Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 19 July 1814
- Samuel Colt manufactured his first revolvers back in the 1830s, when a revolver was still an exotic weapon. Colt revolvers were used by, among others, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Wild Bill Hickok.
On this day in 1814, the famous weapons designer Samuel Colt was born.
His influence in the small arms department was so great that today almost everyone has heard of the Colt brand.
An outspoken capitalist who favored commercialization, Samuel Colt started a mass production of firearms and introduced a system of distinctive marketing promoting his products, both through graphical ads and by giving versions of his revolvers to heads of state (among others the Ottoman sultan, Italian leader Garibaldi, Hungarian freedom fighter Lajos Kossuth, etc.).
Samuel Colt manufactured his first revolvers back in the 1830s. At that time, a revolver was still an exotic weapon, and it was precisely Samuel Colt who made a key contribution to its popularization.
In the first 25 years of its existence, the Colt company manufactured over 400,000 revolvers. It is interesting that, during the American Civil War, Samuel Colt sold weapons to both sides, the North and the South. Colt’s revolvers also greatly influenced the American Wild West.
Samuel Colt died as one of the richest men in the United States. The legacy of love for the weapon, which he and similar manufacturers left behind, today still provokes controversy in American politics.
Colt revolvers were used, among others, by Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Wild Bill Hickok. The famous Colt “Single Action Army Model” revolver is sometimes referred to as “The handgun that won the West”.
