tnt-hunter
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I recently found out that our family has had a confederate pistol since the civil war. It was a big family secret and only a few members of the family knew about it. It was taken in battle by one of my ancestors and quietly passed from one male family member to the next. The only condition was that it had to be passed to a male member bearing our family name. I have 38 cousins, but only 2 of us are male with a male son and in my case a male grandson. My older brother called recently and told me about the pistol and that I was the next in line to have the pistol and to pass it on. I made the 3 hour drive and picked it up last weekend.
It is in good shape and my understanding is it has not been fired since it was acquired in the war. It is an 1851 model colt from a batch manufactured in 1859. It is classified as a Navy colt because it is a .36 caliber instead of the 1860 Army .44 caliber. It was part of the last batch of weapons shipped to the confederacy before the weapons embargo. My brother gave me this info and I need to do more research to see what else I can find out. Unfortunately the story of the weapon did not travel with it through the family as it was passed along. The exact story of how it was taken, what battle was involved and even which relative acquired it has been lost. My brother says he has been trying to get info from Colt to try and track the original owner to return it to that family, but he says the records were all destroyed in the war.
One thing that makes this a nice piece is all the visible serial numbers match. So the gun has all original parts.
I’m not sure what the U. C. Under Colts Patent means. Anyone able to help out there?
The butt has 4 notches cut into it that may indicate 4 kills but that is just a guess.
The holster was not properly cared for so that is a shame. You can see the white stripes where someone used medical adhesive tape to hold it together at one time.
I still want to do more research to see if there is more info out there my brother missed somehow.
When my grandson gets older he is going to have quite a gun collection. I also have my grandfather’s pump .22 he used to hunt with as a boy and my wife’s grandfathers Colt model 1911 he used in WW1 complete with US holster and magazine. (I even have the receipt from when it was purchased when he mustered out at Fort Dix in 1919.) He will also get a nice little black powder boot pistol from my wife’s family.
Thanks for looking, stay safe and may your coil lead you to good things.
It is in good shape and my understanding is it has not been fired since it was acquired in the war. It is an 1851 model colt from a batch manufactured in 1859. It is classified as a Navy colt because it is a .36 caliber instead of the 1860 Army .44 caliber. It was part of the last batch of weapons shipped to the confederacy before the weapons embargo. My brother gave me this info and I need to do more research to see what else I can find out. Unfortunately the story of the weapon did not travel with it through the family as it was passed along. The exact story of how it was taken, what battle was involved and even which relative acquired it has been lost. My brother says he has been trying to get info from Colt to try and track the original owner to return it to that family, but he says the records were all destroyed in the war.
One thing that makes this a nice piece is all the visible serial numbers match. So the gun has all original parts.
I’m not sure what the U. C. Under Colts Patent means. Anyone able to help out there?
The butt has 4 notches cut into it that may indicate 4 kills but that is just a guess.
The holster was not properly cared for so that is a shame. You can see the white stripes where someone used medical adhesive tape to hold it together at one time.
I still want to do more research to see if there is more info out there my brother missed somehow.
When my grandson gets older he is going to have quite a gun collection. I also have my grandfather’s pump .22 he used to hunt with as a boy and my wife’s grandfathers Colt model 1911 he used in WW1 complete with US holster and magazine. (I even have the receipt from when it was purchased when he mustered out at Fort Dix in 1919.) He will also get a nice little black powder boot pistol from my wife’s family.
Thanks for looking, stay safe and may your coil lead you to good things.
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