19th century Archives - Page 2 of 10

[FEATURE ARTICLE] Samuel Colt and His Legendary Model 1860 Army Revolver

January 1, 2019 By Brian Wallin

Until the 19th century was well along, handguns were limited to single-shot weapons. In 1836, a 22-year old Hartford, Connecticut man, Samuel Colt, came up with a concept for controlled rotation of a firearm that would allow multiple rounds to be fired without reloading. Colt, the son of a textile manufacturer, developed a fascination for mechanical devices while visiting his father’s mill. After being expelled from Amherst Academy for high-jinx involving a fire at the school, Colt went to sea to study navigation.

It was during his time on the water that he had an epiphany watching the helmsman spin the ship’s wheel. He made a wooden cylinder, locking pin, and hammer and determined that this could be rotated to allow a pistol to fire multiple times. On return from his ocean adventures, Samuel’s father financed his initial business ventures, but pulled the plug after his son’s initial failures. Colt then traveled around the U.S. and Canada demonstrating the use of nitrous oxide and providing fireworks shows. Eventually, he earned enough money as a showman to hire some experienced gunsmiths and to put his innovative ideas into a finished product. On February 25, 1836, he received a patent for a revolving cylinder pistol that, according to the documentation, enabled improved “facility in loading”, gave more stability to the user through “the weight and location of the cylinder,” and enhanced “rapidity in the succession of discharges.”

With that, Samuel Colt was on his way to lasting fame. But, the journey would take a few twists along the way. In 1836, with more financial help from his father, Colt opened Colt’s Patent Arms Manufacturing Company in Paterson, New Jersey and began turning out handguns and rifles, all incorporating the revolving cylinder concept. He failed at gaining a government contract for his weapons, deemed too advanced for the time. Although he did manage some sales, Colt was forced to give up control of the company when it went into financial distress.

The Mexican-American War proved to be Colt’s turning point. He was awarded a government contract for 1,000 revolvers and 200 thousand rounds of a tinfoil ammunition cartridge he had perfected. He had returned to his native Hartford, CT, and by 1855 built a new factory on the banks of the Connecticut River. The building still stands as a national historic landmark.

Under the management of an exceptionally talented engineer, Elisha K. Root, Colt’s company developed a means to produce interchangeable parts for its weapons, greatly increasing their attractiveness to buyers here and overseas. Soon, the Hartford plant was turning out 150 weapons a day. Around this time, the winds of war were blowing stronger by the day. Colt had been doing business south of the Mason-Dixon Line, but when war broke out in April of 1861, he immediately turned his attention to the needs of the Union forces. One of the wealthiest men in America by that time, Colt outfitted an entire volunteer regiment from his home state, the 1^St Regiment Colt’s Revolving Rifles of Connecticut (and along the way was commissioned a colonel, a rank that he greatly prized).

Two Colt Percussion Revolvers: (top) Colt Model 1860 Army Percussion Revolver, and (bottom) Colt Model 1851 Navy

Among the most popular of his revolvers were two mainstays of the Union military, the .36 caliber Model 1851 Navy revolver with its familiar octagonal barrel (replaced by a round barrel version in 1861) and the famed .44 caliber Model 1860 Army revolver. The Varnum Memorial Armory Museum has a fine example of the latter weapon. The Model 1851 was used by both the Army and Navy and a fair number wound up in the hands of the Confederacy, either purchased before the war, carried by men who took their weapons with them when they switched their allegiance from North to South or captured during battle. Incidentally, according to American Civil War historian and author Rob Grandchamp, Rhode Island’s Governor William Sprague gave Col. Zenas Bliss of the 7^th Rhode Island Volunteers a Colt Navy pistol, but it was lost during the Battle of Fredericksburg.

For this article, the writer will devote attention to the Model 1860 as it not only played a major role in the American Civil War, but it would eventually evolve into the famed Model 1873 Peacemaker, “the gun that won the West”. The Model 1860 was carried by army infantry, cavalry, and artillerymen as well as by navy men, although officers in both services usually carried smaller sidearms.

Its single-action requires the hammer to be cocked for each firing. The .44 caliber Model 1860 uses the same size frame as the lighter .36 caliber Navy Model 1851. The Model 1860 also has a longer cylinder and a distinctive “creeping” loading lever, using pins that engage notches in the barrel to provide added strength. Colt first introduced this feature in an1855 side hammer revolver.

.44 caliber Model 1860 Army revolver at the Varnum Armory

More than 200-thousand Model 1860s were built between 1860 and 1873, making it the most widely used revolver of the Civil War (a major fire in 1864 put the Hartford factory out of business for the duration although it was returned to service later). The Union Army purchased the bulk of the factory’s output (some 129,730 pieces). The Varnum Continental’s Model 1860 carries the serial number 111432, indicating that it was made in 1863. Armory Vice President and Museum Curator Patrick Donovan obtained the Colt through Skinner Auctions along with a holster in excellent condition.

