Gunmakers of the 1830s

Jul 24

The 1830s

The 1830s was the decade in which the first modern guns were being developed. We saw the disappearance of the flintlock, the rise of the percussion cap, and the transition from single shot to repeaters.

This is also the decade in which the mass production of firearms began. The first industrial revolution was coming to an end in the 1830s, and this period saw incredible inventions and innovations in manufacturing processes.

This was the period of the infamous Samuel Colt and the father of John Moses Browning, Jonathan Browning. Both of their careers coincided with and were impacted by forced removals of different populations in the late 1830s.

Samuel Colt
By John Chester Buttre (1821-1893)[1] - Heritage Auctions, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54738944

Jonathan Browning
By Unknown photographer in Salt Lake City - family photograph from my personal collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78617495

Colt’s Impossible Gun

As adolescent, Samuel Colt was mesmerized by inventors and obsessed with explosives, and gunpowder. He wanted to create the “impossible gun”—one that could shoot multiple times without reloading.

Collier’s Flintlock Revolver
By Auckland Museum, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64724602

There are several stories that recount how Colt came up with his design. One suggests, aboard the ship Corvo, on a trip to Calcutta, he saw Collier’s flintlock revolver design and was inspired by it.

Produced in 1819, Collier’s revolver was used by British troops in India. His design, unlike the pepperbox revolvers at the time, only had one barrel. While pepperbox revolvers had multiple barrels each with their own chamber, collier’s design had one barrel with a cylinder with multiple chambers. Though this design was new and innovative, the gun was still a flintlock unlike the new and more reliable caplock pepperboxes which arose in the United States in the 1830s.

Another story suggests that Colt’s design was inspired by watching the action of the ship’s wheel. He thought that he could use the same locking method for a firearm.

Caplock Pepperbox Revolver
By Hatchetfish - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1982891

Unlike the pepperbox revolver and Collier’s flintlock, both of which the barrels had to be manually rotated and aligned with the chamber, Colt’s design enabled the automatic rotation of the cylinder with the action of the hammer.

The story goes that he modeled his design out of scrap wood and created the first prototype of the “impossible gun.”

Ultimately, Colt’s final design improved both the caplock pepperbox revolver and Collier’s revolving flintlock. It was the best of both worlds. A caplock revolver with one barrel and multiple chambers. And, with the coking of the hammer, Colt’s gun automatically rotated the cylinder to the next chamber and locked it into alignment with the barrel.

This design eventually became the Colt Paterson—the first commercial modern revolver. The gun that could be fired multiple times before reloading.

Browning’s Repeater

As Colt was developing the impossible gun, Browning was also designing his own repeating firearm. He had created a twenty-five shot “harmonica gun.” Inspired by the design from a gunsmith named Nicanor Kendall, Browning’s rifle was a sliding breech repeater with twenty-five chamber slides. Each section of the “harmonica” was manually pushed to line up the chamber with the rifle’s bore.

Browning produced and sold his guns out of his shop in Quincy, Illinois while continuing to improve upon his designs and developing a revolving rifle.

Colt’s Gunsmith

Colt set out to produce his new revolver. But first, he need money to finance the production and a gunsmith to create prototypes. To raise funds to manufacture his impossible gun, Colt toured with a portable lab and performed laughing gas demonstrations. He also performed lectures and was known for his public speaking skills and charisma.

To help prototype twenty-six experimental guns, Colt hired more than ten gunsmiths. But in 1834, it was John Pearson—at watchmaker and gunsmith from England—who ultimately got the job to build Colt’s first revolver. While he was in charge of building prototypes, Colt also relied on Pearson to improve the design.

But their relationship was affected by Colt’s in ability to pay on time. As a result, Pearson moved to Little Rock to run his own gunsmithing shop in 1837.

Some claim that Pearson is responsible for inventing the revolver. An article in Arkansas Democrat in 1900 claimed that Pearson had been the designer of the revolver and thus was the father of all modern repeating guns—not Colt. The author negated the other stories of Colt’s invention and claimed that he had found a “curious looking pistol” in a junk shop in Baltimore which he brought to Pearson to finish. The story goes on to say that Pearson created drafts, working models, and after reworking an almost perfect design, Pearson had finally completed two finished revolvers.

Colt & the Seminole War

Taking the final prototypes oversees, Colt filed for and secured patents in both in England and France. Then he visited the White House and allowed President Jackson to shoot them. Pleased with their performance, Jackson promised to influence the patent office in Colt’s favor. In 1836, the United States issued him a patent for the Colt Paterson revolver while also protecting the idea of revolving-breech loading.

Colt Paterson (5th Model)
By Hmaag - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47927977

Colt set up a company to manufacture his Colt Paterson and other firearms. His goals were to use an assembly line to produce his guns and to use machines to make interchangeable parts.

But the Panic of 1837 ignited a depression which lasted for several more years and caused unemployment to increase and wages to dive.

By 1837, over 1,000 of Colt’s guns were produced but none had been sold. Because of the financial crisis—caused by the 25% drop in cotton prices—Colt had difficulty acquiring the funding to purchase the machines to make interchangeable parts. He lobbied government officials for firearms purchases but found little success. Colt was not alone in this time—many businesses failed and almost half of banks collapsed.

However, with the ongoing the Second Seminole War, which had started in 1835, Colt was able to finally sell his first revolvers and even his new revolving rifles.

Portrait of Seminole Chief Tuko-See-Mathla
By Charles Bird King - Smithsonian American Art Museum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82731312

As a result of the Treat of Payne’s Landing, the United States government expected the Natives of Florida—collectively known as the Seminoles—to relocate West and settle on the Creek reservation in 1835. When several chiefs denied the legitimacy of the treaty and informed the U.S. that they would not be leaving their homes, President Andrew Jackson instructed the generals to remove the Seminoles by force if they did not leave.

Many Seminoles actively resisted their removal and several slaves joined the Seminoles in their fight against the United States. They raided farms and destroyed sugar plantations.

Seeing the resistance of the Seminoles, the military banned the sale of firearms and munitions to them. The Army asked for volunteers and troops in Florida began preparing for war by purchasing guns.

Despite the Panic of 1837, Congress appropriated more funds to the war, and Major General Jesup authorized the purchase of Colt’s firearms. This was Colt’s first military contract and he would would get his next only four years later in another war of Western expansion.

Depiction of a Seminole attack. Note: There were few available pictures of violence perpetrated against the Seminoles. The plethora of pictures of Seminole violence against U.S. citizens emphasizes how the Natives were perceived and almost as a justification of why they had to be removed.
By User:SEWilco - "Florida's Centennial", Library of Congress, March 3, 1945, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1405322

Colt’s design created training problems for the soldiers who were used to exposed-hammer guns. Otherwise, reports suggested that the guns were “not susceptible to failure.”

In 1842, the war ended with no peace treaty or armistice. It was the longest and most costly war with the Native people in U.S. history. In today’s currency, the United States is estimated to have spent over $500 million dollars on the Seminole War. Almost 1,500 deaths were officially recorded by the U.S. Army, and around 3,000 Seminoles were forcibly removed from Florida and exiled West, past the Mississippi river. Some Seminoles retreated and remained in the Everglades, but this was a group of less than 500.

Mormon Extermination Order & Browning’s Conversion

During the same time that Colt’s revolvers saw action in the Seminole War, the 1838 Mormon War—also known as the Missouri Mormon War—ensued. This conflict pushed the Mormons out of Missouri and into Illinois—where Browning was living and working at the time.

The “Old Settlers” were concerned about the Mormon’s growing political and economic power. The Mormons held believes and political opinions contrary to that of the citizens of northwest Missouri. For example, the Mormons were claiming that this land had been given to them by God. Non-Mormons were fearful that they, themselves, would be removed from their homes.

But the most potent reason for Mormon distain was their attitude toward slaves—they had invited the freed slaves from other states to become Mormon. The Old Settlers were extremely concerned about this because they viewed it as “tampering” with the slaves and believed it caused dissention among them.

So, on election day in 1838, 200 Gallatin citizens gathered to prevent Mormons from voting. Around thirty Mormons arrived at the polling location to cast their ballots, but a fight broke out. Several non-Mormons, after this event, vowed to kill the Mormons and acquired firearms and munitions. Only a few days later, a mob of armed men threatened a Mormon community and held one Mormon settler hostage.

Tensions continued to rise after the Election Day Battle and resulted in open conflict. Mormon farms were burned and looted, and in retaliation, a group of Mormons ransacked the town of Gallatin. They were armed and fighting back, and the governor was increasingly fearful that citizens of his state were being displaced by these Mormon immigrants.

At the end of October in 1838, the state of Missouri ordered the deportation of Joseph Smith and his followers. Called the Mormon Extermination Order, the governor claimed that the Mormons had committed violence against the people of Missouri and needed to be “driven from the State if necessary for the public peace.”

Haun’s Mill Massacre
By C. C. A. Christensen - Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1578754

The state militia subsequently removed the Mormons from their land Missouri. The order specified that 2,500 state militia men be sent to the Mormon settlement to expel them—forcibly if necessary. They realized that “extermination” was a very real possibility. Fearing violence, Mormon leaders in, on November 1st, surrendered and agreed to leave.

Of the 15,000 Missouri Mormons who fled, 10,000 resettled in Illinois. Renaming their new home Nauvoo. Curious, Browning visited the settlement where he met Joseph Smith and others in exile. He later converted to the Church of the Latter Day Saints and moved to Nauvoo.

He continued pursuing his inventions and opened a gunsmithing shop there. During this time period, any gun manufactured by Browning was inscribed with “Holiness to the Lord – Our Preservation.” He would follow the Mormons when they fled once again and finally settled in Utah—the birthplace of his son and the most prolific gunmaker of all time, John Moses Browning.

Both Colt’s and Browning’s successes are tied to the forced removal of unwanted populations. Their stories are parallel in this way. Colt was able to make his first sales during the expulsion of the Seminoles from Florida, and Browning wouldn’t have found himself in Utah had the Mormons not been exiled from Missouri.