July 18, 2025 • 27 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, The Colt revolver became one of the most iconic weapons in American history, earning nicknames such as "the Peacemaker" and "the Equalizer." But who was Samuel Colt, and how did he build something so enduring? His journey stretched from humble beginnings to industrial triumph, leaving behind a legacy that outlived him and came to define the Wild West. Our own Greg Hengler shares the story.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star, and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins,
Fort Worth, Texas. There's an old West adage that goes
something like this quote God created man, and Abe Lincoln
freed them, but Sam Coult made them equal. Colt revolver
(00:34):
has been called the peacemaker, the equalizer, and the gun
that won the West. Phil Anschutz writes in Out Where
the West Begins, quote, Samuel Colt's life was the American
story written in capital letters. Here's Greg Henglo with the
story of Samuel Colt.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Samuel Colt is born July nineteenth, eighteen fourteen in Hartford, Connecticut.
His first five years of life are spent in privilege
because of his father's business success, but from the age
of six to fourteen, Samuel Colt loses his mother and
sister to tuberculosis, and then loses a brother and another
(01:14):
sister to suicide. At eleven, he's indentured to a farmer.
Colt begins reading from the Compendium of Knowledge, a scientific
encyclopedia containing biographies of famous inventors. He gains knowledge of
practical chemistry and becomes obsessed over fireworks and underwater explosives. Then,
(01:36):
after one of his fireworks experiments sets a school ablaze,
he's expelled. Here's William Hosey, author of Colt The Making
of an American Legend.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Sam Colt came from a kind of difficult background. His
mother died when he was seven. He didn't take to
his formal studies, but he liked taking things apart and
putting them back together again. He also liked explosives. He
was kind of a prankster, and it got him in
a lot of trouble.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
After his expulsion, Colt's father enlists his troublesome sixteen year
old boy as a seaman on a ship that will
be sailing halfway around the world to Calcutta, India. His
father hopes that the journey will teach his son responsibility
and that he will learn a trade as a scenum,
but instead, the trip fills Samuel Colt with another idea.
(02:39):
Colt is fascinated by guns and believes there's a way
to make them better. It's the early nineteenth century. Battles
are fought with sabers and single shot muskets. Here's Ashley Lebinski,
curator at the Cody Firearms Museum in Cody, Wyoming, explain
the limited and cumbersome nature of guns at the time.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
You had to load it from the top of the gun,
and you took a whole cartridge which was powder, the
projectile and paper, and you would end up putting it
down the barrel with a rod. So loading single shotguns
weren't horribly efficient. It would take you about a minute
or so to load three shots if you were really good.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Colt has a revolutionary idea inspired by the giant steering
wheel on a ship.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
He sees that the mechanisms that are used to steer
and control these ships had ratchets, and when they rotated
the wheel that it would cock and these ratchets would
hold it in place.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Like the ship's wheel with axles spokes a barrel in handles.
Colt notices that regardless of which way the ship's wheel spins,
each spoke always came in direct line with a clutch
that could be set to hold it. Colt envisions a
firearm with a cylinder that can turn after each shot
and lock, and then be fired multiple times while on
(04:12):
board the ship. Colt carves a wooden prototype of a
revolving cylinder mechanism out of scrap wood. This is the
beginning of the Revolver. When Colt returns to America, he's
a young man determined to turn his vision into a reality.
At an early age, the young entrepreneur developed a hustler streak.
(04:37):
From eighteen thirty two to eighteen thirty six, Colt travels
throughout America as Doctor Colt spelled Coult as the playbills read,
giving demonstrations of the newly discovered nitrous oxide or laughing gas,
and out where the West begins, Phil annshoots adds some color,
(05:01):
clad in a fashionable coat, in top hat, and surrounded
by smoking beakers, wax demons, mummies, and exploding fireworks. Cold
persuaded spectators to sniff a bag coated with nitrous oxide.
Sam guaranteed his audience a good half hour's laugh at
the resulting spectacle. Colt's mix of salesmanship with showmanship is
(05:27):
on par with the likes of P. T. Barnum. While
touring the country, Colt goes looking for investors interested in
his revolver.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
And your revolver.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
It always keeps you loaded.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
This is going to revolutionize the world.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
He is the consummate salesman when Sam Cole would come
to you and ask for money, he's so over the
top and he's such a unique personality it's going to
completely win over whoever he's asking.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
With the help of wealthy New Jersey relatives and friends,
Colt raises two hundred and thirty thousand dollars the equivalent
of over six million today. It begins manufacturing his revolver.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
So what do you think of mahana something.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
There were bugs at first. You don't want any chance
that if you pull the trigger on a revolver more
than one bullet's going to go off at the same time,
or even blow up the cylinder.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And you've been listening to our own Greg Hanglo tell
the story of Samuel Colt. He grew up early in affluence,
but by the ages of six through fourteen lost his mother,
his sister, both of them to tb lost two more
relatives to suicide, and then he's off on his own.
And he didn't take to formal studies, by the way,
(06:58):
neither did the Wright brothers. Or there are many innovators
and inventors that we tell the stories of in our
American Stories. But my goodness, he loved to take things
apart and put him back together. And of course what
we learn also is that he was part engineer, part salesman,
part showman, and of course innovator. When we come back
more of this American story, this classic American story, Samuel
(07:22):
Colt's story here on Our American Stories. Plea Hbibi here again,
and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to our
podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you
get your podcasts. Every story we are here is uploaded
there daily, and your support goes a long way to
(07:44):
keeping the great stories you love from this show coming again.
Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts,
the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts, and
(08:09):
we continue with our American Stories and the story of
Samuel Colt. Let's pick up where we last left off.
Here's our own Greg Hank.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Colt improves his design and in eighteen thirty six is
awarded a patent to a twenty eight caliber five shot
repeating firearm with a revolving cylinder. It's called the Colt
Patterson and it's like nothing. The firearms industry has ever seen.
Colt is twenty three years old, but Colt's new Revolver
(08:45):
is proving a tough sell. Lawmen and military are not
willing to take a chance in such a new and
untested design. In eighteen forty two, after six years and
a production run of five thousand pistols and rifles, Colt
declares bankruptcy and liquidates his aspects. But two thousand miles
(09:06):
southwest in the new state of Texas, the Colt Revolver
is about to be put to the test. Here's doctor
Roger McGrath, author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Sam Colt's first large sale of his revolver went not
to the US Army, which rejected the gun outright, but
to the Texas Navy. But plagued by lack of funding
and political battles, Texas Navy nearly ceased to exist by
eighteen forty four, and its Colts revolvers then went to
(09:42):
the Texas Rangers. The Rangers' first use of the Revolvers
came in the Battle of Walkers Creek in June eighteen
forty four. Jack Hayes and fifteen of his Rangers were
out scouting for Comanche raiders when the Commanche discovered them.
(10:03):
The numbers or to the commands, she liking Chief yellow
Wolf led more than seventy Commanche warriors.
Speaker 6 (10:10):
What yellow Wolf and the.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
Other commands she didn't count was the colt revolver, and
every ranger was arm with two colts.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
They were used to hearing the one shot go off
and then they all scrambled a load and then the
next shot goes off. But imagine then hearing bang bang
bang would have been incredibly powerful and something to be
incredibly intimidated by.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
After several failed attempts at charging and overwhelming the outnumbered rangers,
the Cogmanchi broke and fled, dropping shields, lances, and bo's
a commands. She Chief said he would never fight the
rangers again because they had a shot for every finger
on their hands on the.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Red right balls. Then, in eighteen forty six, the Mexican
American War breaks out after the constant border battles between
Captain Samuel Walker and his Texas Rangers in the country
of Mexico. For Walker and his men, the time it
takes to reload a gun is often the difference between
(11:24):
life and death. For every shot the Mexicans fire with
their standard rifles, Walker's men can fire five. It's the
beginning of a new era in warfare.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Sam Walker began experimenting with how to use this. It's like,
what do they got? What is this secret weapon? This
is something we've never seen before.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
You don't have to have a single shot, you don't
have to load the gun every time you fire. You've
got something that you can load several rounds in.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
On November thirtieth, eighteen forty six, Captain Samuel Walker writes
Samuel Colet a letter that will change the course of history.
That letter reports how the Colt pistol changed the way
he and his rangers fight. With a twenty five thousand
dollars US government contract for one thousand pistols that Walker arranged,
(12:20):
and with the design modifications that Walker suggested a larger
gun with six shots rather than five. Sam Colt re
entered the gun manufacturing business in eighteen forty seven.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
The Revolver went through the process of user influence in
influencing both design and also the practical use of the thing.
