Rutherford Rifle Returns to Hampton-- Part 2

Ensign James Banks, in a letter written in September 1813, wrote, "On the morning of the 25th of June last, when the alarm was given, I left my commission (rifle) in my tent and consequently, it fell into the hands of the Enemy."

It was another 150 years before the rifle was returned to America, stamped with the mark of the 115th Regiment which fought at Hampton.  However, historians can't be sure this is the same rifle Ensign Banks wrote about.  Either way, it is one of the few remnants still left from the battle.

The Hampton History Museum opened in 2003 and borrowed it from Richmond, Virginia, collector B. Giles Cromwell and is now on permanent exhibit.

Mike Cobb, curator of the museum, said, "The story is the odyssey.

--Brock-Perry