Page 210 - 4094-BOOK1

LOT 202
Historic “W. O. Owen/Lynchburg, Va”
Inscribed Colt Third Model Dragoon
Percussion Revolver Identified as Owned
by the Confederate Surgeon-in-Chief of
the Hospitals in Lynchburg - Serial no.
15398, 44 cal., 7 1/2 inch part round bbl.,
blue/casehardened/silver finish, walnut grips.
The revolver was manufactured in 1855 and
features a German silver blade front sight,
“ADDRESS SAML COLT NEW-YORK CITY-”
on top of the barrel, “COLTS/PATENT” on the left side of the frame, the Texas Rangers and
Comanche battle scene with “MODEL U.S.M.R.” and “COLTS PATENT” on the cylinder, “V”
and “G” on the left side of the trigger guard, a varnished walnut grip, and matching serial
numbers on the wedge, arbor pin, cylinder, loading lever, barrel, frame, trigger guard, and
back strap. There is a also a “2” ahead of the number on the barrel and perpendicular to the
number on the cylinder. The silver plated back strap is inscribed “W. O. Owen/Lynchburg, Va”
on the butt.
The revolver is accompanied by a research letter from R. L. Wilson and National Archives
records for William O. Owen as well as a cased half-plate ambrotype portrait of a young lady
marked “AMBROTYPE BY/KEAGY/P.E. GIBBS” and “LYNCHBURG” and a portrait of an older
gentleman with stamp for John H. Upton’s studio in Richmond, Virginia, on the back as well
as “Richard L. Page” marked at the top. Wilson noted that the revolver was owned by William
Otway Owen, M.D. (1820-1892) of Lynchburg, Virginia, who was a distinguished surgeon
with the Confederacy as documented by the records and was the surgeon in charge of
the Lynchburg General Hospital during the Civil War. Wilson notes that the inscription is
“contemporary with the service of the revolver, and was likely executed by a jewelry or
firearms engraver...It is entirely possible the inscription was done at the Colt factory. The
serial number record for that revolver has yet to be discovered. It is likely that shipment
from Hartford took place late in the 1850s, prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.”
Dr. William Otway Owen was born on October 20, 1820, to Dr. William Owen (1788-1875)
and Jane Latham Owen (1795-1827). His step-mother, Otway Anna Carter (1805-1852)
was the great-niece of George Washington and once owned the famous John Ramage
miniature portrait of Washington. Owen was thus born into one of the prominent families
in Lynchburg, Virginia. After his education Dr. W. O. Owen initially worked as a civil engineer
on the James River and Kanawha Canal before turning his attention to medicine and
studied in the medical department of the New York University, graduating in 1842. He was
noted both as a general practitioner and an especially skilled surgeon. His brother Colonel
Robert Latham Owen Sr. was also a civil engineer and surveyor and was the president of
the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad during the Civil War and thus took an active role in
the movement of Confederate troops and supplies. Colonel Owen and his wife Narcissa
(granddaughter of Cherokee Chief John D. Chisholm) owned the famous Point of Honor in
Lynchburg. After the war, he served as a state senator during reconstruction.
Wilson indicates that Dr. Owen served as a private and sergeant early in the Civil War in B
Company of the 14th Regiment of Virginia Volunteers known as the Bedford Rifle Greys and
Captain Thomas Leftwich’s Company of Riflemen. He enlisted for a 12 month term on April
24, 1861, shortly after the beginning of hostilities. National Archive records indicate that he
was appointed to the Medical Department on June 29, 1861, and was confirmed on April 4,
1863. Other entries indicate he was appointed surgeon in Virginia on May 3, 1861. He was
posted in Lynchburg where he became the surgeon in charge of General Hospital No. 1 by
May 1862. He was off duty sick starting on March 22, 1864, and returned to work on May
5th. He was noted as “absent from 6 to 23 May with A. N. V. as member of Reserve Surgeon
Corps. Resumed his duties at this post 23 May...” He was also absent from December 9-12,
1862, to appear before the Army Medical Board and then the 12th through the 23rd to serve
as temporary operating surgeon for the Army of Northern Virginia.” This would be during
and just following the Battle of Fredericksburg. During the war, he came to be surgeon-in-
chief for the thirty Confederate hospitals in Lynchburg carrying for the large number of sick
and wounded. Near the end of the war, Lynchburg served as the capital of Virginia after
the fall of Richmond. Dr. Owen was paroled on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House
with Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia just twenty miles from Lynchburg. The city was
surrendered on April 12, 1864, and Dr. Owen was paroled again on April 16, 1865,
208