Black Powder Revolvers on the American Frontier
Black powder revolvers played a significant role in the American settlement of the frontier.
Once in a while, a tool comes along that revolutionizes life. In our modern world, it would have to be the smartphone. Even today, it’s sort of hard to remember that even in the late ’90s, the Internet was not really integrated into people’s everyday lives. In other words, most people in America were living in a non-electronic world. However, one study suggests all of that changed by the year 2000. In that year, more people were using the Internet than were not using the Internet. As more and more people began to use the Internet, there was increased demand for tools that allowed interaction with it. The Blackberry was initially the device people turned to, but in 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone onto the market. The impacts of this particular tool have been far-reaching, to say the least. In a way, black powder revolvers had a similar impact on life in the mid-1800s.
Prior to the invention of black powder revolvers, pistols were single-shot weapons ignited by either percussion caps or the flintlock system. Essentially, they were just scaled-down versions of the larger firearms at the time. Although they were only one shot, black powder pistols were commonly carried by frontier explorers. Mountain men, for example, had access to them and carried them, although perhaps not in large numbers. Primary sources of the time indicate many more rifles and Northwest Trade Guns were taken to rendezvous than pistols. Lewis and Clark also packed along a few “horse pistols” on their great adventure. Firearms were essential to everyday life for food and protection. If you are unsure of how a muzzleloader works, check out this video showing the firing process.
It’s important to remember, that single-shot weapons were not entirely superior to more primitive weapons like the bow and arrow. It’s one reason why mountain men traveled in groups. Traveling in groups allowed them to keep up a more consistent rate of fire if they happened to be attacked. Any explorer traveling alone had maybe two shots at his disposal. On the other hand, Native warriors of the plains were skilled at releasing arrows as quickly as possible. Artist George Catlin describes watching a group of men play “Game of the Arrow” in 1841:
“In looking on at this amusement, the spectator is surprised; not at the great distance to which the arrows are actually sent; but at the quickness of fixing them on the string, and discharging them in succession; which is, no doubt, the result of great practice, and enables the most expert of them to get as many as eight arrows up before the first one reaches the ground.”
Eight arrows in the air before the first arrow hits the ground. With one shot in their rifle and one shot in their pistol, a single frontiersman would have certainly been shot at more than he shot.
This was a major problem for any person of the time who lived by their guns. Luckily, the American economy is set up in a way that allows entrepreneurs to create goods and services that people demand. During this time, there was a great demand for a firearm that could increase the rate of fire. While multiple people experimented with revolver technology, in 1836, entrepreneur Samuel Colt received a patent for the very first revolving-cylinder pistol. However good the idea was, it wasn’t until the second half of the 1840s the revolver became popular. Perhaps the group most responsible for making the revolvers so popular was the frontier defense known as the Texas Rangers.
The story of the relationship between the Texas Rangers and black powder revolvers is well-established. Essentially, Texas Rangers faced the same problem others did on the frontier; they wanted to shoot back more, and faster, than they were being shot at. In 1844, Captain Jack Hays had managed to outfit a company of Rangers with two 5-shot Colt Paterson revolvers each. Armed with their new revolving pistols, Captain Hays and his group of Rangers defeated a superior force of Comanches at the Battle of Walker Creek. Legend says the Commanche were taken by surprise and complained that the Rangers “had a shot for every finger on the hand.”
Captain Jack Hays of the Texas Rangers was one of the first men to realize the usefulness of the revolving Colt pistol
Although in the big scheme of history, the Battle of Walker Creek was a minor skirmish, it had a big impact on the frontier. Word quickly spread about the effectiveness of the new black powder revolver. By the late 1850’s most Texas Rangers carried revolvers. In his book Charles Goodnight; Cowman and Plainsman author J. Evetts Haley said Goodnight told him “The better equipped (rangers) had six-shooters, preferably of the same caliber as their rifles, to prevent confusion of ammunition in the excitement of battle.” One could argue the settlement of the Texas frontier would not have been the same had it not been for the multiple-shot revolver technology.
Although Texas Rangers may get the credit for first putting black powder revolvers into action, they were also used extensively elsewhere on the frontier. If you are reading History of the West with Sam Payne: Pony Boy, you know that in 1860 revolvers were also widely used in the north as well. People may not realize that Pony Express riders often carried revolvers on their rides. Famous rider “Pony” Bob Haslam, told a story about making a dangerous ride when he said, “Within ten minutes, when I had adjusted my Spencer rifle - a seven-shooter- and my Colt's revolver, with two cylinders ready for use in case of an emergency, I started.” Perhaps it is Pony Bob’s dangerous ride that prompted him to bring his Spencer. Generally, riders concerned with weight would have carried only a revolver for emergencies.
Black powder revolvers of the time operated using “cap-and-ball” technology. Basically, the cylinder was loaded like a muzzleloading rifle. Each chamber in the cylinder was loaded individually with black powder, then a lead ball was rammed down on top of it. On the back of each chamber was a nipple. Percussion caps were placed on these nipples and served as the ignition system. When the hammer fell on the cap, it caused a spark that was the catalyst for the black powder to ignite. Cylinders contained five or six chambers depending on the model, and cylinders could be quickly swapped out if a shooter quickly needed more shots. This is what Pony Bob was referring to earlier.
If you are interested in learning how to load a black powder revolver, check out the video below.
VIDEO COMING SOON
As effective as the cap-and-ball system was, by the early 1870s, it was beginning to be replaced by metallic cartridge guns. Metallic cartridges are what all modern firearms shoot. They have a few main advantages over black powder revolvers. First, all of the components (powder, projectile, and ignition) are contained in the same unit. This contributes to the second advantage of speed. Since all of the components are contained in one metallic cartridge, all you have to do is replace an old cartridge with a new one and you can shoot again. Another major advantage is the uniformity of each cartridge. Uniformity causes more accurate shooting and makes loading under pressure much easier.
Although metallic cartridges were superior, I have heard claims that many frontiersmen continued to carry their old cap-and-ball guns long after metallic cartridges were introduced. Why? Well, every frontier outpost carried lead, powder, and caps. This meant that wherever you happened to go, you would still be able to shoot. Not every outpost would have the particular cartridge you wanted to shoot. If you couldn’t find your particular cartridge, you couldn’t shoot your gun. I’m not sure how much documentation this idea has, but it does seem to make sense.
Hopefully, this article sheds a little light on how important black powder revolvers were on the American frontier. If you are reading Pony Boy, hopefully, it will also help you better visualize the story. Firearms were absolutely essential to life on the American frontier, and sidearms were an important tool. Just like our modern electronic tools have changed our lives, revolving pistols changed the lives of frontiersmen and were quickly adapted for use.
