The Henry Rifle

The Henry rifle is the weapon Colin uses to defend himself in the shootout at Johnny's cabin. It is a souvenir of Johnny's soldiering days, although he did not use it in the war. An 1860 model, the rifle was originally purchased by a Union soldier from Ohio as a sort of life insurance policy, but was soon stolen from his corpse by a Confederate volunteer. It was then "liberated" from that man by Johnny sometime late in 1864. However, as Johnny preferred his Spencer, and as he did not have the desire to carry ammunition for two rifles, he sent the Henry home to his family for safekeeping. Johnny would leave it behind again when he left his cabin, preferring to travel light once more with the Spencer.

The Henry rifle was an expensive gun, and one of the first true repeating rifles, capable of holding 16 rounds to the standard Springfield or Enfield's single shot. However, while individual soldiers eagerly spent their bonuses on the $40 and up lever-actions, it never saw widespread adoption by the Union Army due to the extreme expense (among other factors), and the Confederates lacked the resources necessary to make the special ammunition it needed. While a handsome, accurate, and effective rifle, it lacked stopping power compared to other weapons of the war, and no tactics were created in order to make the most of its overwhelming firing rate.

In addition, 1860 Henries lacked a safe place to grip the barrel because of their loading-gate design, so gloves would have been necessary to handle it in order to avoid being burnt while firing. Colin, lacking gloves or even an oven mitt, used a rag to protect his hand during the shootout. The Henry's design was later improved upon to create the famous Winchester series of lever-action rifles.