They tinkered with this.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Invention, Colt develops a forty four caliber, four pound nine
ounce revolver, named the Walker after the man who made
it happen, increase the black powder by sixty grains.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
The barrel to nine inches.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
The col Walker is a much heavier gun heavier caliber
than Colt's original invention, but these Texas Rangers could handle
that type of firearm.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Many consider the Walker the mightiest handgun of its day,
with firepower that won't be matched for ninety years until
the release of the three point fifty seven magnum. Colt's
business sores and the name Colt becomes synonymous with revolvers.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Sam Colt created a brand around himself, and so what
he was trying to establish there was that he was
the guy. He was the brand. When you saw him,
you thought success.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
But Colt's most revolutionary idea isn't in his new design,
it's in how he puts it together. More than half
a century before Henry Ford used mass production assembly lines
in his automobile factories, Colt employed them to produce his
revolvers in his enormous Hartford Armory beginning in the eighteen fifties.
(14:16):
Using interchangeable parts, Colt's armory could turn out one hundred
and fifty weapons per day by eighteen fifty six. The
mass production allowed Colt to make his weapons more affordable
to gun buyers settling in the West. Colt's mass production
achievement is only matched by the Revolver's quality. Samuel Colt
(14:37):
is an absolute perfectionist. Americans are also taken with the
way in which this pistol of industrialization was itself like
a small factory.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
It was a.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Bullet firing machine as opposed to a single shot instrument.
Once Colt perfected the system from mass producing complex metal
instruments like firearms, that system was readily adapted to make typewriters,
sewing machines, and eventually bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, cameras you name it.
(15:13):
In eighteen forty nine, as the California gold Rush begins,
Colt develops the legendary eighteen forty pocket Revolver, the single
most successful pistol produced in his lifetime, with three hundred
and twenty five thousand sold by the time of his death.
(15:34):
Most historians agree that the most serious mistake Colt makes
his firing employee, Rolling White, after he presented him with
a patent on a new innovation, powder and.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
Ball in the front primer in the back. Reloading would
be much faster.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Up until this time. The shooter poured powder into each
of the six cylinder mouths, then push a bull it
over the powder, and then load a percussion cap on
the rear of the cylinder, making the reloading process cumbersome
to say the least.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Rollin White came up with this idea for a board
through cylinder that would allow you to load the firearm
from the rear. It's not something Colt hat.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
The far from one shuttle set off every chamber. It's danderous.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
And you've been listening to our own Greg Hangler tell
the story of Samuel Colt, whoever came problems early in
the development of this revolver, including a bankruptcy proceeding, proving
that there's rarely a smooth road to success for American entrepreneurs.
But soon Colt got his big break, and not from
the US Army, not a contract from the Army, but
(16:49):
from the Texas Navy, and those guns ended up in
the hands of the Texas Rangers.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
By the way, the revolver solved this problem.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
At the time it took to reload this single shotgun, well.
Speaker 6 (17:02):
It was a life and death matter.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
The secret weapon, this revolver that could fire again and again.
You didn't need to reload the gun every time you
took a shot.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
It was a.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Bullet firing machine, we learned, and it.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
Would change the way we fight.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
There was no mightier handgun until Smith and Wesson came
out with a three point fifty seven magnum. By eighteen
fifty six, Colt was mass producing these guns, and his
mass production talents, well, they would spill out into other products,
from sewing machines to just about everything else, and by
(17:42):
the way, doing it while making quality weapons. When we
come back, we'll find out what happens next in the
life of Samuel Colt. Here on our American stories, and
(18:08):
we continue with our American stories and the story of
Samuel Colt.
Speaker 6 (18:13):
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
With almost a complete monopoly on the revolver, Colt isn't
ready to take a chance on something new. Here's Mitt Romney.
Speaker 7 (18:28):
My dad used to say, there's nothing as vulnerable as
entrenched success. Sometimes of an enterprise feels it has no
real competition, It becomes complacent, and ultimately it can get
wiped out by a small upstart that comes out with
a better.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Product fired by Colt. Roland White takes his groundbreaking idea
to two men who intend to be Colt's biggest rivals,
Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson. They jump at White's patent
and gladly pay him a royalty. With this move, one
(19:05):
of the most iconic names in gun making is born
Smith and Wesson. Samuel Colt built his business on the
back of the Mexican American War. Now is just a
drop in the bucket compared to the impact of the
gold Rush in western migration. Then in the summer of
eighteen fifty six, Colt marries twenty nine year old Elizabeth Hart,
(19:29):
the daughter of a devoutly Christian and affluent Newport family.
But as the eighteen fifties draw to a close, the
Southern States begin arming themselves. Colt has been supplying arms
to the US military for years, but the military is
about to be split in two. It's time for Samuel
(19:50):
Colt to decide where his loyalties lie.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
How can I be of service?
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I'm here representing some gentlemen that are dedicated to a cause.
