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The presentations were also likely in part of a show of good faith
and support for the Union after reports of Colt selling arms to the
Confederacy and rumors that he was a southern sympathizer.
November 1, 1861, is also, perhaps coincidentally, significant as
the day General George McClellan was promoted to general-in-
chief of the Union Armies after Winfield Scott’s resignation at
the end of October. Per the “Hartford Courant,” Secretary of War
Simon Cameron and his party as well as that of Governor William
A. Buckingham of Connecticut and his staff arrived at Coltsville
under the guidance of Samuel Colt himself for a tour of the Colt
factory as well the factory of the Sharps Rifle Co. Afterwards, the
guests were conveyed to Armsmear where they were entertained
by the Colt family. It is very likely some of these sets were
presented at that time either at the factory or in Colt’s home. Who
was all in attendance is not listed, but it very likely included other
recipients of these sets. Samuel Colt died a little over two months
following the presentation of these revolvers on January 10, 1862,
making this his last block of presentation revolvers and therefore
particularly significant in the history of Colt firearms even besides
their connections to various important figures in the government
and military during the Civil War.
By the time this set was presented around November 1861,
General Ripley had been appointed Chief of Ordnance and
was among the most influential figures in the U.S. military and
the Union war effort, particularly in terms of government arms
contracts. Ripley was a highly time seasoned officer in his late
60s with extensive experience in the Ordnance Department. He
had been born on December 10, 1794, in Colt’s home state of
Connecticut and graduated from West Point in the Class of 1813
during the War of 1812. He fought at Sacketts Harbor against the
British and went on to serve in the Seminole War in Florida. In the
early 1830s, he was in command at Charleston Harbor and soon
moved into the Ordnance Department and was in command of
the Kennebec Arsenal from 1833 until 1843 when he became the
superintendent of the Springfield Armory, the government’s most
important arms factory and arsenal. There he led massive updates
to both the workforce and the armory itself leading some to
dub the armory “Ripley’s Monument.” Though later known for his
conservative attitude towards newer firearms technologies, Ripley
was a direct part in the significant shift from smoothbore flintlock
muskets to the percussion rifles and rifle-muskets that would
be the primary arms of the infantry during the “War Between
the States” as well as the shift from single shot pistols to Colt’s
revolvers.
This historic set was preceded by another presentation revolver
from Samuel Colt to Ripley. The earlier revolver is a Model
1851 Navy manufactured in 1854 listing his rank as colonel
in the inscription. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on
December 31, 1854, and had only recently transferred from being
superintendent of Springfield Armory to serving as commandant
of the Watertown Arsenal. He also served as chief of ordnance
for the Pacific Department in the antebellum era and was sent
to Japan and was supposed to then head for an inspection of
arsenals in Europe but instead returned home rapidly after the
news of the rebellion and was promoted to full colonel in April
1861 and given command of the Ordnance Department of the U.S.
Army. The greatest test of his career would be the responsibility
of arming the influx of volunteers attempting to fend off the
Confederate armies and re-unify the country. Ripley aimed to do
so efficiently and with American guns not foreign imports. No
one knew how long the war would last. Many, including Ripley,
believed the war would be short and was hesitant to purchase
arms in mass, particularly newer technologies and imported
arms. If the war was over quickly, the expense would be wasteful.
The peacetime U.S. Army had totaled only a little over 16,000
men, and the U.S. had defeated Mexico with only a little over
100,000 men armed primarily with smoothbore muskets during
in the Mexican-American War. Initially, Lincoln had only called
for 75,000 recruits, and the government had many older arms in
storage despite the arms captured from southern arsenals by the
Confederacy. However, after the Union defeat at First Bull Run, the
government authorized another 500,000 recruits on July 22, 1861,
the first sign of the massive number of men that would join the
fight. Ultimately, over 2 million men would take up arms for the
Union, a truly unprecedented number.
Colt Factory Collection display card
240