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Guns of the Texas Rangers:
The Walker Colt
by David Stroud
The
greatest prize for Colt collectors is the renowned Walker, the legendary
revolver that got Sam Colt back into the gun business and also provided
a powerful weapon for Texas Rangers and U.S. Dragoons during the Mexican
War.
Colt’s Patent Arms Manufacturing
Company in Paterson, New Jersey, suffered bankruptcy in 1842 because
the firm was unable to secure a government contract for Colt’s Paterson
five-shot revolver. But Sam never gave up, and though he was not manufacturing
weapons in 1846, he had several improvements in mind for his revolver.
All he needed was the treasured government order, and the war with Mexico
could open the door to the wealth he believed he would someday enjoy.
With that in mind, he wrote to former Texas Ranger Samuel H. Walker,
who was recently commissioned a captain in the United Stares Mounted
Rifles and was in his home state of Maryland recruiting his company.
In the summer of 1846 Colt,
the would-be arms maker, wrote Walker that he had several improvements
in mind for a new revolver and requested the former Texas Ranger’s help
in winning a government contract.
Captain Walker wanted his
men equipped with Colt’s revolvers. He had used them in Florida against
the Seminoles and in Texas against Comanches, and he wanted Colts when
he rode against the Mexicans. He returned a letter to Colt telling of
the "Hays Fight" in 1844 when fifteen Rangers defeated a Comanche
war party of 80 warriors, "killing & wounding about half of
them." Walker added, "With improvements I think they (the
revolvers) can be rendered the most perfect weapon in the world. . .
. ."
The two men got together
on December 2, 1846, and designed a pistol based on the Paterson, but
greatly improved. The new weapon proved to be more powerful than most
modern-day revolvers.
The Whitneyville Walker,
also known as the "Model of 1847 Army Pistol," measured 15
1/2 inches in length with a 9-inch barrel that was part round, and part
octagonal. The square-backed trigger guard was brass and the ramrod
had a hinged lever held in place by a spring clamp. The grips were one-piece
walnut with an iron backstrap; the sights consisted of one located on
a blade near the end of the barrel and one notched in the hammer.
Colt hired W. L. Ormsby,
a renowned New York engraver, to design the cylinder scene suggested
by Captain Walker: the famous "Hays fight." Because Ormsby
had never seen a Texas Ranger, he placed them in the uniforms of the
United States Dragoons. The cylinder was additionally marked "COLT’S
PATENT U.S.M.R.," and the flat top of the breech was marked "ADDRESS.
SAML COLT NEW-YORK CITY."
Additional markings consisted
of a company letter (A, B, C, D, or E) paired with a number (1-47).
Walker instructed Colt that the first revolvers were to be marked C,
which was his company, and the others were to be stamped alphabetically.
The weight of the hand
cannon was a massive 4 pounds, 9 ounces, and the .44 caliber cylinders
held 50 grains of black powder that fired a conical bullet of 220 grains.
The pistol in 1846 was "as effective as a common rifle at one hundred
yards, and superior to a musket even at two hundred."
Colt received a contract
for 1,000 revolvers on January 4, 1847, and would be paid $25 for each
arm. He would also receive an additional $3 for powder flasks and spare
parts.
Colt had everything he
needed except an armory. He called on Eli Whitney, Jr., son of the inventor
of the cotton gin, who was producing rifles for the government in Whitneyville,
Connecticut. Whitney agreed to cooperate with Colt on the manufacturing
of the Walkers "for certain considerations."
Colt not only fulfilled
his contract but also built another 100 pistols for presentation to
important people and for sale to civilians.
The Whitneyville-Walker
revolver (U.S. Model 1847) was the first repeating pistol purchased
by the Army Ordnance Department. Other contracts followed and Sam Colt
continued to improve his product as the Walker evolved into the Dragoon,
and then that arm gave way to the 1860 Army weapon.
Nevertheless, the massive
Walker, used by Texas Rangers and regular soldiers, shall forever stand
alone as a Colt treasure. Today only 168 are known to exist and their
value can exceed $100,000. Collectors, therefore, must heed the warning
Sam Colt repeated until his death in 1862: "BEWARE OF COUNTERFEITS."
§
David Stroud was
born in Tyler, Texas, and graduated from Henderson (Texas) High School
in 1963. He then enlisted in the Marines and in the following years
served a tour in Vietnam and two years as a drill instructor at Parris
Island, South Carolina. He earned his B.S. and M.A. degrees in history
at Stephen F. Austin State University and is now a history instructor
at Kilgore (Texas) College. He has written seven books along with fifteen
articles and book reviews.
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