When you're on the outbreak of war, there's a really
difficult problem that arises from firearms manufacturies. And that is
the balance between loyalty being a good businessman. In this case,
this is a war breaking out in the United States
(20:17):
between the North and the South. This isn't America and
the other guy, this is their home.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
In eighteen sixty, just one year before the Civil War begins,
Colt sells the modern equivalent of more than three million
dollars worth of guns to the South. A risky move
for a northern businessman, Colt gets labeled a Southern sympathizer
and works a trader.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Sam Colt got into a lot of problem on the
eve of the Civil War because he also was believed
to be arming the South, but in fact Colt supplied
arms to both sides before the war.
Speaker 6 (20:57):
After the war began, that stopped.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
At the outbreak of the Civil War. Colt doubles the
size of his armory and his factory is operating around
the clock. But for Sam Colet, the success he craved
and achieved would ironically contribute to his death. On January tenth,
eighteen sixty two, Samuel Colt dies of gout complications at
(21:32):
the age of forty seven. By this time, Samuel Colt
has made and sold one million guns. His thirty five
year old widow, Elizabeth, is left in control of the
company in a personal fortune of fifteen million dollars the
equivalent of over three hundred million today. Elizabeth keeps the
(21:56):
business running even as the war wages on. After losing
four children and a husband within five years, Elizabeth has
begun to emerge from a year of mourning. Then, on
February fifth, eighteen sixty four, Colt's armory bursts into flames
and burns to the ground. Elizabeth stands at her window
(22:20):
and watches her husband's vision go up in flames. Many
believe Confederate sympathizers started the blaze, However, no one ever
discovers the real cause. Elizabeth resolves to rebuild the armory
while continuing wartime operations in an unburned wing of the building.
(22:41):
Elizabeth Colt would also continue to innovate, eventually producing what
would become the most famous Colt gun of them all,
the Colt forty five, also known as the Peacemaker and
what we know now as the gun that won the Way.
(23:01):
It is still in production to this very day. Here
again is doctor Roger McGrath.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
While much has been made of the eighteen seventy three
Colt Peacemaker, and rightfully so, many of the famous gunmen
of the Old West quickly replaced their single action peacemakers
with Colt's new double action revolvers. In eighteen seventy seven,
Colt offered the new revolver in a thirty eight caliber,
(23:32):
which was called the Lightning, and in a forty one caliber,
which was christen the Thunderer. Among the many gunslingers who
quickly adopted Colt's new revolver or Billy the Kid and
John Wesley Harden.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
When the Civil War finally ends, America is transformed in
countless ways, not least of which is gun ownership. Most
of the soldiers come home with a prize possession.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
The Civil War really marks a turning point for firearms
in American history. With a revolver and with mass production
really taking off, people were able to start buying revolvers.
It's really the birth of a huge movement in America
with firearms. People are still carrying the Revolver because it's
(24:30):
a reliable gun today.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Colt transformed his products into icons, and his cult revolvers
became fixed in the American imagination as the very symbol
of Western independence. The story of the Colt Company after
Colt family ownership continues to be one of innovation in weaponry,
the Gatling gun, Browning rifles and machine guns, and the sixteen.
(24:58):
During the nineteenth century, Samuel Colt did for pistols what
fellow Connecticut native Eli Terry did for clocks. He made
guns affordable for the average American. Couple that with the
spread of armaments after the Civil War, and what you
have as an American inheritance passed on from the nineteenth
(25:19):
to the twentieth century.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. And my goodness, is so
true what Mitt Romney said. There is nothing as vulnerable
as in trench success, whether it be a business or.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
Your own life. And what do you know.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
On the heels of Cult's incredible and remarkable journey comes
the competition Smith and Wesson, and it comes on hard.
But also coming on at the time was the Civil War,
And of course, finally and regrettably, Colt had to choose sides.
It wasn't easy for him, and he chose to sell
to the South, predominantly million guns to the South in
(26:01):
eighteen sixty alone, and of course what came with it.
