1860 Colt Army in CSA service

[Kevin Makel]

I was watching "Gods and Generals" again on DVD and caught a Colt 1860 Army being fired by a Confederate officer on the wall at Fredricksburg. My question is, did the Southern States have the opportunity to purchase 1860 Army revolvers from Colt before the outbreak of hostilities? (when presumably sales to the South would have ceased). I would think that with the termination of Dragoon Production in 1859 or 1860, the 1860 Army would have been available for civilian sales and militia unit purchase in the South? Or was Confederate use of the 1860 Army confined to captured stocks and battle field pick ups?

 

[Cheyenne]

The Colt 1860 was used by the South. A buddy of mine has one that was sold to a dummy company and run through New Orleans as a part of 1000 gun shipment....Colt was a business man, and though later, none were sold legally, some were sold right at the beginning of the war...not to mention captures and so forth.

 

[Norinco]

According to the NRA Museum, for a time Colt changed the addresses on his revolvers to Hartford to distance himself from the abolitionist hotbed of New York. That was to keep the Southern sales coming. Not long after war broke out, it was changed back to New York. According to them, most of the Hartford Colt 1860's were shipped South, either to front companies or to private individuals arming up.

You can probably find detailed records that show how many were shipped South and to whom.

 

[JV Puleo]

New York was hardly a hotbed of abolitionists ... in fact it was the most pro-southern city in the North.

Colt cut off shipments to southern distributors in April of 1861. Prior to this about 2,200 M1860s were delivered to southern states. He continued to ship to the border states that remained in the Union (not having any way of knowing who the intended customer was) and some of these shipments may have ended up in Southern hands. Nathan Bedford Forest acquired a shipment of M1851 Navies in such a manner. However, the M1860 was the most used revolver of the war and many must have been captured as well.

 

[Kevin Makel]

Thanks everyone!

It's good news that I won't be accused of being a Yankee with my 1860s. :thumbsup: