Find out about the Colt Percussion Revolvers on display by clicking/pressing the play button. Scroll down to view the images. At the end there is a short video demonstrating how to load a Colt 1851 Navy Revolver. You can follow along with the audio's script at the end of the page.
George Maddox (Wilson's Creek National Battlefield)
Colt 1851 Navy Revolver (Wikimedia Commons)
Samuel Colt (Wikimedia Commons)
Colt Pocket Percussion Revolver (Westport Historical Society)
Colt Pocket Percussion Revolver showing the loading lever open (Westport Historical Society)
This is a short YouTube video (produced by Lylea876) showing how to load a Colt Model 1851 Navy Revolver.
The guerrilla figure sitting in the chair was made in the likeness of George Maddox, a member of the guerrilla band of William Clark Quantrill. He is holding a pair of Colt Model 1851 Navy Revolver non-firing replicas. The Colt Model 1851 Navy Revolver was very popular with Confederate aligned guerrillas operating in Missouri during the Civil War. It was light and could be fired six times before it needed to be reloaded. The guerrillas often carried more than one of these revolvers.
In his biography of Jesse James, T. J. Stiles described the use of this revolver in Missouri.
"The most common pistol in use in Missouri was Colt’s 1851 Navy model, a .36 caliber revolver, which had not yet been adapted to take the new all-in-one metal cartridge. Instead, each of the six chambers in the revolving cylinder had to be filled with gunpowder and a lead ball, which was then rammed home and sealed with a bit of grease. A percussion cap, containing fulminate of mercury, had to be fitted on a nipple outside each chamber; when struck by the hammer, the cap would set off the charge inside. Loading was such time-consuming work that each guerrilla carried four or even six revolvers into combat, simply drawing a new pistol when one was emptied or jammed. Loading was also dangerous. According to one account, Jesse blew off the tip of the middle finger of his left hand while loading a Navy revolver sometime in 1863."
Designed by Samuel Colt between 1847 and 1850, it was a cap and ball revolver. The six-round Model 1851 Navy revolver was much lighter than the earlier Colt Model 1848 Percussion Army Revolver (also known as the Colt Dragoon Revolver). The Colt Dragoon fired a .44 caliber ball and weighed 4 and a quarter pounds. It was carried in pommel holsters on the saddle. The Model 1851 Navy Revolver fired a .36 caliber ball and weighed around 2 and a half pounds. It was almost two inches shorter than the Colt Dragoon and was carried in a belt holster. It was called the “Navy” because engraved on the cylinder was a naval battle scene from the Mexican American War.
Just before the Civil War began, Colt released the Colt Army Model 1860 revolver. This revolver was based on the Model 1851 Navy whose design had been modified to enable the firing of .44 caliber balls. The Army Model 1860 had essentially the same dimensions and weight as the Model 1851 Navy.
Also on display at the museum is a Colt Pocket Percussion Revolver that was owned by Dr. William Warren Harris, husband of Nellie McCoy Harris who was the daughter of John Calvin McCoy. This Colt Pocket pistol fired a .31 caliber ball and weighed less than two pounds. John Calvin McCoy was an early inhabitant of Westport. In 1833, McCoy built a log house in the northeast corner of the intersection of present-day Westport Road and Pennsylvania Avenue. He lived there and operated a trading post for people traveling on the Santa Fe Trail.
Loading the revolver was time consuming. Each chamber had to be loaded individually. The guerrillas worked around this issue by carrying more than one revolver.
A precise amount of black powder was poured into the chamber.
A round lead ball was inserted onto the chamber.
The cylinder was rotated to place the chamber beneath the loading lever.
The loading lever pressed the lead ball fully into the chamber.
A standard percussion cap was placed on the chamber’s nipple.
Lee, Fred L. “Gone but Not Forgotten: Death of John Calvin McCoy, an Old and Respected Citizen.” Kansas City Genealogist 39, no. 1 (Summer 1998): 39–40.
Stiles, T. J. Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War. New York: Random House, 2002.
Walter, John. Weapons of the Civil War Cavalryman. Kindle., 2020.
Wikipedia. “Colt 1851 Navy Revolver,” December 28, 2021. Link.
Wikipedia. “Colt Dragoon Revolver,” January 11, 2022. Link.
Wikipedia. “Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers,” November 27, 2021. Link.
Wikipedia. “Samuel Colt,” February 17, 2022. Link.
Written and produced by Dick Titterington, aka theCivilWarMuse.