The weapon accommodates a 0.454-inch diameter round, spherical lead ball or conical-tipped bullet propelled by a 30-grain black powder charge in a paper cylinder. Soldiers preferred the latter as it could be loaded more rapidly. The paper cartridge and bullet were placed in the front of each chamber and seated with a loading lever ram. A percussion cap was placed onto a raised aperture, a nipple, at the back end of the chamber. Repeat the process five more times and the gun was fully armed.

The small copper percussion cap, when struck by the hammer, ignites the charge. The projectile, depending on the load, has a muzzle velocity of about 900 feet per second with an effective range of 75 to 100 yards. The Varnum’s Model 1860 has walnut grips, although there some were produced with more ornate grips, including ivory. Colt employed talented engravers who would also produce ornate designs on the gun’s metal finish. The standard model was unadorned.

The Model 1860’s frame did not have a top strap (a strengthening feature placed above the cylinder). Instead, its lower frame and a massive fixed cylinder pin provided the necessary strength. This feature required that the barrel be removed to also remove the cylinder. This concept made the Model 1860 slimmer and lighter than its closest competitor, the Remington Model 1858. Colt’s pistol could also be used with a detachable shoulder stock.

When originally produced, the Model 1860 cost approximately $20 per revolver, or in today’s valuation, more than $600. This was rather expensive during the 1860s, both for the United States Army and private citizens. Colt was criticized for the price, and by 1865 the revolver was reduced to $14.50. Throughout his life, Colt assertively protected his patents and business interests and was often unfavorably noted for his excessive promotional activities.

Colt's Hartford mansion known as Armsmear — Colt’s Hartford mansion known as Armsmear

Although he was widely recognized as a highly successful industrialist and inventor, Colt would see neither the full fruits of his labors nor the end of the Civil War. On January 10, 1862, at the age of 47, he died of chronic rheumatism (gout) at his Hartford mansion known as Armsmear. He is buried under a massive memorial in Hartford’s Cedar Hill Cemetery (also the final resting place of famed Rhode Island aviation pioneer Edson Gallaudet). During Colt’s lifetime, his company had turned out more than 400-thousand firearms in a wide variety of styles. His company went public in 1901 and it gained further worldwide fame with its Model 1911 .45 caliber automatic pistol. The company remains in business today, having produced more than 30 million firearms since it was founded.

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[FEATURE ARTICLE] Stiletto — Born in Rhode Island: First of the Mosquito Fleet

December 2, 2018 By Brian Wallin

Recently, the Naval War College temporarily made available to another facility its handsome model of a highly significant war craft, the USS Stiletto. The loan prompted this writer to share the story of its influence on modern naval warfare.

The Herreshoff brothers had already earned a reputation for small boat design and construction as well as integrating their exceptionally well-designed steam engines. When launched as a private yacht in 1885 by John and Nathaniel Herreshoff at their Bristol yard, it was clear Stiletto was built for both beauty and speed. To prove the point, the Herreshoffs brought her to New York Harbor to race the Hudson River’s fastest steamship, the 300-foot long Mary Powell.

On June 10, 1885, the little Stiletto (at 94 feet) handily beat the much larger steamer in a 30-mile run finishing two miles ahead of her competitor and averaging a speed of15 knots. She went on to repeat a similar performance the very next day in the American Yacht Club Regatta, between Larchmont, NY and New London, CT. She beat the large schooner yacht Atalanta by 40 minutes. Unfortunately, Stiletto failed to properly round the finish line buoy and was not awarded the regatta prize. But, she had gotten the attention of the U.S. Navy.

Howell torpedo on the USS Stilleto — Howell torpedo on the USS Stiletto

Around the same time, the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, RI, established in 1869 on Goat Island, had begun to engage in the development of self-propelled torpedoes. Already in use in Europe, the Navy had dragged its heels on importation of the so-called automobile torpedo. It preferred to develop a homegrown weapon. Initial experiments were not successful. However, the Navy found a winner in the Howell torpedo, the brainchild of Navy Lieutenant John Howell, who had perfected his design in 1870. The Navy now needed a vehicle to launch this new weapon and that was the Stiletto.

In 1887, the US Navy purchased Stiletto from the Herreshoffs for $25,000 and converted her to use in Newport, RI, as an experimental torpedo boat. She was officially commissioned in July of 1888 as Wooden Torpedo Boat 1 and continued in that role for nearly 25 years. She spent her entire service life at the Naval Torpedo Station. During that time, she was outfitted with bow and deck launch tubes.

