According to Roy Marcot's book (1990) "Spencer Repeating Firearms, the first 327 of the M1865 Spencer Carbines were not delivered to the government until April 3, 1865. It was May 20, 1865 before the quantity reached 4,459 carbines and still another week beyond that date before the next 1,000 M1865 carbines were delivered. Your SN#4841 would fall into this last lot delivered May 27, 1865. Sorry, I know this doesn't fit the story that was passed down but such is quite typical of oral family histories. I have the double-barrel shotgun that my great-grandfather supposedly had carried in the war when he served in the Third Texas Cavalry from February to July 1862, but there is no way to prove it.