Robert L. Wilson - The Peacemakers: Arms and Adventure in the American West

Other Books by R. L. Wilson

Winchester: An American Legend

Colt: An American Legend

Winchester Engraving

Colt Engraving

Winchester: The Golden Age of American Gunmaking and the Winchester 1 of 1000

Samuel Colt Presents

The Arms Collection of Colonel Colt

L. D. Nimschke Firearms Engraver

The Rampant Colt

Colt Commemorative Firearms (two editions)

Theodore Roosevelt Outdoorsman

Antique Arms Annual (editor)

The Book of Colt Firearms (with R. Q. Sutherland)

The Book of Colt Engraving

The Book of Winchester Engraving

Colt Pistols

Colt Handguns (Japanese)

Paterson Colt Pistol Variations (with P. R. Phillips)

The Colt Heritage

The Deringer in America (with L. D. Eberhart, two volumes)

Colts Dates of Manufacture

Copyright 1992 by R. L Wilson

Photographs 1992 by Peter Beard, G. Allan Brown,

Susan Einstein, and Douglas Sandberg

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

Published by arrangement with R. L. Wilson

Book design: Martin Moskof

Design assistant: George Brady

Book production: Linda Kaye

Endpaper: From the Greg Martin Americana Collection. An elaborate Buffalo Bill Cody saddle, by G. H. & J. S. Collins, Omaha, Nebraska, serves as centerpiece for a potpourri of Western memorabilia and arms. At top left , the Stevens 10-gauge double-barrel shotgun used by Wyatt Earp and Wells Fargo special agent Fred Dodge, number 927; to its right , Buffalo Bills engraved Savage .32 automatic, number 33177. Above and to the right , the Captain Jack Crawford Winchester Model 1873 .22, presented to him by the factory, number 499609. Beneath Captain Jacks rifle is the most elaborate badge known from the West, in various colors of gold, and inscribed to Sacramento Police Chief Oliver Cowdery Jackson, March 13,1885. At center left , a gold-plated and Ulrich-engraved Marlin Model 97 .22 lever-action rifle used by Annie Oakley, number 288890. Below and at left , the Texas Jack Omohundro S&W American, a presentation by him to the Earl of Dunraven, engraved on the backstop Earl Dunraven/from Texas Jack , number 4868. To its left , a gold watch presented to Sheriff Pat Garrett for killing Billy the Kid, the fob with gold star badge inscribed: PAT F. GARRETT/SHERIFF/DONAANA CO./N.M. Badge at right also Garretts, of gold, and inscribed on the back To/Pat Garrett/with the best/Regards of/A. J. Fountain/1881 .

At lower left , Indian flintlock trade musket of exceptional quality, decorated with silver and brass, c. 1820. Model 1878 Colt Frontier revolver below , number 33233, was made by the factory for Captain Jack Crawford and is inscribed on the backstop Presented to Capt. Jack Crawford/by the Colts Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co. Pair of Williamson deringers at lower left , numbers 4808 and 4811, are similar to pistol carried by Wild Bill Hickok. Half-plate ambrotype of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at left center never previously illustrated.

At top right , the Winchester Model 1892 .44-40 carbine with large-loop cocking lever used by Chuck Connors in The Rifleman , number 985658. Beneath is a Michael Price San Francisco Bowie knife, mounted in ivory and gold, with silver scabbard. Below , the left-handed Sharps Model 1853 Sporting Rifle, made by the factory for exhibition purposes and richly engraved by Gustave Young; shown at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1856. Below at right , a Smith & Wesson Schofield .45 revolver, made for Wells Fargo & Co., and marked on the barrel W.F. & CO EX. 1878. Beneath at right , the oil painting of W.F & Co. bulldog Guarding the Goods, by J. Walcom, San Francisco, 1885 (12 by 14 inches). Colt Model 1862 Police revolver at left has cut-down barrel and is inscribed Wells, Fargo & Co. on backstop, number 39251. Revolvers and painting rest on rare Wells Fargo Mug Book of the 1860s-70s, showing California desperadoes. California gold quartz watch, chain, and fob from gold rush era, to left of bulldog painting. Beneath , a presentation-inscribed, ivorygripped dragoon-size pepperbox by Allen & Co., number 37, dated 1849 and inscribed to soldier of fortune William Walker by his friends of the Boston & Maine Railroad. At right center , Annie Oakleys J. Stevens presentation target rifle, with gold-plated and engraved frame, number 25640. Annies show belt is draped across the barrel. Rifle below is the Kickapoo Indian presentation .22 Colt Lightning, deluxe-engraved and finished in half nickel and gold, number 10570. Below Annies photograph is Stagecoach King Ben Holladays Winchester Model 1866 rifle, inscribed with his name and Ulrich-engraved, number 38586. Beneath is a California Bowie knife, with silver hilt and scabbard, made in San Francisco, engraved on the scabbard with the inscription Presented by/Mr. lthamar Witing/to/Capt. Jeremiah S. Silva,/while in Command of Sloop Velos,/on the Sacramento River,/California. (Douglas Sandberg photograph)

Frontispiece: Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, with scouts and white interpreter, two years before the Last Stand at the Little Bighorn. Pointing at the map on the generals lap is Bloody Knife, Custers chief scout. Remington rolling-block rifle, Bowie knife, and Colt Single Action revolvers carefully positioned for camera. Two of Custers hunting dogs reclined comfortably. At left , nickel-plated Colt Single Action (echoing those of the scouts) rests on period holster Indian hunting knife, with well-worn blade, accompanied by beaded scabbard. Flintlock trade musket shows evidence of considerable use in Indian hands. Photograph positioned on rare unexposed daguerreotype plate, of silver-plated copper. (Peter Beard photograph)

Charles Schreyvogel at his easel, imaging the American West Costumed as a cavalryman, the model posed on the artists Hoboken, New Jersey, apartment rooftop (1903). The revolver was the classic Colt Peacemaker, the de rguer handgun for the vast majority of Western action paintings.

T he American West: an adventure, a way of life, a spirit, and a time and place symbolized around the world by the cowboy, the frontiersman, and the gunfighter, and by their arms. Among the latter are chiefly the Colt Peacemaker revolver and the Winchester Model 1873 rifle. These peacemakers, and thousands more shooting irons are also captivating props playing before countless millions of Wild West buffs in the arena, on stage and the radio, in the cinema and on television.

Historian Frederick Jackson Turner stated that the three major tools in the development of America were the plow, the axe, and the gun. Plows and axes do not make for colorful or intriguing collectors items, but the gun has a magnetic, magical attraction and has captivated the hearts and minds of aficionados around the world since the days the Great Western Adventure began.

Many a history-maker of the West itself had an infatuation with firearms and other weaponry. The affection and care devoted to trusty arms sometimes led to anointing favorites with nicknames: Lucretia Borgia for Buffalo Bill Codys trusty buffalo rifle, Sam Colt for artist George Catlins tried-and-true Paterson Colt revolving rifle, and the Widow for scout and showman Texas Jack Omohundros Plains rifle. Countless diaries, letters, and other documentsand thousands of surviving period photographsattest to the importance of these peacemakers. Often arms proved to be instruments of life insurance, whether or not they bore out the frontier poem about the Colt: