These four rifles are circa 1860 and were upstairs in the military section of the former Botetourt Museum. They are displayed now in the Museum of History and Culture at 26 E. Main Street in Fincastle, downstairs.
Family tradition relates that at least one of these guns was used in the Civil War (1861-1865). It might be one of the two in the middle. The top and bottom firearms could be breech-loading shotguns.
All four were donated to the Botetourt County Historical Society with the wooden gun rack by Liz Deisher. They were given to her by her father, Bernard Deisher of Eagle Rock. His father, James Quincy Deisher, also lived in Eagle Rock. The great-grandfather, who was the original owner of the guns, traveled from Ohio to Virginia.
Different branches of the Confederate military used specific types of firearms. They included rifle-muskets, repeating rifles and carbines. Learn more at bothistsoc.Wordpress.com.
