The Saber and Scroll
• weight — officials believed that if a soldier was going to have to add weight to his kit , it should come in the form of ammunition , not a novelty grinder .
Nevertheless , Lt . King ’ s contraption certainly looked like a coffee grinder . Since grain is usually ground in larger quantities than the amount held by the Sharps grinder , many assumed it was , in fact , a coffee grinder . 20
“ William McKinley Serves Coffee .” “ Coffee Bill ” Monument , Antietam National Battlefield , National Park Service .
Several years ago , the gun at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts was discovered with coffee grounds still in the mill when it was cleaned by museum staff . The leftover coffee was not from the Civil War . It was from a more recent test done by the armory ’ s director , who did not thoroughly clean it afterward . His results indicated that the mill could grind coffee , but not particularly well . Even the redoubtable historians at the National Park Service tested the coffee mill . They attempted to grind coffee beans with one of the rifles in their collection . They , too , found that it was unsuitable . As impressive as the idea might be , and intriguing as the images are , the Sharps Carbine Coffee Mill Rifle was never really a “ thing .” Several museums claiming to have original versions of this gun have probably been taken in . Most of America ’ s gun collectors claim that there are perhaps twelve authentic versions in existence . There were Coffee Wagons , but no coffee mill guns . 21
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