He was called the Southern sympathizer and worse, a traitor
to his nation. But Colts operation doubled in size, and
by eighteen sixty two he'd made and sold a whopping
(26:22):
one million guns. He dies young and his wife, Elizabeth,
takes over the business. And this happens time and again
in American life. Family second generation wives, third generation keep
the business relevant, and this happened with the Colts. Not
every second gen or third trashes the place. And she
(26:44):
ended up with her team coming up with the Colt
forty five, the staple that's still around today with the
nickname the Peacemaker. Colt made guns available and affordable for
all Americans, For ordinary Americans, this may have been the
primary accomplishment of cult was his mass manufacturing prowess, the
(27:07):
very same thing we learned from our Henry Ford's story
that Ford did for the American people made cars more
affordable and more effective and efficient. The story of Samuel
Colt a classic American story. Here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star, and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins,
Fort Worth, Texas. There's an old West adage that goes
something like this quote God created man, and Abe Lincoln
freed them, but Sam Coult made them equal. Colt revolver
(00:34):
has been called the peacemaker, the equalizer, and the gun
that won the West. Phil Anschutz writes in Out Where
the West Begins, quote, Samuel Colt's life was the American
story written in capital letters. Here's Greg Henglo with the
story of Samuel Colt.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Samuel Colt is born July nineteenth, eighteen fourteen in Hartford, Connecticut.
His first five years of life are spent in privilege
because of his father's business success, but from the age
of six to fourteen, Samuel Colt loses his mother and
sister to tuberculosis, and then loses a brother and another
(01:14):
sister to suicide. At eleven, he's indentured to a farmer.
Colt begins reading from the Compendium of Knowledge, a scientific
encyclopedia containing biographies of famous inventors. He gains knowledge of
practical chemistry and becomes obsessed over fireworks and underwater explosives. Then,
(01:36):
after one of his fireworks experiments sets a school ablaze,
he's expelled. Here's William Hosey, author of Colt The Making
of an American Legend.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Sam Colt came from a kind of difficult background. His
mother died when he was seven. He didn't take to
his formal studies, but he liked taking things apart and
putting them back together again. He also liked explosives. He
was kind of a prankster, and it got him in
a lot of trouble.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
After his expulsion, Colt's father enlists his troublesome sixteen year
old boy as a seaman on a ship that will
be sailing halfway around the world to Calcutta, India. His
father hopes that the journey will teach his son responsibility
and that he will learn a trade as a scenum,
but instead, the trip fills Samuel Colt with another idea.
(02:39):
Colt is fascinated by guns and believes there's a way
to make them better. It's the early nineteenth century. Battles
are fought with sabers and single shot muskets. Here's Ashley Lebinski,
curator at the Cody Firearms Museum in Cody, Wyoming, explain
the limited and cumbersome nature of guns at the time.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
You had to load it from the top of the gun,
and you took a whole cartridge which was powder, the
projectile and paper, and you would end up putting it
down the barrel with a rod. So loading single shotguns
weren't horribly efficient. It would take you about a minute
or so to load three shots if you were really good.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Colt has a revolutionary idea inspired by the giant steering
wheel on a ship.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
He sees that the mechanisms that are used to steer
and control these ships had ratchets, and when they rotated
the wheel that it would cock and these ratchets would
hold it in place.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Like the ship's wheel with axles spokes a barrel in handles.
Colt notices that regardless of which way the ship's wheel spins,
each spoke always came in direct line with a clutch
that could be set to hold it. Colt envisions a
firearm with a cylinder that can turn after each shot
and lock, and then be fired multiple times while on
(04:12):
board the ship. Colt carves a wooden prototype of a
revolving cylinder mechanism out of scrap wood. This is the
beginning of the Revolver. When Colt returns to America, he's
a young man determined to turn his vision into a reality.
At an early age, the young entrepreneur developed a hustler streak.
(04:37):
From eighteen thirty two to eighteen thirty six, Colt travels
throughout America as Doctor Colt spelled Coult as the playbills read,
giving demonstrations of the newly discovered nitrous oxide or laughing gas,
and out where the West begins, Phil annshoots adds some color,
(05:01):
clad in a fashionable coat, in top hat, and surrounded
by smoking beakers, wax demons, mummies, and exploding fireworks. Cold
persuaded spectators to sniff a bag coated with nitrous oxide.
Sam guaranteed his audience a good half hour's laugh at
the resulting spectacle. Colt's mix of salesmanship with showmanship is
(05:27):
on par with the likes of P. T. Barnum. While
touring the country, Colt goes looking for investors interested in
his revolver.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
And your revolver.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
It always keeps you loaded.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
This is going to revolutionize the world.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
He is the consummate salesman when Sam Cole would come
to you and ask for money, he's so over the
top and he's such a unique personality it's going to
completely win over whoever he's asking.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
With the help of wealthy New Jersey relatives and friends,
Colt raises two hundred and thirty thousand dollars the equivalent
of over six million today. It begins manufacturing his revolver.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
So what do you think of mahana something.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
There were bugs at first. You don't want any chance
that if you pull the trigger on a revolver more
than one bullet's going to go off at the same time,
or even blow up the cylinder.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
And you've been listening to our own Greg Hanglo tell
the story of Samuel Colt. He grew up early in affluence,
but by the ages of six through fourteen lost his mother,
his sister, both of them to tb lost two more
relatives to suicide, and then he's off on his own.
