Colt Model 1861 Navy Revolver — Recovered from a Confederate Camp, With Period Account 

Description

Scarce Early Colt Model 1861 Navy Revolver 

Serial Number 6,037 – With Mosby’s Rangers Historical Attribution 

Scarce early-production Colt Model 1861 Navy percussion revolver, serial number 6037, .36 caliber, six-shot, featuring the characteristic streamlined round barrel, rebated cylinder, brass trigger guard, and one-piece walnut grip typical of this refined Civil War sidearm. 

Introduced in 1861, the Model 1861 Navy represented Colt’s final and most elegant percussion revolver design prior to the metallic cartridge era. While mechanically similar to the earlier Model 1851 Navy, the 1861 incorporated the improved “New Model Army” style frame and loading lever system, giving the revolver a more graceful profile and stronger construction. Production of the 1861 Navy totaled only about 38,000 revolvers, making it substantially scarcer than the famed 1851 Navy. 

Serial number 6,037 falls within the very early Civil War production period (circa 1862) when Colt was supplying large quantities of arms for Union service. Early examples from this range are particularly desirable as they represent the initial wartime manufacture of the pattern. 

Accompanying the revolver is a photographic reproduction of an original relic tag, which recounts a story connected with Colonel John S. Mosby’s Confederate Partisan Rangers operating in Fairfax County, Virginia. The reproduced tag describes an episode following Mosby’s famous Fairfax Courthouse raid of March 1863, in which two local boys—identified as George and Charlie Riker—were present near the courthouse as Mosby’s men prepared to depart after the raid. The note records that the boys followed the departing soldiers before eventually being returned to their father, Alfred Riker, who was working nearby. 

The typed document, dated 1935, appears to preserve a local recollection of the event and was later photocopied for preservation alongside the revolver. 

Mosby’s daring raids in Northern Virginia made his command legendary during the Civil War, particularly the night raid at Fairfax Courthouse in which Union Brigadier General Edwin H. Stoughton was captured in his bed. Artifacts and arms associated with Mosby’s operations remain highly sought after due to the romantic reputation of the Rangers and their guerrilla warfare behind Union lines. 

The revolver itself remains an attractive early example of the Model 1861 Navy, a design widely favored by cavalrymen and officers for its balance, accuracy, and reliability. 

Inventory Number: HAN 382