458 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



— lias produced during' a period of more than lialf a century. It would be 

 impossible to estimate the value of those works during the existence of 

 the present rebellion; but some idea may be formed of their usefulness 

 from the fact that twenty-five thousand rilled muskets of the most approved 

 pattern are manufactured at this establishment every month, and the num- 

 ber will soon be increased to thirty thousand. There are, at the present 

 time, one hundred and seventy-five thousand of these muskets in the arsenal, 

 awaiting the orders of the War Department, and the works are daily turn- 

 ing out enough to arm an entire regiment. 



When the rebels fired upon Fort Sumter, the armory was making about 

 one thousand muskets per month, and three months afterwards tlie increase 

 amounted only to three thousand, so little preparation had been made by 

 the government of Mr. Buchanan to meet the great struggle wliich Southern 

 demagogues were precipitating upon us. Indeed, the number of muskets 

 manufactured during the last year of his administration was less by several 

 thousand than these works turned out during the year 1815; while, during 

 this same period, the residents of streets leading to the railway station 

 witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of a daily procession of wagons 

 laden with boxes of Government arms on their way to Southern arsenals! 



Twenty-six hundred workmen are now constantly employed — the estab- 

 lishment being run day and night — and none but the most expert and 

 industrious artizans are to be found among them. 



The arsenal, storehouse, offices and principal manufacturing buildings 

 are situated on Springfield hill, and overlook the Connecticut valley at a 

 commanding elevation. The heavier operations of the armory are carried 

 on in another part of the city, about a mile distant, in buildings known as 

 the watershops. These are situated upon a small stream which flows into 

 the Connecticut river at this point. 



The armory grounds on the hill cover an area of seventy-two acres, and 

 are surrounded, with the exception of a small square detached from the 

 main grounds, by an ornamental iron fence, nine feet in height. These 

 grounds are exceedingly beautiful, and present every variety of landscape. 

 A beautiful slope to the south and west, covered with luxuriant verdure, 

 and crowned with groves of deciduous trees and evergreens, affords the eye 

 peculiar gratification. The grounds combine also the useful with the orna- 

 mental, supplying hay enough to feed a score of horses belonging to the 

 establishment. 



[. There are fifteen buildings used in the manufacture of muskets at the 

 works on the hill, and about the same number occupied as residences by 

 the various officers and head-clerks of the armory. Some of the buildings 

 are spacious and elegant in their construction, particularly the quarters of 

 the commanding oflBcer, and the arsenal, and are arranged in a picturesque 

 and symmetrical manner within the square. The grounds are shaded by 

 ornamental trees, and the dwellings are adorned with gardens and shrub- 

 bery. Broad and neatly kept walks, ooine gravelled and others paved, 

 bordered by finely clipped hedges, extend across the green or along the 

 line of tlie buildings, opening charming vistas in every direction. Four 

 venerable pieces of artillery, all betokening great age, if not service. 