And he didn't take to formal studies, by the way,
(06:58):
neither did the Wright brothers. Or there are many innovators
and inventors that we tell the stories of in our
American Stories. But my goodness, he loved to take things
apart and put him back together. And of course what
we learn also is that he was part engineer, part salesman,
part showman, and of course innovator. When we come back
more of this American story, this classic American story, Samuel
(07:22):
Colt's story here on Our American Stories. Plea Hbibi here again,
and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to our
podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you
get your podcasts. Every story we are here is uploaded
there daily, and your support goes a long way to
(07:44):
keeping the great stories you love from this show coming again.
Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast at Apple Podcasts,
the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts, and
(08:09):
we continue with our American Stories and the story of
Samuel Colt. Let's pick up where we last left off.
Here's our own Greg Hank.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Colt improves his design and in eighteen thirty six is
awarded a patent to a twenty eight caliber five shot
repeating firearm with a revolving cylinder. It's called the Colt
Patterson and it's like nothing. The firearms industry has ever seen.
Colt is twenty three years old, but Colt's new Revolver
(08:45):
is proving a tough sell. Lawmen and military are not
willing to take a chance in such a new and
untested design. In eighteen forty two, after six years and
a production run of five thousand pistols and rifles, Colt
declares bankruptcy and liquidates his aspects. But two thousand miles
(09:06):
southwest in the new state of Texas, the Colt Revolver
is about to be put to the test. Here's doctor
Roger McGrath, author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Sam Colt's first large sale of his revolver went not
to the US Army, which rejected the gun outright, but
to the Texas Navy. But plagued by lack of funding
and political battles, Texas Navy nearly ceased to exist by
eighteen forty four, and its Colts revolvers then went to
(09:42):
the Texas Rangers. The Rangers' first use of the Revolvers
came in the Battle of Walkers Creek in June eighteen
forty four. Jack Hayes and fifteen of his Rangers were
out scouting for Comanche raiders when the Commanche discovered them.
(10:03):
The numbers or to the commands, she liking Chief yellow
Wolf led more than seventy Commanche warriors.
Speaker 6 (10:10):
What yellow Wolf and the.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
Other commands she didn't count was the colt revolver, and
every ranger was arm with two colts.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
They were used to hearing the one shot go off
and then they all scrambled a load and then the
next shot goes off. But imagine then hearing bang bang
bang would have been incredibly powerful and something to be
incredibly intimidated by.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
After several failed attempts at charging and overwhelming the outnumbered rangers,
the Cogmanchi broke and fled, dropping shields, lances, and bo's
a commands. She Chief said he would never fight the
rangers again because they had a shot for every finger
on their hands on the.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Red right balls. Then, in eighteen forty six, the Mexican
American War breaks out after the constant border battles between
Captain Samuel Walker and his Texas Rangers in the country
of Mexico. For Walker and his men, the time it
takes to reload a gun is often the difference between
(11:24):
life and death. For every shot the Mexicans fire with
their standard rifles, Walker's men can fire five. It's the
beginning of a new era in warfare.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Sam Walker began experimenting with how to use this. It's like,
what do they got? What is this secret weapon? This
is something we've never seen before.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
You don't have to have a single shot, you don't
have to load the gun every time you fire. You've
got something that you can load several rounds in.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
On November thirtieth, eighteen forty six, Captain Samuel Walker writes
Samuel Colet a letter that will change the course of history.
That letter reports how the Colt pistol changed the way
he and his rangers fight. With a twenty five thousand
dollars US government contract for one thousand pistols that Walker arranged,
(12:20):
and with the design modifications that Walker suggested a larger
gun with six shots rather than five. Sam Colt re
entered the gun manufacturing business in eighteen forty seven.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
The Revolver went through the process of user influence in
influencing both design and also the practical use of the thing.
They tinkered with this.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Invention, Colt develops a forty four caliber, four pound nine
ounce revolver, named the Walker after the man who made
it happen, increase the black powder by sixty grains.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
The barrel to nine inches.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
The col Walker is a much heavier gun heavier caliber
than Colt's original invention, but these Texas Rangers could handle
that type of firearm.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Many consider the Walker the mightiest handgun of its day,
with firepower that won't be matched for ninety years until
the release of the three point fifty seven magnum. Colt's
business sores and the name Colt becomes synonymous with revolvers.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Sam Colt created a brand around himself, and so what
he was trying to establish there was that he was
the guy. He was the brand. When you saw him,
you thought success.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
But Colt's most revolutionary idea isn't in his new design,
it's in how he puts it together. More than half
a century before Henry Ford used mass production assembly lines
in his automobile factories, Colt employed them to produce his
revolvers in his enormous Hartford Armory beginning in the eighteen fifties.
