Confederate Soldier Holding a Colt Model 1852 Navy
By John Sexton · Originally published January-February 2025 · pp. 3–9
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Colt Military Service Pistols
On the cover: U.S. Navy Contract Colt Model 1900. Cover photographs courtesy Rock Island Auction Company. See article on page 34.
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Confederate Soldier holding a Colt Model 1851 Navy By John Sexton
Image courtesy Liljenquist Family collection (Library of Congress).
This fine Confederate ambrotype shows an early war Confederate soldier dressed in a battle shirt wearing a double roller buckle knife belt with an integral over-the-shoulder strap to support the weight of the massive Bowie knife he displays proudly. The bowie is a rarely seen double D-guard. The pistol he brandishes is a U.S. Colt Model 1851 Navy revolver. The Colt Navy was the preferred revolver in the South. Confederate manufacturers copied the Colt Navy almost exclusively. We can tell by the size of the trigger guard that this was 4th model, the type made during the Civil War. Colt navy revolvers had smaller trigger guards before 1858, starting at about serial number 85,000; large trigger guards were exclusively used. About 75,000 Colt Navy revolvers were manufactured during the Civil War, 1861–1864, with many more U.S. Army prewar contracted navies in service. Over 200,000 Colt 1851 navies were produced starting in 1851. Prior to 1850, Colt was producing large frame .44 caliber Dragoon pistols and a smaller .31 caliber Baby Dragoon or pocket model later. Colt foresaw the need for a smaller pistol than the Dragoon, with more punch than the .31 caliber Model 1849 pocket or house gun, which was very popular. When the 1851 Navy was introduced, it became quite a success, with the U.S. Navy buying sizable quantities. Because of navy purchases, the “51 Navy” designation began. Notable Southern military officers carried this model before and during the Civil War, including Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. Southerners preferred the 1851 Model as being more elegant and graceful revolver. The updated version of the .44 caliber Dragoon was not introduced until 1860, another reason the 1851 Navy saw more use in the South—several Southern states, seeing the war coming, purchased both Colt navies and Colt armies in significant quantities. Thousands of Colts somehow found their way to the South, even guns manufactured after the war began. It is known that Nathan Bedford Forrest was able to purchase Navy revolvers in Saint Louis well after trade was made illegal. The Hartford newspaper editorialized that Sam Colt was a traitor selling revolvers to the South, and sales abruptly ended. Samuel Colt was never one to worry
about the final destination of his pistols as long as an agent in New York or Hartford was paying cash. The 4th model Colt 1851 Navy revolver of the Civil War era has a 7.5-inch octagonal barrel marked on top of the barrel “Address Sam’l Colt” with either “Hartford” or “New York,” depending on the date made. Small stamped “COLT’S / PATENT” is stamped on the left side of the frame. The 6-shot cylinder has a rolled scene of the 1843 Texas Navy battle.
The pistol image is reversed here to show the actual view of the firearm. Civil War glass plate photography always shows a mirror image.
Well-worn Civil War Colt 4th Model 1851 Navy revolver with New York address, made mid-1861, SN 111754.
Samuel Colt.
The top of the barrel of SN 111754 is marked: “— ADDRESS COL SAML COLT NEW – YORK. U S AMERICA —”
(Lot 3121, Poulin’s Antiques & Auctions, June 2020)
The cylinder scene that was used for the Colt Model 1851 Navy. “Action between two Texas sloops of War / and the Mexican Squadron off Campeche / April 30 - 1843. GW Moore.”
Photographs from the Original Article
Captions and credits appear in the article text as originally printed.