to any person other than the aspirant for the place.  The same rules and regulations governing the workmen employed at the armory, as well as the mode of payment, and the manner of doing the work, which were inaugurated by Benjamin Prescott, the superintendent from November, 1805, to May, 1815, are substantially in operation now, and have continued through all the changes which have occurred during more than half a century.

At the end of December, 1817, there had been completed in this manufactory 141,761 muskets.  The expenditures for land and mill-seats, and for erecting machinery, water-shops, work-shops, stores, and buildings of every description, together with repairs, were estimated at $155,500.  The other expenses, exclusive of the cost of stock and parts of work on hand, amounted to $1,553,100; stock and parts of muskets on hand, $111,545; and the total expenditures, from the commencement of the works, to December, 1817, $1,820,120.18.

From the establishment of the armory to the present date there have been manufactured 1,097,660 muskets, 250 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 1,202 carbines, 8,660 musketoons, 4,806 cadets’ arms, 18 model muskets, and 16 model pistols and rifles.  The reader will be surprised, perhaps, to learn, that there were 1,020 more muskets manufactured at these works during the year 1811 than in the year 1854.  In 1850 and 1851, 113,406 muskets were altered in their locks, from flint to percussion, involving an amount of labor equal to the manufacture of 7,630 muskets.  From 1809 to 1822, inclusive of those years, and exclusive of 1811 and 1812, nearly 50,000 muskets were repaired, involving labor equal to the manufacture of 11,540 muskets.

In addition to the large number of muskets manufactured at the Government works in Springfield, and which amount to upwards of three hundred thousand per annum, there are a vast number of private establishments throughout the Northern States, which turn out from two to five thousand muskets per month each.  These various manufactories are situated at Hartford, Norfolk, Windsor Locks, Norwich, Middletown, Meriden, and Whitneyville, Ct., Providence, R.I., Manchester,