The Walker Colt Pistol

In early 1846, Texas Ranger Samuel H. Walker was on a mission when he arrived in New York City. It had been a wearisome trip from the Indian and Mexican battles in Texas. The Mexican War was underway.

Walker was meeting with Samuel Colt, inventor of the five-shot Colt revolver. He and fellow Texas Rangers had some ideas for Colt on how to improve the revolver following the successful use of the gun in a particular battle with Comanche Indians in the wilds of Texas near the Pedernales River.

The outcome would be the re-design of the revolver by Colt with Walker’s ideas. The gun would become widely known as the Walker Colt.

Somehow, and the ‘how’ is somewhat unclear, several of Colt’s early five-shot revolvers had made their way to Texas into the hands of Texas Ranger Colonel John (Jack) C. Hays’ company of which Walker was a member. The Rangers were able to fire the Colt revolver from horseback rather than the commonly used rifles that required repeated moves of advancing, dismounting to fire, reloading guns, and then remounting to pursue.

But Colt’s gun had some problems. To reload, it had to be broken down into three parts. It also had a ‘hidden’ trigger that only appeared when the gun was cocked. It was also light in weight and had an awkward handle. After Walker and Colt worked together the revolver evolved into a much heavier gun with a modified handle that itself could be used as a club. It was now a six-shot cylinder revolver with a visible trigger protected by a trigger guard. The caliber had been increased from .34 to .44. Colt named the gun the Walker Colt.

There are several theories as to ‘how’ Colt’s first revolving pistol found its way to Texas.

In author/historian Walter Prescott Webb’s book The Texas Rangers (pgs. 8486), that many readers consider the Bible of the Rangers’ history, Webb states: “In some manner a few of the (Colt) revolvers found their way to Texas and fell into the hands of Jack Hays (Texas Ranger Colonel) and his Rangers at San Antonio. One account has it that they were brought to Texas by S. M. Swenson, a merchant who was a friend of Sam Houston. Another account states that ‘two arms dealers from Texas happened along, snapped up almost the whole lot and took them back West’ where they were sold….falling into the hands of Texas Rangers who found them admirably adapted to the needs of a man who had to fight on horseback.”

Walker, who was born in Maryland in 1817, enlisted in May of 1836 with the Washington City Volunteers for the Creek Indian campaign. He was stationed in Florida. When his enlistment ended a year later Walker continued to stay in Florida as a scout until 1841. In early 1842 Walker arrived at Galveston joining Captain Jesse Billingsley’s company against the Mexicans. Did Walker bring the gun to Texas?

Colt’s early business plan for the gun had failed and his business became insolvent in 1842 only to be revived with Walker’s visit to New York. Colt no longer having a manufacturing facility, approached the Eli Whitney machine works that was already producing rifles and single shot pistols.

When Walker arrived in Vera Cruz, Mexico in late 1846 with Colonel Hays’s Ranger Company, they were armed with the newly designed revolver. For the next year they fought extensively in the Mexican War until the fateful day of Oct. 9, 1847 when his company reached Huamantla. During the hand-to-hand battle, Walker was killed.

Walker was first buried in Mexico at Hacienda Tamaris. In 1848 his remains were carried to San Antonio. Eight years later on, April 21, 1856, he was reburied in the Odd Fellows’ Cemetery in San Antonio as a part of a San Jacinto Day celebration.

Written by Betty Dunn, Two Rivers Heritage Foundation. See www.tworiversheritagefoundation. org for more info.