Thoughts on Capt. Samuel Walker's Edwin Wesson long distance Target Rifle

[elhombreconnonombre]

It is well known that Capt. Sam Walker, U.S. Mounted Riflemen, a previous Lt. Col. in the Texas Rangers during the early part of the Mexican War, received his two new .44 cal presentation Colts from Colt, just prior to his death at the Battle of Huamantla, Mexico in Oct. 1847. These Colts were reportedly retrieved after his death.

What is not well known is that he also had in his posession an Edwin Wesson-made target rifle. Has anyone ever read what might have happened to his caplock muzzle loading Wesson target rifle? Lt. Claiborne, Walker's 2nd in command, who gathered up his possessions on the battlefield and back at camp, only mentions the disposition of Walker's two Colts.

Was the Wesson taken by Walker into the charge in the hope of bagging Santa Anna at a distance, and forgotten about and left on the field???

In Walker's last letter to his brother before his death he remarked that his company members were very impressed not only with his new Colts, but also with his Wesson target rifle. Further research indicates that Walker was interested in ordering 100 identical rifles (for his own company???) in late 1846/ early 1847, but the order was not fulfilled while he was on the east coast on recruiting duty. He also mentions the wish to capture or kill Santa Anna should the opportunity should arise.

 

[model3sw]

Please note your reference material on this. Thank you.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Haven and Belden, 1940
Whittington, 1983
Parsons, 1949

Nouvelle page 0

 

[opoefc]

"Man with no name" (elhombreconnonombre) Lewis & Rutter, in their 2011 book " Volcanic Firearms" page 19, wrote "…correspondence in Feb. 1847 indicated that Walker wished to order 1,000 rifles for his regiment." What do your references cite as the authority for the possible order being 100 rifles, and not 1,000 rifles ? Ed.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

oops my bad, slipped a zero. It was 1,000 wasn't it per our French historian friends.
That would match the number of Colt revolvers under military contract, coincidence...I think not, but that is speculation on my part.

Thanks for the additional reference from which our French pards likely pulled their info.

 

[opoefc]

,,,,number of Colt revolvers under military contract,… I'm assuming you are referring to the 1,000 Colt "Walker" U S model revolvers. A little known fact about these revolvers is that the barrels were made in Edwin Wesson's shop, as sub contractor for Colt. Many of the Colt made cylinders failed in service, but no barrels were ever reported as failures. Ed.

 

[Boge]

The Wesson rifle would have been ill suited for Walker & Dragoons in the war as it was slow to load, requiring careful attention to detail, nut unlike a Whitworth or Kerr rifle in the Civil War. The latter however were relegated to dedicated snipers/skirmishers. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Skeetr57]

Opoefc: I don't think that any part of the Walker guns were made by Colt. Weren't they contracted to Eli Whitney because Colt didn't have a factory after the bankruptcy of the Patterson company? I have also read that Civil War period Colts had problems with cylinders due to poor quality material.

 

[Valmet]

The CW Colt cylinders had problems because they were mfg'd by Norinco.






I just couldn't resist ��

 

[opoefc]

Tom, Edwin Wesson's shop records are the source of the info. regarding their producing the barrels for the Colt Walker revolvers, per Roy Jinks, S&W Historian. As we know, Colt had to contract with various source for parts needed to complete the order for the 1,000 revolvers, and it is believe by some researchers that Colt's slow pay for parts contributed to the bankruptcy of Edwin Wesson's shop where Daniel B. Wesson was employed and then left to eventually start the partnership with Horace Smith. Ed.

 

[Skeetr57]

Ed: I didn't mean that I doubted that Wesson was the source of the barrels, because I don't have any knowledge of that, but that Colt didn't have a factory at the time to build any guns. I have seen the Walkers referred to as "Whitneyville Walkers" indicating that Eli Whitney actually contracted to build them. The Walker contract allowed Colt to get back into the gun business, and his patents prevented others, including Remington and S&W from producing revolvers until the patent expired @ 1857. Both Remington and Whitney built revolvers after that date which are better guns than Colts because they have solid frames, making them both stronger and potentialy more accurate.