The Walker Colts

The Walker Colts

These early Colt arms were to gain national recognition a few years later in the hands of the Texas Rangers under John C. Hays, Samuel H. Walker and others. During the conquest of California in 1846, a few Colt revolving cylinder carbines were issued to sailors of the Pacific Squadron when these men were used as skirmishers in the attack on Los Angeles. A party of’49era stranded in Death Valley was rescued by William Manly and John Rogers with the aid of a Colt caplock cylinder rifle.
From the early 1840s onward the Topographical Engineers of the U.S. Army began to play an important role in mapping the West and determining travel routes ,selecting sites for forts and settlements, and eventually mapping the route for the transcontinental railroad. One of the first to head a government exploration of the country lying between the Missouri River and the Pacific slope, was a young lieutenant of the Topographical Engineers, John Charles Fremont, a very controversial figure in western history. Altogether Fremont made five trips of exploration into the West, but only three were made in behalf of the government. Of these three trips we have good accounts, and through old records deep in the archives of the General Service Administration I have learned, among other things, a lot about the firearms Fremont selected for these journeys and where he bought them.
The first Fremont government exploration proceeded only to the Rocky Mountains, but the second expedition in 1843-1844 and the journey in 1845-1846 extended through to California. Fremont’s companions for the most part were voyageurs of French extraction, but he did have Kit Carson to guide him on all three trips along with Alexander Godey and a few others on whom he could fully rely, such as Charles Preuss , a German topographer. Not many guns showed up in Fremont’s purchases for the first trip, the men he hired usually supplying their own. Up the Missouri at Westport a shotgun and eight rifles were purchased from the Chouteau trading post along with some shot pouches, powder horns, powder, lead and percussion caps.

The Hall caplock carbine the Model 1836 flintlock horse pistol and the saber were the first military weapons to travel overland in the West, carried by General Kearny’s mounted infantrymen called “Dragoons.”
Fremont’s Arsenals

Before leaving Washington for his second trek in 1843 Fremont purchased from Charles Renard “one large Swiss rifle” at $40. In May 1843, he stopped in at the shop of J. & S. Hawken in St. Louis to have two brace of pistols “percussioned,” a rifle barrel dressed out and a new nipple installed. From William Campbell he bought a double barrel shotgun and along the route west he purchased several guns from individuals
By the time Fremont was ready to outfit his party for his third trip, across the western plains and mountains to California, he had learned the importance of good quality firearms.
From the gun store of Joseph Cooper at New York he purchased in April, 1845, the following:
1 Pair officers pistols in case, complete $50

3 rifles with German silver mounts, patent breech, hair triggers. Percussion bar action locks @ $20. $60
12 rifles as above with steel mounts and back action locks @ $ 20. $240
With the pair of pistols and the 15 rifles, Fremont bought woolen covers for the rifles, 6 extra locks and cocks, nipples, nipple wrenches and 5000”Best English percussion caps (probably Eley’s) Still on the lookout for good rifles, Fremont stopped in Louisville enroute west and on May 24 purchased from Dickson & Gilmore eight half-stock caplock rifles with the patent breech,along with some powder horns and percussion caps.
Reaching St. Louis Fremont was still in a buying mood, obtaining a rifle from Hoffman & Campbell. His most important purchase, however, was made on June 8, 1845, when he purchased the following from J.&S.Hawken:
27 rifles @ $20 $540.00
1 “ @ $22 $ 22.00
2 “ @ $30 $ 60.00
Repairs
No doubt Kit Carson, long a user of Hawken rifles, had convinced Fremont that these were the best guns for what lay ahead. The Fremont party, now well armed, proceeded on its arduous and dangerous travels westward. Fremont later stated that some of the rifles he bought in 1845 were obtained with the object of offering them as prizes for the best marksmanship, to be shot for during the journey.
On the Pacific slope, Fremont had repaired by Peter Lassen and John Sutter. He purchased supplies at various places including the Leidesdorff store at Yerba Buena and the store of Henry Mellus, where, on July 2, 1846, he purchased a pair of pistols, 5 muskets, powder, lead, flints and percussion caps.
This ambitious young son-in-law of Senator Benton held various military ranks, but other than his explorations John Charles Fremont’s services as a military officer and as a politican were unimpressive and controversial. He did earn a place in the history books , and guns were an inseparable part of his early career when he was known as “ The Pathfinder”
The Fremont journeys into California were not altogether in the interest of topographical information. War with Mexico was threatening and California was a rich prize—Fremont’s “explorations” could provide important information.
A moment of decision of decision was reached concerning the Mexican War and how the United States must react in the western territories. In May of 1846 General Stephen W. Kearny led his “Army of the West” out of Fort Leavenworth toward Mexican Santa Fe. Kearny’s command was made up of 1700 mounted infantrymen known as the First Dragoons. Each trooper was armed with a Hall breechloading caplock carbine, a Model 1836 flintlock horse pistol and a heavy saber.

The U.S. flintlock musket (top) is the type used by sailors of the pacific Squadron in the Mexican War. Below it, the popular Model 1841 caliber 54 “Mississippi” rifle.