(14:16):
Using interchangeable parts, Colt's armory could turn out one hundred
and fifty weapons per day by eighteen fifty six. The
mass production allowed Colt to make his weapons more affordable
to gun buyers settling in the West. Colt's mass production
achievement is only matched by the Revolver's quality. Samuel Colt
(14:37):
is an absolute perfectionist. Americans are also taken with the
way in which this pistol of industrialization was itself like
a small factory.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
It was a.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Bullet firing machine as opposed to a single shot instrument.
Once Colt perfected the system from mass producing complex metal
instruments like firearms, that system was readily adapted to make typewriters,
sewing machines, and eventually bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, cameras you name it.
(15:13):
In eighteen forty nine, as the California gold Rush begins,
Colt develops the legendary eighteen forty pocket Revolver, the single
most successful pistol produced in his lifetime, with three hundred
and twenty five thousand sold by the time of his death.
(15:34):
Most historians agree that the most serious mistake Colt makes
his firing employee, Rolling White, after he presented him with
a patent on a new innovation, powder and.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
Ball in the front primer in the back. Reloading would
be much faster.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Up until this time. The shooter poured powder into each
of the six cylinder mouths, then push a bull it
over the powder, and then load a percussion cap on
the rear of the cylinder, making the reloading process cumbersome
to say the least.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Rollin White came up with this idea for a board
through cylinder that would allow you to load the firearm
from the rear. It's not something Colt hat.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
The far from one shuttle set off every chamber. It's danderous.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
And you've been listening to our own Greg Hangler tell
the story of Samuel Colt, whoever came problems early in
the development of this revolver, including a bankruptcy proceeding, proving
that there's rarely a smooth road to success for American entrepreneurs.
But soon Colt got his big break, and not from
the US Army, not a contract from the Army, but
(16:49):
from the Texas Navy, and those guns ended up in
the hands of the Texas Rangers.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
By the way, the revolver solved this problem.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
At the time it took to reload this single shotgun, well.
Speaker 6 (17:02):
It was a life and death matter.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
The secret weapon, this revolver that could fire again and again.
You didn't need to reload the gun every time you
took a shot.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
It was a.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Bullet firing machine, we learned, and it.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
Would change the way we fight.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
There was no mightier handgun until Smith and Wesson came
out with a three point fifty seven magnum. By eighteen
fifty six, Colt was mass producing these guns, and his
mass production talents, well, they would spill out into other products,
from sewing machines to just about everything else, and by
(17:42):
the way, doing it while making quality weapons. When we
come back, we'll find out what happens next in the
life of Samuel Colt. Here on our American stories, and
(18:08):
we continue with our American stories and the story of
Samuel Colt.
Speaker 6 (18:13):
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
With almost a complete monopoly on the revolver, Colt isn't
ready to take a chance on something new. Here's Mitt Romney.
Speaker 7 (18:28):
My dad used to say, there's nothing as vulnerable as
entrenched success. Sometimes of an enterprise feels it has no
real competition, It becomes complacent, and ultimately it can get
wiped out by a small upstart that comes out with
a better.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Product fired by Colt. Roland White takes his groundbreaking idea
to two men who intend to be Colt's biggest rivals,
Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson. They jump at White's patent
and gladly pay him a royalty. With this move, one
(19:05):
of the most iconic names in gun making is born
Smith and Wesson. Samuel Colt built his business on the
back of the Mexican American War. Now is just a
drop in the bucket compared to the impact of the
gold Rush in western migration. Then in the summer of
eighteen fifty six, Colt marries twenty nine year old Elizabeth Hart,
(19:29):
the daughter of a devoutly Christian and affluent Newport family.
But as the eighteen fifties draw to a close, the
Southern States begin arming themselves. Colt has been supplying arms
to the US military for years, but the military is
about to be split in two. It's time for Samuel
(19:50):
Colt to decide where his loyalties lie.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
How can I be of service?
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I'm here representing some gentlemen that are dedicated to a cause.
