STARR, Ebenezer "Eban" Townsend [1816-1899] -- American inventor (breech-loading arms) and arms manufacturer

He entered the U.S. Navy at the age of 17; was in active service on board the flag-ship of the squadron on the coast of Brazil, during the years 1834 to 1837; retired from the service on his return home. When the civil war broke out, he was offered a position of high rank in the [Union?] navy, but declined, as he had not recovered from the effects of a railroad accident, which disabled him for several years. He was afterward engaged in the manufacture of breech-loading arms of his own invention, and, with his associates, established the Starr Arms Co. of NY, with a capital of $800,000, and supplied the government with a large quantity of arms during the war.

Title: "History of the Starr Family, A"
Author: STARR, Burgess Pratt
Publication: Hartford, CT, 1879; Tuttle Antiquarian Books, 2001
Media: Book
p. 146

He followed in the tradition established by his father and grandfather before him, both being metal workers and arms manufacturers during the Revolutionary War.

Starr's was the third most popular pistol of the Civil War, with 47,454 purchased by the Union. The company became so dependant on the military orders that it failed in 1867, soon after the end of the war. Factories were in Yonkers, NY and Binghamton, NY.