of those civil rights activists who suffered violence while standing for peace. we honor them for holding our nation to the highest ideals, ensuring the true existence of liberty and justice for all, and making this country keep to its promise. that all men >> tonight on the civil war, the burning of columbia. columbia, south carolina surrender to the union army under general william tecumseh sherman. recently a panel that historians discuss the fall and recovery. that is tonight on the civil war at 6:00 p.m. eastern time here on american history tv. >> this year, c-span's touring cities across the country exploring american history. a look at our recent visit to greensboro, north carolina. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend. >> today we are at the greensboro historical museum in an exhibit called the murphy confederate long arms collection and this collection was actually originally loaned to the museum, and then bequeathed to the museum upon dr. murphy's death in 2003. john and isabel murphy was a particular collector inveterate long arms. he was born in washington, d.c. and attended school in virginia. he was a southerner. he then enrolled in the navy. he served as a doctor for 20 years before retiring and assembled what is an outstanding collection, one of its kind of confederate long arms, and by that i mean rifles, was it, shotguns, and carbines made in the south for confederate soldiers. his interest in the civil war, talking to his maternal grandfather and some great uncles, and the fact that his maternal grandfather was a confederate veteran, so i think that sparked his interest in the civil war. the centennial of the civil war in the 1960's was also a big celebration. around that time, 1950's and early 1960's, he started collecting artifacts and rifles, weapons from the civil war. the collection consists of approximately 200 pieces total. as i said, dr. murphy originally loaned the collection to the greensboro historical museum and it was his intention to give it to the museum on his death. it was willed to the museum in 2003 and now it's part of our permanent collection. we are starting with a piece that was made by tarpley. this is a piece that was manufactured here. it was one of the most rare and unique pieces in the collection. you can see stamped on here, jeremiah tarpley was the gentleman who applied and received a patent for this design. it was his idea for the design of the rifle in combination with an existing firm was making sewing machines in greensboro that also resulted in the manufacture of this piece. this is number 380, the serial number. it is unusual and its appearance. it is missing a wooden for stock. every other rifle or longer manufactured has a piece of wood that goes along here, and this particular design omitted that. that was one of the design flaws. it got too hot to handle. they weren't very user-friendly. being said, few of these were made, less than 200, and today less than 20 are known to be in existence. dr. murphy had four in his collection, which we have here to museum. this next piece is a rifle that was manufactured by jones and gardner. this rifle is more traditional compared to the tarpley. it has a complete barrel. the ramrod. it is a muzzleloader compared to a breech loader that we saw with the tarpley piece. what we know about this piece is the soldier who used this piece. as you can see, at the bottom of the stock here, there's a plaque that was added after the civil war, which says, solomon hays, company g, north carolina infantry. this general and was a farmer from south carolina who enlisted in the confederacy in 1962 and was discharged at the age of 59. here's an example of where we know who the rifle was used by and then stay in the family and was descended and eventually acquired by dr. murphy. the last piece i selected to talk about is another rifle. this one is made by h.c. lamb. the family is one of the gunsmiths from jamestown. his father was a gunsmith, not for military purposes, but he made hunting rifles and guns. henry learned his trade from his father and went into production during the civil war. here is an example of where the craft was passed on to a second generation, and then he actually was awarded a contract with the state of north carolina provide arms for the confederacy. again, about 500 of these were believed to be made to support the troops. this map shows all of the different armories and locations that were represented within the collection. there are 39 different makers or armories that are represented in the murphy collection. each of the stars on the map will show where things that were made within the murphy collection are shown. the piedmont rifle, this shows where the tarpley's were made, and interestingly enough, the armories and makers are long gone, but the sites of been excavated. you use these relics and pieces that have been dug up and found at the site. it gives us further evidence that we know with a place actually was and further incomplete pieces that were not assembled or used. they would have varied in size and scale depending upon the location. some of them were quiet large and sophisticated. others were not so large, but they would have been done with the skill level for men to work with the iron and metals to shape and craft the tools and eventually produce the weapons. most of them are no longer in existence, but the sites where they stood have been explored and archaeological digs have taken place, and so the pieces that were found that have been dug up, that have been saved many of which have been found to put into museums today, they are further evidence of the work that was done. some of these pieces might've been discards, rejected, or when they abandon the site or they were left behind in hurry, they were buried underneath and now they turned up 100 figures later. i would like to stop here at the south greeneville state works, a case devoted to moore's carbines. it is shorter than a rifle and a little bit less powerful, but as a preferred weapon for men on a horse. in this case, you see a pristine example here. very advanced technology for this time in the war, and an opportunity for scholars studying these pieces. we have an actual prototype ease that was made, and below that we have serial number two. the second piece made of production. nowhere else can you see these pieces. then we have a later piece with a serial number of 1013. there are very subtle changes, but significant and important ones that took place in the course of the time between the prototype and the last piece that was made. it influenced how the performance of the piece and how useful it was to the soldier during battle. were also incredibly fortunate to have a shipping crate it was used to ship these carbines. this kind of material rarely survived. as well as the rifles themselves. this collection has a lot of different values. we have it here at the museum, and we are keepers of it for the general public, but it also estimate his research value and scholarly value. one of the great things about this collection is that it contains multiple examples of rifles and carbines made at a particular armory or manufacturing sites. having more than one example having maybe 10 examples of those pieces made over a span of several years, scholars and researchers are able to compare the differences and how the pieces were made, look at the examples of the nuances and the changes and how some of the technology was improved over time. dr. murphy was more than just a collector, although he was an extremely discerning collector these are choice pieces that are in pristine condition with all original parts, but there also that he assembled them with a purpose and actually published several books. after he retired from his medical practice, devoted his energy and his time to writing several books. he really was a leading force in the field of scholarship in this field and opened up a lot of doors and shared a tremendous amount of information with the scholars that are interested in this. now we are able to benefit from that by having it a public venue here the museum. the museum has a wide number of visitors with a range of interests. we try to present the collection in a context that will appeal to a lot of different types of visitors here. individuals that have a keen interest in this war will find it interesting for some reason. individuals that are particularly excited about long arms and rifles will be especially a static disease and many pieces in one place. -- they will be especially excited this easily pieces in one place. at the same time, we also want to appeal to the general public. we put out these rifles and other instruments, but we also put out other examples of artifacts related to the civil war. and personal effects that were used by confederate soldiers to try convey the experience of what it was like for a soldier at the time. what were some of the experiences. and to try to bring that experience to life. looking at the people who were involved, so there is a personal ace to that. it is a collection that cannot be duplicate