Henry Albrecht, 1772-1845, learned the gunsmaking trade from his Father Andreas Albrecht in the late 1780s.
In 1789 Henry Albrecht left for Nazareth working as joiner under William Henry. However, three years later
in March 1792 he left Nazareth and went to Lancaster to work with Jacob Dickert. Six month later for a
short time he returned to Lititz bur returned quickly to Lancaster where he worked as a gunsmith. He practiced
gunsmithing in Lancaster, Chambersburg and Shippensburg in Pennsylvania and in Gnadenhütten in Okio between
1794 and 1809.
On January 2, 1792, Secretary of War Henry Knox asked General Edward Hand, who was living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to contact for the first 1,000 rifles at 12$ each. The rifle should be .50 caliber with 42" rifled barrel, the lock to have
a fly, with a patch box to be spring opened with abutton release. Additional 2,000 rifles were ordered and delivered in 1794. Finally the Government received 3,476 rifles made by different gunsmiths. The correspondence between Knox and Hand
is published under - Gonter, Peter.
In 1794 Henry Albrecht contribued 12 rifles, six on August 8, one on August 13, and 3 on September 1 and two more again on the same date.
|
