Kentucky Flintlock Rifle

The term “Kentucky rifle” is a misnomer because the firearm that bears this name was actually manufactured mostly in Pennsylvania. Generations have known it as the Kentucky rifle, however, since it was immortalized in a ballad, “The Hunters of Kentucky.”

This rifle, signed S. Miller in script on the top of the barrel, is thought to have been made by Simon Miller, who was active in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, from 1775 to 1806. Its stock, like those of many Kentucky rifles, is of curly maple. It has an engraved patch box, with silver inlay in the stock, in the check piece (in the shape of a crescent moon), and at the butt (in the design of a squirrel).