The .22 versions btw worked very, very, well. You simply dropped the lever and tossed a cartridge on the huge loading platform. If you tilted the barrel down, the little .22 would find it's way into the chamber every time. Usually all you had to do then was raise the lever and the breech block cammed the cartridge all the way into the chamber. I could kick myself for trading it off.
You are correct. The .22 rimfire was introduced by Smith & Wesson in 1857 for their No. 1 revolver under the Rollin White patent. By 1861 they began production of the .32 rimfire for the Model 2 revolver. Many were carried by soldiers during the War Between the States.
Until 1869, when the patent ran out, Smith & Wesson was the only gun company legally producing cartridge revolvers with bored through cylinders.