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By Kristin Wilson, May 14, 2005

Last updated: Saturday, May 14, 2005 7:17 AM EDT

A piece of American history that disappeared for more than 100 years will be on public display today — for the first time since 1847 — at the Army Heritage and Education Center in Middlesex Township.

The original air rifle used by Captain Meriwether Lewis of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 has been rediscovered and it will be available for public view for the next six months in Carlisle's backyard.

The rifle, considered cutting-edge technology at the time Lewis carried it on his cross-country journey, is often mentioned in journal accounts of the trip.

Lewis and Clark journal entries show that the air rifle was used to impress the American Indian tribes the team encountered. The rifle fired a .40 caliber lead ball, but without using powder and without making a sound.

"It's one of the most famous guns in American history," says John Giblin, chief curator for the Army Heritage Museum. "It stands up there with Custer's Last Stand and other famous events in American history."

Surfaced in California

The air rifle was last known to be part of a Philadelphia estate in 1847. But it has not been seen since.

Now the gun has resurfaced among the collections of Dr. Robert Beeman of California. Forensic examinations and comparisons of known damages to the original gun seem to prove this rifle is the one Lewis carried with him 200 years ago.

"It is the front-running candidate at this point," says Giblin. "It has been an on-going historical question for over 100 years."

The rifle held by Beeman shows evidence of repairs and damages that match exactly with what is known to have happened to the weapon.

For example, the Lewis rifle was broken at one point near the main spring and the stock. The Beeman gun shows clear evidence of the same damages.

Unveiling the Lewis and Clark air rifle is part of today's planned events as part of Army Heritage Day at the Army Heritage and Education Center.

Re-enactors and history interpreters will hold various demonstrations throughout the day to portray the history of the American soldier.

There are scheduled presentations depicting soldier life during the American Revolution, Civil War, the Indian Wars, Boxer Rebellion, Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The day will include a "Market Fair" to incorporate period sutlers, demonstrators and trade suppliers that supported soldiers in different time periods.

Here's schedule

9:30 a.m. — Blank and Volley Fire Demo by the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Rifles from eastern Pennsylvania.

10 a.m. — Lecture "19th Century Gutta Perchas and Rubber Goods" by Mike Worshner. Worshner is an authority of gutta percha, a type of rubber obtained from the gutta percha tree native to Malaysia.

10:30 a.m. — Artillery demonstrations by the South Mountain Battlefield Artillery from South Mountain Battlefield Park, Maryland.

11 a.m. — Presentation on WACs and Nurses by the "Paper Dolls." The group is a Women's Army Corps re-enactment group.

11:30 a.m. — Lecture "Confederate States Armory, Richmond" by Paul Davies, an expert on Virginia state armories.

1 p.m. — Lecture "The Firearms of Lewis and Clark" by Rick Kellar. Kellar is one of two men who developed a reproduction of the Lewis air rifle.

1:30 p.m. — Presentation on soldier equipment in Korea and Vietnam by Butch Maisel.

2 p.m. — Artillery demonstrations by South Mountain Artillery.

2:30 p.m. — Civil War Company Fire — recreating a federal company of soldiers by Liberty Rifles.

3 p.m. — Lecture "Tactics of the 19th Century" by Scott Washburn.

3:30 p.m. — World War I Trenches and Troops 80th Division "mud grunts." The WWI re-enactment group shows both the American and German Imperial Regiment perspectives on trench warfare.

4 p.m. — 28th Division, 112th Regiment of the 28th Division in World War II.