The Galleries
- Robert E. Petersen Collection
- Ancient Firearms
- The Road to American Liberty
- Seeds of Greatness
- The Prospering New Republic
- A Nation Asunder
- The American West
- Innovation, Oddities and Competition
- Theodore Roosevelt, Elegant Arms
- World War I and Firearms Innovation
- WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Beyond
- For the Fun of It
- Firearms Traditions for Today
- William B. Ruger Special Exhibits
- Freedom's Doorway
A Nation Asunder
Civil War displays include a vast collection of domestic firearms manufactured both north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and firearms imported by both sides. A recreated federal arms factory can also be viewed here.
Significant Firearms in Gallery 6:
- Numerous Confederate Pieces including a copy of a Sharps breechloading carbine, Richmond rifle-musket Type II and 1795/1808 conversion of Virginia Manufactory of Arms musket
- LeMat Revolver Similar to that used by Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart
- Relic Enfield Musket found in a Virginia bog
- Sharps Carbine captured from a Massachusetts soldier by a Virginia cavalryman and retaken at the Battle of Rappahannock Station, Virginia on November 7, 1863
- Colt Model 1860 Revolver lost by Colonel John Singleton Mosby's men during a raid on Fairfax, Virginia
- Smith & Wesson No. 1 Revolver used by a member of the First New York Dragoons during the tidewater Virginia campaign
- Spencer Carbine lost by a member of the 19th New York Cavalry near Dahlgren, Virginia
- Confederate copy of Sharps Carbine
- "John Brown" Sharps Carbine
Watch A Nation Asunder