Description:

REMINGTON MODEL 1858 REVOLVER, RECOVERED FROM THE LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD
.44-caliber Remington Model 1858 percussion revolver, 8" barrel, 14" overall, marked on the top of the barrel: "Patented Sept. 14, 1858 E. Remington & Sons, Ilion, New York, U.S.A. New Model". The serial number "121565" appears on the left side of the frame at the butt. The revolver is in relic condition, with its grips absent, oxidized overall, with numerous heavy gouges to the cylinder. The trigger mechanism also appears to be non-functional. The weapon was recovered from the Little Bighorn Battlefield at the beginning of the twentieth century, and is accompanied by a contemporary manuscript statement, 1p. 4to., drafted by the individual who purchased the piece from its original discoverer at that time. In part: "This 44 Colt's was found by C.C. Brown a cowboy while riding for cattle on the Custer Battlefield on the Little Horn River, Mont[ana], June 1903. A white man's bones were around the gun, the skull (which Brown took to camp and used as a soap dish) was about 1 foot from the gun at the head of a small coolie..." The writer's identification of the revolver as a "Colt's" is understandable, as by far the most popular and iconic revolvers of the nineteenth century were manufactured by Colt, causing the name to be widely used as a generic term for this type of weapon. The writer's description of the weapon being found near a "white man's bones" requires deeper examination. By the time of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, percussion revolvers such as this were obsolete, with the Colt Single Action Army being adopted as the standard military sidearm in 1872. Each of Custer's cavalrymen carried a Colt Single Action Army as his sidearm, although several individual soldiers, including Custer himself, were known to have carried other makes of cartridge revolver. It is our belief that the revolver presented here was carried by a Native American, either a Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne or Arapaho warrior, or a U.S. Army scout, and was either dropped on the battlefield when its owner was incapacitated, or discarded when its owner retrieved a more modern revolver from a dead cavalryman. .44 rounds consistent with those used in the Remington Model 1858 have been discovered in archaeological surveys of the battlefield, with the scientific consensus concluding that they originated from the weapons of Native American combatants. With additional documentation from a prevous owner. Certainly worthy of further research.

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August 1, 2018 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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