Augusta County Gun Factory
Longrifles, muskets and fusils for the Augusta County Militia was in high demand. After the French and Indian War, Jacob Gabbott, who had apprenticed to Christopher Heskill in Winchester, Virginia arrived in Staunton, Virginia. He was joined by Alexander Simpson in 1764, and later by Joshua Perry and Joshua Humphreys.
Together these “smiths” (with gunsmiths, brass-smith, white-smith and blacksmiths skills) opened the Augusta County Gun Factory in Staunton, Virginia.
The Augusta County Gun Factory is believed to have been located in the northeast corner of Lewis and Johnson in Staunton, VA. While no muskets or longrifles have been directly attributed to the Augusta County Gun Factory, there are records that show the General Assembly paid them for gunsmith work including weapons and repair of weapons.
From 1778 -1781 Perry and others contracted with the Committee of Safety to build and repair firearms in Staunton. He also was paid for making four muskets with bayonets and he was paid again in 1784 for gun repair just before closing the factory.
The Augusta County Gun Factory was active throughout the Revolutionary War. No doubt the Augusta County Committee of Safety (discussed in a later chapter) would have contracted with these gunsmiths to make weapons for the Augusta County Militia.
The factory closed in 1784, after the end of the Revolutionary War. Some of the talented gunsmith from the Augusta County Gun Factory remained in Augusta County and other moved to the Virginia Frontier.
Joshua Humphreys continued working in a shop in Staunton and had three employees (perhaps apprentices), John Hicks, John Gilmore, and John Turner. Perry and Gabbott died shortly after the Revolutionary War.
Alexander Simpson moved to Simpson Creek and continued his blacksmith and gunsmith trade. The Simpson Family of gunsmiths are well known in Virginia and later in the Wilderness District of Augusta County.