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Photo ©2002
Sharpsburg Arsenal Civil War Militaria
(click here)
Used by Permission. |
Guns of the Texas Rangers:
The Colt Model 1860 Army
by David Stroud
In
1850, Sam Colt placed into production two of his most popular revolvers:
the ’49 Pocket and the ’51 Navy. Only one new revolver was offered after
that until 1860. That exception was the New Model Pocket Pistol, a side
hammer designed by Colt’s chief lieutenant and factory foreman, E.K.
Root. It was placed into production in 1855.
Sam had experimented
with an Army-sized sporting revolver in .44 caliber. 
However, it was too large and awkward to gain popularity and had little
chance competing against Colt revolvers already on the market.
The U.S. Army desired
a new weapon to issue its cavalry service for the Mormon Campaign. The
board of officers convened at the Washington D.C. Arsenal on February
16, 1858, to examine Colt’s revolver “with breech attachment, and Pistol-Carbine.”
The board examined
three of Colt’s Pistol-Carbines with barrel lengths of 12,15, and 18
inches. They also looked at his revolver with a 7” barrel and breech
attachment.
To test the
accuracy of fire, a number of shots were fired from all these arms,
at the following ranges: at one hundred yards, and at three hundred
yards; at five hundred yards with the three specimens of the Pistol-Carbine,
and at two hundred yards from the Pistol with breech attachment.
The “results
were satisfactory” as to accuracy. To test the penetration, “a target
of white pine boards, seasoned, one inch thick, with an interval of
one inch and a quarter between the boards, and two feet by two in size,
was used.”
The weapons
were fired at a distance of thirty feet: The “Carbine with 12 inch barrel
penetrated 9 boards. The Carbine with 15 inch barrel penetrated 8 1/2
boards. The Carbine with 18 inch barrels penetrated 9 boards. The Pistol
with breech attachment penetrated 7 1/2 boards.
The
officers concluded: “Colt’s Carbine-Carbine, and Colt’s Pistol with
breech attachment, [is] superior for our Cavalry Service to any arm
with which they are acquainted” and they recommended the Colt revolver
with the 7” barrel “be procured in time for the operations of the approaching
campaign” since no revolver with an 8” barrel could be produced in time.
The
only revolver Colt had produced with an 8” barrel was the Second Model
Colt Dragon, which quickly gave way to the Third Model with a 7 ½ ”
barrel. At any rate, Colt modified a few Third Models in early 1859
to lighten the bulky revolvers, but the method was unsuccessful. Therefore,
the company concentrated on producing a lighter, 8”- barrel revolver
of Army caliber.
The
New Model Holster Pistol, or New Model Army Pistol, was placed into
production in 1860 and quickly won favor with the military. The first
2,000 had the full-fluted cylinders, but they were replaced with the
more common rebated ones. Only around 4,000 fluted cylinders were produced
before the end of production in 1873. The first 1,000 Army revolvers
were equipped with 7 ½ “ barrels, but they quickly gave way to the 8”
barrel the Army desired.
The
2 lb. 11 oz. 1860 Army is 14” overall. It has a round barrel and a round,
rebated cylinder roll engraved with a scene of the Texas Navy engaging
the Mexican fleet. It fires six shots of .44 caliber. The trigger guards
are oval brass with iron back straps. The loading lever is the creeping-ratchet
type, with the top of the barrel sterilely numbered below 1,600 is etched
“ADDRESS COL. SAM’L COLT, HARTFORD, CT.” After that, most are marked
“ADDRESS COL. SAM’L COLT, NEW-YORK US AMERICA” with a few etched “ADDRESS
SAM’L COLT, NEW YORK, U.S.”
>
Photo ©2002 Sharpsburg Arsenal Civil War Militaria (click
here)
Used by Permission.
Most
of the first 50,000 1860 Armies had butt straps cut for shoulder stock
and 4-screw frames to accept shoulder stocks. The standard Army revolver,
however, had no such features.
In
May 1860, the new revolver was ready to present to the Army, and a board
of officers inspected the arm on the 10th of that month.
The officers tested the New Model Holster pistols with a 7 ½” barrel
and an 8” barrel. They also tested a Third Model Dragoon for accuracy
and penetration. The officers reported: “The new model revolver with
eight inch barrel will make the most superior cavalry arm we have ever
had.”
However,
while the United States Army tested and evaluated Colt’s new revolver,
Southern dealers were placing orders. Before the Army placed its order,
2,230 New Model Holster Pistols were shipped South. No doubt, most landed
in the hands of Confederate soldiers.
In
April 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon and Lincoln called for 75,000
volunteers. With battle smoke still drifting north, Colt turned his
manufacturing to wartime production, and his ’60 Army became the standard
weapon of the Union Cavalry. The Ordnance Department ordered 127,000
before 1864, and another 15,000 through the open market. The revolvers
were sold for twenty-five dollars each.
The
U.S. Navy ordered 1,150 New Models in May and September 1861, and many
of these were sent to Rear Admiral David Porter’s Mississippi Squadron.
Thereafter, Colt’s 1861 Navy revolver became the favorite of the Sea
Service.
Sam
Colt died in January 1862. Soon after, his contract was cancelled by
the Union government. However, production continued and thousands were
sold to individual officers and enlisted men seeking the ultimate revolver.
After the war, gunfighters and lawmen such as the Texas Rangers used
the 1860 Army, and these old Colts have written many colorful chapters
in our history.
§
References:
John D. McAulay,
Civil War Pistols.
Charles T. Haven & Frank A. Belden, A History of The Colt
Revolver.
David Stroud was born in Tyler, Texas, and graduated from Henderson
(Texas) High School in 1963. He enlisted in the Marines the following
year and 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 a history instructor
at Kilgore (Texas) College. He has written seven books, along with fifteen
articles and book reviews.
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