Sam Colt's Dress Blues, A New Find, Sheds Light On Brief Chapter In Civil War

Hartford Courant ^ | May 14, 2011 | DAVID DRUR

[Daffynition]

In May 1861, Samuel Colt was Hartford's richest, most famous citizen.

A charismatic, driven entrepreneur, Colt possessed inventive genius, boundless imagination and unsurpassed marketing prowess. He had built an internationally renowned business centered in a state-of-the art armory in Hartford's South Meadows that produced the revolving handguns bearing his name.

Instruments of "moral reform,'' Colt once sardonically called his artful, deadly devices. How they were used, and by whom, did not trouble him much.

[Daffynition]

Sam Colt's success story began with the issuance of a U.S. patent in 1836 for the Colt firearm equipped with a revolving cylinder containing five or six bullets. Colt's revolver provided its user with greatly increased firepower. Prior to his invention, only one- and two-barrel flintlock pistols were available. In the 163 years that have followed, more than 30 million revolvers, pistols, and rifles bearing the Colt name have been produced, almost all of them in plants located in the Hartford, Connecticut, area. The Colt revolving-cylinder concept is said to have occurred to Sam Colt while serving as a seaman aboard the sailing ship Corvo. There he observed a similar principle in the workings of the ship's capstan. During his leisure hours, Sam carved a wooden representation of his idea. The principle was remarkable in its simplicity and its applicability to both longarms and sidearms. Nevertheless, Colt's idea was not an instant success. At the outset, many people preferred the traditional flintlock musket or pistol to such a novel weapon.

[Flag_This]

"Repeating rifles played a large part in the success of Union cavalry from 1863 on."

Like the Henry, which Confederates complained was the rifle the "Yankees would load on Sunday and fire all week."

[Inyo-Mono]

The Henry repeating rifle certainly had an impact and was the predecessor to the Winchester Model 1866 and 1873, the “Guns that won the West” but the Henry .44 rimfire didn’t have the range and knock down power that a standard issue .58 cal musket had. It was excellent for a quick skirmish and “shock and awe” but for not for a sustained battle which is why the U.S. Army adopted the trapdoor, single shot .45-70 Springfield rifle as the standard arm after the war instead of the Winchester.

[kalee]

ping

[going hot]

I clicked on hoping to see a well blued piece, but alas, only a uniform.

[Flag_This]

It was excellent for a quick skirmish and “shock and awe” but for not for a sustained battle which is why the U.S. Army adopted the trapdoor, single shot .45-70 Springfield rifle as the standard arm after the war instead of the Winchester."

I'm sure there were many reasons why the Army eventually went with the Springfield in '73, but I bet Custer would have preferred to have had the suppressive fire capability of the Winchester at the Bighorn.

[Inyo-Mono]

I’m sure Custer would have rather that his men were armed with Winchesters too for the evidence shows that the Springfield carbines had a tendency to jam after repeated firing and the soldiers had to dig the copper cartridge cases out the breech with their knives while the Indians fired on them with Henry rifles.

[Flag_This]

"...the Springfield carbines had a tendency to jam after repeated firing and the soldiers had to dig the copper cartridge cases out the breech with their knives..."

There was a fire that burned through the battlefield at Bighorn in 1983 which allowed archaeologists to do a very comprehensive survey of the area using metal detectors. They found tons of shell casings, but I thought their final conclusion was that that didn't happen very often. IOW, they did not find many .45-70 casings with the end sheared off, or scrapes and tool marks indicating they had been pried out of the chamber.

My personal opinion - for what that's worth - is that Custer was in a position where he really really needed to be able to put out lots rounds very quickly and a single-shot breech-loader was the wrong tool for the job at hand.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The presenter had a chart listing about 2 dozen makes of repeating rifles used by the Union during the civil war, each with unique ammunition. Henry’s and Spencer’s were indeed highly prized. The South could manufacture neither repeaters or ammunition for them. When they captured a Union repeater, it was worthless, except as a club.

[Inyo-Mono]

You may be right, but I do have personal experience in firing an original Springfield .45-70 with a black powder charge, albeit, with modern brass cartridges, and the cartridges were more difficult to extract after about four or five rounds fired. As I’m sure you know, black powder fouls quickly and the expansion of the cartridge case after firing adds to the problem. However, I can fire many black powder rounds through my replica .44-40 Winchester with little to no fouling in the breech do to the bottleneck nature of the .44-40 cartridge preventing blowback into the breech.

[donmeaker]

Prince Albert, on his deathbed requested the prime minister not recognize the pretended confederacy as he thought it morally wrong to support slavery. I don’t think that would have changed because of opportunity to sell a few rifles or pistols.

[donmeaker]

The Springfield rifled musket was also standard in the south, as many had been stolen by the rebels. At Vicksburg, Grant permitted his soldiers, mostly armed with Enfield rifles, to exchange their rifles for captured Springfield rifles turned in by the paroled confederate soldiers. So many did so that bean counters in the north reported the failure of the blockade, as captured rifles from Vicksburg were mostly Enfields which somehow made it past the blockade.

The fog of war, coupled with the stupidity of bureaucracy is an enduring constraint on humanity.

[donmeaker]

I agree with you. In like manner, the Sharps breech loading carbines stolen by the rebels from the Virgina located Harper’s Ferry Arsenal and provided to their cavalry were a big part of the early war superiority of rebel cavalry.

[Inyo-Mono]

Colt sold revolvers in 1860 and early ‘61 to the Confederates just before the war broke out. Sam Colt had the stamped barrel address on his revolvers changed from “Colt-address-New York City” to “Colt-address-Hartford Conn” on those revolvers sold to the South.

[donmeaker]

So many Springfield rifles had been stolen by the rebels, that there was a shortage in the north. Enfield rifles were purchased and used. They were exchanged for the superior Springfield when an opportunity (capture or new production) presented itself.

[donmeaker]

I am sure a small number of Hall breech loaders were still in service, but you are right, most infantry weapons were muzzle loaders.

http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/revolvers.htm

a nice site that discusses revolver manufacture.

[donmeaker]

WWII US had similar difficulty to a lesser extent. .30/06, .30 Carbine, .45ACP, .50 Browning were all found in infantry units.

[driftless2]

Yes, but the Henry was a sixteen shot, repeater which could be fired as quick as a soldier could pull the lever and shoot. It took a good, musket-loading soldier about twenty seconds to load the rifle and shoot one shot. No comparison, the Henry wins. The Union big thinkers thought that soldiers would waste too much ammo and not take careful aim with a Henry. Plus, like a lot of stodgy people in all professions, they were comfortable with the old. There is an argument about whether it was more powerful than the Spencer (another great repeater), but experts say the Henry saved the Union army from complete slaughter by 535 men with Henry’s stopping a Rebel charge. Which would you rather have in a battle against people firing at you with muzzle-loaders: the sixteen shot, fast-firing Henry or a rifle that would take you about thirty seconds to load?

[exit82]

Of general interest to you,perhaps?

[Inyo-Mono]

Which would you rather have in a battle against people firing at you with muzzle-loaders: the sixteen shot, fast-firing Henry or a rifle that would take you about thirty seconds to load?

I used to have a flintlock rifle and it took me over a minute to load at my fastest pace, so of course I would take the Henry. You just have to keep your hand away from the cartridge follower on the Henry tube to prevent your hand from blocking it plus they had no wooden foremarm and the barrel gets mighty hot after several rounds. : )