POTD: The Lindsay Two-Shot – One Barrel, Two Charges

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have one of the stranger muskets of the Civil War, with a sad story behind it. This is the Lindsay Model 1863, usually called the Lindsay Two-Shot. John P. Lindsay, a former Springfield Armory man, built it on an old and troublesome idea, the superposed load. You ram two full charges of powder and ball down a single barrel, one stacked behind the other, and fire them in sequence with two side-by-side hammers feeding separate ignition channels. One barrel, one trigger, two shots.

The story goes that Lindsay’s brother was killed by attackers who drew his fire, then rushed him before he could reload his single-shot musket. He dropped one man but had nothing left for the second. Lindsay reckoned a hidden second shot might have saved him, and set out to build one.

Here’s the catch, and it’s a big one. The right hammer was supposed to fire the front charge first. If the left one fell first and lit the rear charge, both loads could go off at once, doubling the recoil and sometimes wrecking the gun. The Army bought 1,000 of them, the 16th Michigan carried them at Peebles Farm, and most survivors show wear on only one hammer, a sign the troops gave up on the trick and just loaded a single shot.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“Desirable Civil War U.S. Lindsay ‘Two Shot’ Model 1863 Double Percussion Rifle-Musket.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/500/civil-war-us-lindsay-two-shot-model-1863-double-riflemusket. Accessed 3 July 2026.

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