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Kopec notes that “after considerable consideration, together with the only logical evidence, it is the opinion of this written that our subject revolver #8554 had originally been issued to the 8th Cavalry within a block of revolvers beginning with #8357 and ending with serial #8886. A rather significant sampling of these 8th Cavalry revolvers including #8606, #8609, #8784, #8842 and #8886 were reported as being ‘stolen’ (deserters?) as early as June 19th 1876. These revolvers were only about two years old when they had been ‘liberated.’ It is therefore very possible that our subject revolver had also been stolen from the 8th Cavalry during the early Indian Wars period.” However, the revolver is also accompanied by a statement signed by John F. Hartley who indicates he owned a sword and sheath, spurs, and pistol passed down to him by his father, John D. Hartley, prior to the latter’s death in 1991 and indicated that they had all been owned by General Thomas Warren Bennett who gave them to Bennett Grove. According to an article in The Palladium-Item and Sun-Telegram of Richmond, Indiana, on August 13, 1943, Bennett Miller Grove (1875-1962) was the son of Dr. John L. Grove, a dentist in Liberty, and was named after Bennett and Col. John Miller who were friends of Dr. Grove, and “Uncle Tom” gave young Grove his first suit. Another included letter indicates the revolver was later acquired from Sue Hartley, and now the revolver comes to us via another Indiana family. Newspaper clippings and other documents relating to Thomas W. Bennett and some of the items are also included.
Thomas Warren Bennett (1831-1893) was born in Union County, Indiana, and studied law at Ashbury University (present day DePauw University) and graduated in 1854 and was elected a professor of mathematics and natural science at Whitewater College in Centerville and worked there until 1855 and then practiced law in Liberty, Indiana, and was elected as a state senator in 1858. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he raised a company of volunteers and was a captain in the 15th Indiana Volunteers and later as a major in the 36th and colonel in the 69th and later a brigadier general. He fought in numerous battles during the Vicksburg Campaign under Grant and led his brigade during the Red River Campaign under General Nathaniel P. Banks. In 1864, he was also elected as a state senator, and in 1868 moved to Richmond, Indiana, where he served as mayor for two years before being appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to serve as the
territorial governor of Idaho in 1871-1875. In 1874, he ran for congressional delegate for the territory and was initially believed to have won but was found to have lost upon review. He returned to Richmond where he was again elected mayor in 1877-1883 and 1885-1887. Like many Civil War veterans, he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he was also on the Soldiers’ Monument Commission until his death. When he died, he was noted as “Richmond’s Best Known Citizen.” He had been ill for two years, and some sources indicate the illness was the result of sunstroke from his time in the army. It does not appear that he had any children that survived to adulthood, so a gift of some of his possessions to the son of a friend that had been named after him would certainly make sense.
How exactly Bennett would have acquired a government issued revolver is not immediately clear, but, while territorial governor in Idaho, he worked to get the
most up to date firearms for the territorial militia, including Colt Single Action Army revolvers. The Idaho Statesman, for example, on August 20, 1874, states: “On the 13th of August, Governor Bennett made a requisition on the Ordnance Department for the quota of arms apportioned to this Territory, designating the kind of arms desired. He has received a notice that his requisition has been complied with and that the commanding officer of the Benecia Arsenal has been directed to forward at once
the following: 86 Springfield carbines; 86 Colt’s revolvers; 86 cavalry sabres; 86 sets
cavalry accoutrements; 8,600 carbine cartridges; 8,600 pistol cartridges. These arms
are of the latest pattern, and are similar to those with which the Custer expedition is armed, making a complete outfit for a cavalry company of 86 men.” It is possible this revolver was acquired by the governor in relation to that effort. Kopec in his letter notes that “Idaho received their initial consignment of these revolvers on August 3rd 1874
near the middle of the 3rd Quarter of 1874. The remaining exceptional condition of this revolver could possibly indicate prior militia association.” He also notes that many of the militia revolvers exchanged for Colt double actions c. 1902 were sold off as surplus through Bannerman’s and were noted to be in “almost new” condition.
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