SIX-PASSENGER ROCKAWAY
Body painted dark green. Trimmed in eggshell corded broadcloth, embroidered with green leaf motif on corded silk fabric.
Although in excellent condition, this rockaway is one of the older vehicles in the collection and was used prior to 1858 by Gen. J. Watson Webb. His daughter Catherine married James G. Benton of the U.S. Army Ordnance Department in 1858, and the Bentons used the rockaway when they lived in Washington, D. C. Benton, a West Point graduate, was the author of many valuable reports on ordnance and wrote the course of instruction in ordnance and gunnery used by the cadets at the U.S. military academy. Col. Benton’s experiments on a new type of rifled musket led to the development of the Springfield rifle, and he superintended the construction of the early models of this gun at the Springfield Armory where he served as commanding officer.
Gift of the Webb family in memory of Dr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb
