Now On View: Hankinson Rifle

A rifle owned by soldier Aaron Hankinson is now on view in the Trenton and Princeton gallery.

Moravian gunsmith Christian Oerter, who worked in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, made this rifle in his workshop in 1774. The original owner’s name, Aaron Hankinson, is engraved on the lid of its brass patch box. Hankinson lived in Sussex County, New Jersey, and carried this rifle while he served as a colonel in the New Jersey militia during the 1776 campaign around New York City. He later fought around Philadelphia and against Loyalists and their Native American allies in northern Pennsylvania.