Foreword: Occasionally research provides substantial information about a Kentucky gunmaker’s background and working years… but no rifle exists to document his work. John Maggard of Letcher County, Kentucky, was one of those gunsmiths. His family background was well-known with parents from Virginia who moved to Kentucky in 1805 and settled in the wilderness of Knox County. Descendents have described Maggard and his gunmaking, but for over thirty-five years the author searched for a John Maggard rifle to document his work without success. Finally in 2019, a rifle sold at auction in Colorado with an “unrecognizable” name… until the author saw it. The name was “J. Maggard.”

**Figure No.1:** A full-length view of the Maggard rifle shows its walnut stock and forged iron mountings with Tennessee influences in the butt plate’s long top extension and the guard’s straight grip rail with curled rear spur. The hand-forged barrel is swamped, or expanded, at the breech and muzzle. While not a “poor boy” type rifle due to its full butt plate, the rifle lacks a rear ramrod pipe and nose cap. The rear sight sits several inches behind the ramrod’s rear entry point, farther back than expected, but the barrel appears to be full original length. Barrel: length 45-5/16 inches, .50 caliber bore, 7-groove rifling, swamped breech and muzzle. Author’s collection, photos by J. Jaeger.

Maggard History: John Benjamin Maggard was born to parents Samuel and Rebecca Maggard in Russell County, Virginia, in 1796. In 1805 the family moved to Knox County, Kentucky, when still a wilderness. As settlement came to Knox County, the Maggards’ land became part of Harlan County and later Letcher County. Samuel Maggard was a gunsmith and blacksmith, and both John and his younger brother David learned the trades and worked as gunsmiths and blacksmiths in Harlan and Letcher Counties. When John was 22 years old in 1818, he married Sarah Adams and left his father’s shop. He built a large cabin for his wife and future children and worked there as a blacksmith, gunsmith, and farmer for many years. John was well-known locally as a good blacksmith who made cow bells, axes, hunting knives, and occasionally a rifle. In 1847 he moved his family to less-settled Leslie County where wild game was abundant and good land was cheap. The 1880 census listed Maggard as an 83-year-old active “gunsmith” in Leslie County; he died there two years later in 1882.

**Figure No.2:** The Maggard rifle’s most important feature is its barrel signature, engraved as “J * Maggard” in block letters, a style used on other Mountain Rifles from Kentucky and Tennessee. It was/is the first documented “Maggard” signature known to the author after years of networking and searching for a signed John Maggard rifle. Author’s collection, photo by J. Jaeger.

Family Stories: Two Maggard descendants in the mid-20th century commented on Maggard’s rifles. One stated Maggard marked his guns with his initials “J.B.M.” carved into the butt stocks in large letters. Another descendant said Maggard’s rifles were “plain hog rifles,” similar to a majority of Kentucky’s hill-country rifles, but he failed to mention how Maggard marked his guns. A third story related that late in life, Maggard made a rifle for grandson Reuben Maggard [born 1868] that was passed down in the family for generations, but it eventually disappeared. Family recollections described Maggard as a good blacksmith who made guns occasionally. Those descriptions are about all that have survived regarding Maggard’s gunsmithing activities. The Leslie County [KY] Public Library reportedly had a Maggard rifle on display for years, but it is no longer there.

Maggard Rifle: The 2019 auction rifle seen in Figure No.1 has a long barrel, walnut stock, and hand-forged iron mountings. Tennessee influences are seen in the butt plate’s long heel and guard’s scrolled rear spur. Construction is basic with two outer ramrod pipes but no entry pipe, a lock bolt without a washer, and no nose cap. Despite Tennessee influences in the iron mountings, stock architecture is typical for southeastern Kentucky guns with its tall butt, standard cheekpiece, and normal butt curvature without a pronounced crescent. The rifle’s most outstanding feature is its barrel signature, “J * MAGGARD,” neatly engraved in large block letters and shown in Figure No.2. When taken as a whole, the rifle is a standard Appalachian Mountain Rifle, or “hog rifle,” from southeastern Kentucky… but its signature makes it an important rifle.

Questions & Answers: The discovery of a signed John Maggard rifle answered most questions about his gunmaking. First and foremost, it verified that Maggard made guns rather than just repairing them. Second, it answered the question of what a Maggard rifle looked like. Third, the difficulty in finding a Maggard rifle supported family recollections that he worked mainly as a blacksmith and edge-tool maker with gunmaking done on a more limited, as-needed basis. The rifle also verified a descendant’s comment about Maggard making “plain hog rifles” similar to other guns made in the area. The story of Maggard signing guns by carving his initials on the butt stocks was at least partially discredited, since the new rifle was signed in the traditional manner with an engraved barrel signature. It is doubtful Maggard used two methods to sign guns when he could competently engrave his signature as other gunmakers did.

Summary: Much was previously known about Kentucky gunsmith John Maggard’s life and background, but almost nothing about his gunsmithing. When a signed Maggard rifle finally appeared in 2019, it answered many of the questions about his gunsmithing work. The gun turned out to be an Appalachian Mountain rifle, called a “hog rifle” by some people, and similar to other rifles being made in Maggard’s area. While the gun itself was a modest example of a Kentucky Mountain Rifle, the rarity of John Maggard’s signature made it a highly significant discovery in the ongoing study of Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountain Rifles.

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