They were a significant provider of side arms, swords, light artillery, and heavy ordnance for the Union in the American Civil War.

[3] The Ames company began manufacturing swords for the federal government and state militias.

[7] The bronze doors of the East Wing of the United States Capitol and Daniel Chester French's Minuteman statue at the Lexington-Concord bridge were cast at the Ames company.

[9] Ames was one of the U.S. Army's most important manufacturers of side arms, swords, and light artillery and the third largest producer of heavy ordnance.

The historic Ames Company factory, located at 5-7 Springfield Street in Chicopee, Massachusetts, is a complex of connected industrial buildings, the oldest of which dates to 1847.