Samuel Colt

Abstract

The first World Exposition of the Works of Industry held at London’s Crystal Palace in 1851 represented a salute to technology, invention, and progress. Reflecting the nineteenth-century belief in industrial development, the exhibition halls were filled with exciting displays from manufacturers. But none was more attractive than the one set up by Samuel Colt. Colt created a magnificent exhibit of his famous six-shooters, shaping five hundred of them into a shield, emblematic of their ability to protect the common man. But what struck the observer most were the beautiful hand-engraved barrels and handles of these pistols, for they resembled a work of art as much as a weapon. Europeans were astounded that such firearms could be produced so quickly in factories using standard parts rather than through the laborious work of individual craftsmen. Despite their aesthetic appeal and wondrous method of manufacture, an excerpt from a U.S. Senate Committee Report attached to Colt’s presentation demonstrated the true worth of the revolvers. It read, “On the Texan frontier, and on the several routes to California, the Indian Tribes are renewing their murderous warfare, and a general Indian war is likely to ensue, unless bodies of mounted men, efficiently equipped for such service, are employed against them.” ¹