Reposted from The Times-Picayune
A rifle used in the Battle of New Orleans that went missing from the Confederate Memorial Hall was returned to the museum over 30 years after it was stolen, FBI and state police investigators and museum officials announced Monday (Jan. 8), the 203rd anniversary of the battle.
The weapon, a .38-caliber long rifle was used by William Ross during the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, the assistant to the curator of the Confederate Museum Joseph Ricci said during a news conference. Ross fought in a local militia under Capt. Thomas Beale, and his rifle was used to help win the battle, Ricci said.
Ross, a New Orleans flour inspector, earned $22.48 for his service during the war, Ricci said. The rifle, the only known verified weapon to be traced back to being in use during the Jan. 8-18, 1814 battle, was donated to the Confederate Memorial Hall Museum on Dec. 31, 1884 by Ross' grandson, Elijah Steele Ross.
According to Ricci, the gun was documented as "hanging on the walls" in the museum in 1935, and appeared in various inventory lists as late as the 1960s. Although investigators are unsure when exactly the rifle went missing, investigators learned the gun was at some point located in a store in the French Quarter.
In 1982, the rifle was traded for "several other weapons," and came into the hands of the person from whom the rifle was ultimately recovered, according to FBI special agent Randolph Deaton.
The value of the trade was about $18,000 in 1982, Deaton said.
Detectives with the FBI and Louisiana State Police started the investigation for the weapon in August 2017, and the rifle was found in a private home in south Louisiana in November, Deaton said.
Deaton said the gun was, "hiding in plain sight," over the roughly 35 years it was missing, saying "the people who possessed the rifle for the past 30 years were extremely cooperative," during their investigation.
The names of the store and individuals who were in possession of the weapon are not being released as neither are the subjects of a criminal investigation, Deaton said. As to the person who took the gun from the museum, Deaton said, "we may never know."
Ricci said the William Ross rifle was made by Virginia gun-maker John Jacob Sheetz. It is a Kentucky style flintlock with a 42-inch barrel and is engraved with an inscription reading, "this rifle was used by my father Wm. Ross, a member of Cap. Thos. Beals company of New Orleans Riflemen in defense of N Orleans in 1814 and 1815."
The rifle is now on display at the Confederate Memorial Hall Museum.
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