James H. Burton facts for kids

James H. Burton (born August 17, 1823 – died October 18, 1894) was an important American gunsmith and inventor. He was born in Shenandoah Spring, Virginia.

James went to the Westchester Academy in Pennsylvania. At age 16, he started working in a machine shop in Baltimore. In 1844, he began working at the Harpers Ferry Armory, a place where weapons were made. He became a machinist there.

Later, he became the Foreman of the Rifle Factory Machine Shop. He learned a lot from John H. Hall. Hall was a pioneer in making weapons using machines and creating parts that could be easily swapped out (interchangeable parts). Burton continued Hall's work, making weapon production even more mechanized over the next 30 years.

The Minié Bullet: A Better Design

In 1849, Burton was promoted to Acting Master Armorer. For the next four years, he worked on making the Minié bullet better at Harpers Ferry.

The Minié bullet was first created in 1848 by Captain Claude-Étienne Minié of the French Army. It was a special type of lead bullet, shaped like a cone. It had a hollow base that would expand when the gun was fired. This expansion helped the bullet fit tightly into the rifle's barrel. It also stopped gases from escaping, which made the bullet fly straighter. This new bullet could hit targets from 200 to 250 yards away, which was a big improvement!

Burton drew many detailed pictures of his experiments. He tried different designs for the Minié bullet. He even designed a special barrel that used a hard metal plug to help the bullet expand. But his best idea was a new hollow-base bullet that worked even better. In 1855, the United States Army decided to use Burton's improved Minié bullet design.

Working in England: The Enfield Armory

In 1854, Burton left Harpers Ferry. He took a job with the Ames Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, Massachusetts. This company made special machines for federal armories like Harpers and Springfield.

Just one year later, in 1855, Burton signed a five-year contract. He became the Chief Engineer at the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield Lock, England. His job was to set up new machines for making weapons. Many of these machines came from the Ames company in the United States.

Burton returned to Harpers Ferry briefly in 1859 to marry Eugenia Harper Mauzy. Their wedding was at the Harpers Ferry Presbyterian Church. A few months later, back in England, James and Eugenia heard surprising news about John Brown's Raid from Eugenia's parents.

Helping the Confederacy: The Richmond Armory

The growing disagreements between the North and South, partly because of John Brown's Raid, soon affected James H. Burton. In 1860, the Virginia assembly passed a law to improve the state's defense. The old Virginia Manufactory of Arms, which was later called the Richmond Armory, was reopened after being closed for 38 years.

A company called J.R. Anderson & Company got a big contract to supply machines for the reopened factory. They hired Burton in November 1860. Burton went back to Harpers Ferry to get plans and parts for rifled muskets. He returned to Richmond with many drawings.

In June 1861, Burton became the superintendent of the Richmond Armory. He knew a lot about making United States firearms, which was very helpful to the Confederacy. In fact, many of the machines at Richmond had been taken from the Harpers Ferry Armory by Confederate forces under Burton's own direction.

Burton became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Confederate States Army in December 1861. He was put in charge of all Southern armories. In June 1862, Burton moved to Macon, Georgia. There, he started a new armory for the Confederacy. A year later, Burton went to England to buy machines, tools, and materials for this new armory. He returned to Macon in October 1863. He waited for shipments of machinery from a company called Greenwood & Batley in Leeds, England. The machines were finally sent to Bermuda in late 1864. They were waiting there to be shipped past the Union naval blockade. But then the Civil War ended.

Burton was captured with the Confederate soldiers in Macon in April 1865. He later signed an "Oath of Allegiance to the United States." On October 4, 1865, President Andrew Johnson gave him a pardon.

Life After the Civil War

After the war, Burton went back to England. He oversaw a new armory for Greenwood & Batley. In 1868, he returned to the United States and lived in Leesburg, Virginia.

In 1871, he went back to Leeds, England, to work on a firearms contract for the Russian Government. But he became ill. In 1873, he returned to Virginia for good. He started farming near Winchester, Virginia. James H. Burton died there on October 18, 1894. He passed away far from the world of weapons technology, which he had helped to develop so much.