When you're on the outbreak of war, there's a really
difficult problem that arises from firearms manufacturies. And that is
the balance between loyalty being a good businessman. In this case,
this is a war breaking out in the United States
(20:17):
between the North and the South. This isn't America and
the other guy, this is their home.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
In eighteen sixty, just one year before the Civil War begins,
Colt sells the modern equivalent of more than three million
dollars worth of guns to the South. A risky move
for a northern businessman, Colt gets labeled a Southern sympathizer
and works a trader.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Sam Colt got into a lot of problem on the
eve of the Civil War because he also was believed
to be arming the South, but in fact Colt supplied
arms to both sides before the war.
Speaker 6 (20:57):
After the war began, that stopped.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
At the outbreak of the Civil War. Colt doubles the
size of his armory and his factory is operating around
the clock. But for Sam Colet, the success he craved
and achieved would ironically contribute to his death. On January tenth,
eighteen sixty two, Samuel Colt dies of gout complications at
(21:32):
the age of forty seven. By this time, Samuel Colt
has made and sold one million guns. His thirty five
year old widow, Elizabeth, is left in control of the
company in a personal fortune of fifteen million dollars the
equivalent of over three hundred million today. Elizabeth keeps the
(21:56):
business running even as the war wages on. After losing
four children and a husband within five years, Elizabeth has
begun to emerge from a year of mourning. Then, on
February fifth, eighteen sixty four, Colt's armory bursts into flames
and burns to the ground. Elizabeth stands at her window
(22:20):
and watches her husband's vision go up in flames. Many
believe Confederate sympathizers started the blaze, However, no one ever
discovers the real cause. Elizabeth resolves to rebuild the armory
while continuing wartime operations in an unburned wing of the building.
(22:41):
Elizabeth Colt would also continue to innovate, eventually producing what
would become the most famous Colt gun of them all,
the Colt forty five, also known as the Peacemaker and
what we know now as the gun that won the Way.
(23:01):
It is still in production to this very day. Here
again is doctor Roger McGrath.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
While much has been made of the eighteen seventy three
Colt Peacemaker, and rightfully so, many of the famous gunmen
of the Old West quickly replaced their single action peacemakers
with Colt's new double action revolvers. In eighteen seventy seven,
Colt offered the new revolver in a thirty eight caliber,
(23:32):
which was called the Lightning, and in a forty one caliber,
which was christen the Thunderer. Among the many gunslingers who
quickly adopted Colt's new revolver or Billy the Kid and
John Wesley Harden.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
When the Civil War finally ends, America is transformed in
countless ways, not least of which is gun ownership. Most
of the soldiers come home with a prize possession.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
The Civil War really marks a turning point for firearms
in American history. With a revolver and with mass production
really taking off, people were able to start buying revolvers.
It's really the birth of a huge movement in America
with firearms. People are still carrying the Revolver because it's
(24:30):
a reliable gun today.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Colt transformed his products into icons, and his cult revolvers
became fixed in the American imagination as the very symbol
of Western independence. The story of the Colt Company after
Colt family ownership continues to be one of innovation in weaponry,
the Gatling gun, Browning rifles and machine guns, and the sixteen.
(24:58):
During the nineteenth century, Samuel Colt did for pistols what
fellow Connecticut native Eli Terry did for clocks. He made
guns affordable for the average American. Couple that with the
spread of armaments after the Civil War, and what you
have as an American inheritance passed on from the nineteenth
(25:19):
to the twentieth century.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. And my goodness, is so
true what Mitt Romney said. There is nothing as vulnerable
as in trench success, whether it be a business or.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
Your own life. And what do you know.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
On the heels of Cult's incredible and remarkable journey comes
the competition Smith and Wesson, and it comes on hard.
But also coming on at the time was the Civil War,
And of course, finally and regrettably, Colt had to choose sides.
It wasn't easy for him, and he chose to sell
to the South, predominantly million guns to the South in
(26:01):
eighteen sixty alone, and of course what came with it.
He was called the Southern sympathizer and worse, a traitor
to his nation. But Colts operation doubled in size, and
by eighteen sixty two he'd made and sold a whopping
(26:22):
one million guns. He dies young and his wife, Elizabeth,
takes over the business. And this happens time and again
in American life. Family second generation wives, third generation keep
the business relevant, and this happened with the Colts. Not
every second gen or third trashes the place. And she
(26:44):
ended up with her team coming up with the Colt
forty five, the staple that's still around today with the
nickname the Peacemaker. Colt made guns available and affordable for
all Americans, For ordinary Americans, this may have been the
primary accomplishment of cult was his mass manufacturing prowess, the
(27:07):
very same thing we learned from our Henry Ford's story
that Ford did for the American people made cars more
affordable and more effective and efficient. The story of Samuel
Colt a classic American story. Here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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