She was the first vessel to launch the self-propelled Howell torpedo. Stiletto began her life as a coal-burner and was converted to oil in 1897 (but that experiment proved to be disappointing). Nevertheless, Stiletto continued to serve and was joined in 1890 by the 138-foot USS Cushing (TB-1), the first purpose-built torpedo boat (and also a Herreshoff product), quickly followed by several more such craft, each a little more sophisticated in design and performance. The Cushing was named for Civil War Lieutenant William Cushing, who sank the Confederate ironclad Albermarle using a crude spar torpedo and proving the value of such weaponry.

Stiletto was a familiar sight on Narragansett Bay. She augmented a barge-mounted test launcher used at the Torpedo Station and in the Sakonnet River. She was a tough little craft, sustaining repeated damage from storms over the years and was even sunk by accident in 1897 when her boiler was accidentally dropped through her hull during maintenance. She was raised and put back in service. In 1900, she successfully participated in major naval maneuvers simulating an attack on Newport Harbor.

Moments after firing a dummy torpedo at the “enemy” battleship Massachusetts, Stiletto’s pilot was blinded by the warship’s searchlight and the little torpedo boat rammed the pier at Fort Adams,Newport, RI. In 1908, she suffered another major accident when the Navy’s oldest serving torpedo boat was rammed by the torpedo station’s steam launch near the north end of Goat Island. Stiletto managed to make the Newport shoreline and was beached near Walnut Street before she could sink.

Stiletto never saw active duty, although her successors were involved in the Spanish-American War with the Atlantic Fleet. She was finally struck from the Navy list on January 27, 1911 and sold in July of that year to James Nolan of East Boston for scrapping. As though she hated to leave the familiar waters of Newport, Stiletto gave up the ghost on October 23, 1912 and sank at her mooring at the Newport Foundry and Machine Works.

By then, the Navy had perfected the role of the torpedo boat destroyer, making further major strides during World War I. The Howell torpedo was superseded around the turn of the century by an American licensed version of the European Whitehead device (manufactured in New York and here in Rhode Island). The little Stiletto and the early torpedo boat destroyers were quickly eclipsed by initial incarnations of what would evolve into the famed four-stackers of World War I.

The legacy of the Stiletto, however, eventually emerged in the famed PT boats of WW II. A little smaller than Stiletto (at 78 and 80 feet), they were familiar sights as their crews trained on the Bay from their base in Melville). Considerably faster and better armed than their ancestor, they carried on her tradition as fast attack torpedo boats. The many classes of Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts ably demonstrated the effectiveness of the technology pioneered before the turn of the 20^th century by the speedy little Stiletto.

Fish torpedo at the Naval War College Museum

At the Naval War College Museum, the only surviving example of the Navy’s original and unsuccessful automobile torpedo, known as the Fish, sits beside one of only three existing examples of the Howell. The handsome model of the Stiletto is displayed with other examples of torpedo delivery vessels as part of the overall story of the evolution of undersea weaponry that began here in 1869. Although the Torpedo Station ceased operations in 1950, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport, RI, adjacent to Naval Station Newport continues to advance underwater weaponry and technology.

If you visit the Naval War College Museum (and it is well worth the trip), my fellow docents and I will gladly share in greater detail the development of undersea warfare pioneered right here in Narragansett Bay.

[FEATURED EXHIBIT] American Civil War Field Desk (Colonel John Talbot Pittman)

June 3, 2018 By James Mitchell Varnum

At the Varnum Memorial Armory Museum, we have a U.S. Civil War field desk used by Colonel John Talbot Pittman of the 9th and 11th Rhode Island Volunteers while manning the defenses of Washington DC.

Col. John Talbot Pittman’s Civil War Field Desk

Col. John Talbot Pittman’s field desk exhibit sign

Col. John Talbot Pittman’s Civil War shoulder boards

[FEATURED EXHIBIT] Piece of USS Constitution (Old Ironsides)

June 3, 2018 By James Mitchell Varnum

Here’s another small (but fascinating) piece of history tucked away in the Varnum Memorial Armory Museum. This is a piece of the famed US Frigate “Constitution”, known as “Old Ironsides” for its defeat of five British warships during the War of 1812.

The piece was owned by Rear Admiral John R. Bartlett of Lonsdale, RI, who served with distinction from the American Civil War until the Spanish American War. He was also a founding member of the National Geographic Society. His friend, Captain Henry Greene Jackson, was an early Varnum Continentals member who donated it to us in 1936.

