Colt sold his revolver to the Texas Rangers on January 4, 1847:
By the mid-1840s, Colt produced a refinement of his original design in the hopes of attracting capital. No one was willing to take the plunge with him again. He pulled together enough money to have a prototype built, then turned it over to the US War Department (the previous name for the Department of Defense) believing it would earn him a government contract.
On January 4, 1847, Colt received an order from a government agency, but not the one he petitioned. Captain Samuel Walker, a Texas Ranger who used early models of the Colt Paterson in the Seminole Wars in Florida, showed up at Colt’s shop in New York City and asked for 1,000 pistols. Requesting a handful of alterations — a higher caliber, a sixth chamber, faster reload times — Walker provided Colt with the inspiration for the revolver that would make him famous.
Petticoats & Pistols: The 1847 Colt Walker Revolver--As Long As Your Forearm
What we didn’t put up with back then was doddlin’ service
A lightning bolt when he drew that Colt... 45 (old TV show).
ReplyDeletePS The War Department is now the Department of the Army. There used to be a War Department and a Navy Department.
I know there was originally a War and Navy Department, but didn't the Department of Defense become the agency for both (and then the break down to Army, Navy/Marines, and eventually the Air Force later on).
DeleteThat Colt Walker 1947 that Augustus McCrae is holding weighs in at about 6 lbs+ loaded. That will give you wack if you get slapped in the face with it.
Six shooters like that (the Dragoon was another) were intended as horse pistols (carried on the saddle). It's why the Colt company came out with the Navy .36 in 1851, the first true sidearm.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right about the Defense Department. It separated the Army Air Corps from the Army and created the Air Force and Army Departments and absorbed the Navy Department as well.