Jed - mountain or lap dulcimers were around at that time.

A few years ago I met a musician who proudly showed me a dulcimer built by his great grandfather, who had been in the Civil War and lost an arm. So I've seen on-the-ground proof that dulcimers existed c. 1865.

His dulcimer was quite large, heavy and a bit crude in comparison to today's, but hey, it was built by a one-armed carpenter!

What was interesting was the case, which had been designed to be turned upside down and set on a table, so the dulcimer could be placed on it when playing. It was sort of an acoustic amplifier system.

Jed - by the by, I heard a cut from your CD played on the folk show of our regional Public Radio station in Bozeman. Sounded great !