[FEATURE ARTICLE] Rhode Island’s Albert Martin, A Hero of the Alamo

May 12, 2018 By Brian Wallin

Three years ago, we shared this story about Albert Martin at the Alamo with you in Varnum News. Now, there is a new piece of information that may have come about as a result of Rhode Island calling the attention of our friends in Texas to an error in their memorial to the fallen heroes of the Alamo. The update is at the end of this article.

Some Backstory on Albert Martin… Rhode Island Native

One of the most famous documents in American history, “To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World,” was written by Lt. Col. William B. Travis as a plea for reinforcements to defend the Alamo against Mexican forces during the Texas Revolution in 1836. Intimately connected with the letter is Albert Martin, born in 1808 in Providence, RI.

Martin’s two grandfathers fought in the American Revolution and his fervent support of liberty was not surprising. After attending Norwich University in Vermont, he followed his father and brothers to Tennessee and later to New Orleans, eventually settling his family in Gonzales, Texas, in 1835. He opened a general store affiliated with the family business: Martin, Coffin & Company.

The Texas Revolution broke out in 1835. Albert was involved in the defense of Gonzales (about 70 miles from the Alamo) and in Bexar (the original name of San Antonio) where he was wounded. On February 23, 1836, a Mexican army numbering some 1500 laid siege to Texans holding the Alamo. Martin, a Captain in the Texas Rangers, returned from Gonzales and was immediately sent by Col. Travis to meet an aide of Mexican General Santa Anna’s, who refused to see him. The following day, Col. Travis entrusted Martin to deliver an open letter to San Felipe de Austin containing a plea for reinforcements. Texans today revere this stirring language as their version of the Declaration of Independence:

TO THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS & ALL AMERICANS IN THE WORLD: Fellow citizens and compatriots – I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna – I have sustained a continual Bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded surrender at discretion, otherwise the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken – I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch – The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country – Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis Lt. Col. Comdt

P.S. The Lord is on our side – When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn – We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Martin’s Postscripts to the Travis Letter

Martin rode through the night back to Gonzales and handed the letter to colleague Lancelot Smithers. On the way, Martin added two personal postscripts. He wrote of his fear that the Mexican army had already launched their attack on the fort and added, “Hurry on all the men you can in haste.” The second is hard to read since the letter has frayed along a fold. But, it appears to convey that the Texans were “determined to do or die.”

Smithers penned his own postscript to the letter and carried it on to Austin, TX. The letter was widely published, but it took some time for a large force to be assembled. Back in Gonzales, a small relief force of 32 men set out for the Alamo. Against his father’s wishes, Martin went with them and on March 1 made it back into the fortress. Five days later, Albert was among the 188 men killed in the Battle of the Alamo. In April 1836, an American army under General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto.

The Fate of Albert Martin

Martin’s body was never recovered. It was likely among those burned by the Mexicans who then scattered the ashes of the Alamo defenders. The original Travis letter survived and is now in the Texas State Library in Austin, where a copy is on public display.

In July of 1836, Martin’s obituary was published in the New Orleans True American newspaper. It reads, in part:

Among those who fell in the storming of the Alamo was Albert Martin, a native of Providence, Rhode Island and recently a citizen of this city … He had left the fortress and returned to his residence. In reply to the passionate entreaties of his father, who besought him not to rush into certain destruction, he said ‘this is no time for such considerations. I have passed my word to Colonel Travers, that I would return, nor can I forfeit a pledge thus giv- en.’ Thus died Albert Martin, a not unapt illustration of New England heroism. He has left a family, and perhaps a Nation to lament his loss and he had bequeathed to that family an example of heroic and high-minded chivalry which can never be forgotten.

In 2002, Albert Martin was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. On the Martin family plot in Providence’s North Burial Ground, there is a cenotaph memorializing Albert.

A Newer, More-Interesting Ending…

Corrected "Heroes of the Alamo" sign — Corrected “Heroes of the Alamo” sign

Now, here is the new ending to our story. Although a pamphlet distributed at the Alamo stated Martin was a Rhode Island native, a plaque at the memorial said he was from Tennessee (where the family had lived for a while before coming to Texas). Officials at the shrine had for a long time declined to correct the plaque since, in their view, “there are errors all over the place here and we cannot change them all.” Recently, my fellow historian, Christian McBurney, visited the Alamo was pleased to find that at long last the error has been corrected after complaints by Rhode Islanders. Albert Martin can now really rest in peace, formally recognized as a son of the Ocean State.

Postscript on the US Model 1816 Musket

The Varnum Memorial Armory Museum collection includes a US Model 1816, .69 caliber musket manufactured at the Springfield Armory in 1833 and several others made at the Federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry. This type would have been used by Texans at the Alamo and by the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. More 1816 models (675,000) were made than any other flintlock in U.S. history. Many were converted to percussion caps in the period leading up to the U.S. Civil War.