Colt's Revolutions

For a full biography of Samuel Colt written by professional historians, I recommend [Revolver by Rasenberger, Roy, et al.] For a highly editorialized and possibly misleading biography of Samuel Colt, see below.

One

At age 15, Samuel Colt created an underwater explosive. He demonstrated it to great fanfare at a Fourth of July event. The following year, again on Fourth of July, he was expelled from school for pyrotechnic antics.

Shortly thereafter, Colt invented (possibly plagiarised) and prototyped his first firearms. Daddy Colt funded the first production run of those guns, but quickly cut losses.

Hungry for gun funds, "Dr. Coult" (not a doctor) peddled laughing gas at roadshows across the US. He quickly pivoted back to pyrotechnics and pistols, securing principal to prototype and patent his revolving gun.

And so he recruited John Pearson, a young gunsmith, to build more guns, mailing irregular/incorrect wages and erratic instructions. While Colt pursued a semi-successful smuggling scheme, Pearson perfected Colt's half-baked designs.

By age 21, Colt had patents and prototypes and debt; he did not yet have investors, nor manufacturers, nor customers. After stiffing multiple months of Pearson's wages, Colt scrounged/pawned/mooched to stay afloat until he could secure the means to manufacture more firearms.

Colt charmed enough investors to start production in New Jersey, where he sold thousands of guns to the US government (for use against Native Americans). Infantrymen require reliable/repairable tools; to this end, Colt was one of the first to pioneer interchangeable parts at factory-scale.

But Colt was too ahead of his time. Plagued by manufacturing defects, his guns were reputed as fragile/finicky. His company failed after six years.

Two

Well, back to sea mines. Sam Colt perfected his underwater cable and teamed with Sam Morse (of course) to petition funds from Congress. Morse used Colt's wires and batteries to build primordial telegraph lines.

To the US Navy's amusement, Colt destroyed a boat with his sea mine. But John Quincy Adams, among others, opposed such weaponry as an "unchristian contraption" and "not fair and honest warfare".

So no sea mines -- back to guns. Colt quickly innovated, prototyped, and sold 200,000 musket cartridges to the US Army.

With the cartridge profits, Sam Colt reunited with Sam Morse. He went all-in on manufacturing cables for Morse's telegraphy. Colt briefly started his own telegraph business for coastal communications, but soon began drafting another round of improved revolver designs.

Three

Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers stumbled upon a surplus of Colt's old guns. By arming each Ranger with two five-chambered pistols, they found a tactical advantage against Comanche cavalry.

After Captain Walker (and his Rangers) became legendary symbols of the Wild West, Walker sent savvy suggestions to Colt, who then restarted gun production with Eli Whitney Jr. at Whitney's armory. These new Colt-Walker revolvers were used to plunder more US territory, particularly during the Mexican-American war.

Colt leveraged this success to build an obsessively-managed armory/town (literally "Coltsville"), where he perfected interchangeable-parts manufacturing and pioneered the assemblyline.

At London's Great Exhibition of 1851, Colt single-handedly popularized "the American system of manufacturing", igniting the second industrial revolution. Inspired by Colt, the UK government circumvented gunmakers' strikes by employing low-skilled workers in factory environments.

The lineage of interchangeable parts began a century earlier. France's General Gribeauval enlisted Honoré Blanc to generalize his «système Gribeauval». Blanc shared the idea with the US French Ambassador, Thomas Jefferson, who shared it with President George Washington, who authorized Eli Whitney to build an armory and mass-produce thousands of muskets.

Four

Colt developed world-class sales/marketing tactics:

• He talked his way into becoming lieutenant colonel for Connecticut. It's much easier to sell arms as "Colonel Colt".
• With his new status, he gifted custom-engraved revolvers to celebrities, officers, politicians, etc.
• For the debut of his London Factory, he erected a large sign across from Parliament: "Colonel Colt's Pistol Factory". This stunt was quickly recognized by the press and shut down by the British government.
• Colt's reputation attracted the attention of prolific authors like Charles Dickens, who reviewed his products in popular magazines.
• With soaring profits, he commissioned famous artists to depict Colt revolvers in grand works -- one of the earliest examples of modern product-placement.
• Colt leveraged his factories to intimidate/stifle competition. By consistently fixing his prices below competing brands, he won large government contracts and mass-market appeal. To slash prices even further, he reinvested those profits into automation.
• Colt allegedly coined the phrase "new and improved".
• He paid handsome sums to publicly document his innovative factories in detail.
• Colt directed his staff to search the news for any mention of his firearms. He sent gifts to any editor who praised his work (or disparaged the competition).
• He stoked an arms race in Europe by selling guns to nations; he conspicuously notified neighboring nations about new orders.
• The American Civil War began soon after the proliferation of affordable firearms. Colt supplied both sides of the conflict.
• Some argue that Colt's tactics transformed the gun from a tool into a symbol of US patriotism.

By 1862, Colt accumulated extraordinary wealth. He died of gout.

Five

Colt's grand estate was willed to his wife, his son, and his ""nephew"".

I use double-double-quotes here to highlight that Sam Colt himself used double-quotes when writing about his ""nephew"".

To explain the ""nephew"" situation, we have to go all the way back to the beginning.

Like his brother, John Colt was an enterprising fellow:

He attempted many business ventures throughout the United States: land speculator in Texas, soap manufacturer in New York, grocery wholesaler in Georgia, fur trader, dry-goods merchant in Florida, and an organizer of Mardi Gras masquerade celebrations in New Orleans.

Long story short -- John eventually became the preeminent authority on "Italian" (double-entry) bookkeeping, i.e. the debits/credits system. His textbook was quite popular.

Meanwhile, Sam Colt came back from Europe with a 16-year-old wife, Caroline Henshaw. The marriage was kept secret; soon thereafter, after becoming pregnant, she was sent to live with John Colt.

Shortly after Caroline arrived, John Colt's textbook printer sent somebody (also named Samuel) to clear a small accounting discrepancy. John Colt murdered him with a hatchet. The next day, he stuffed the corpse into a shipping crate and sent it to a non-existent address far away; the crate was loaded onto a cargo ship. But unexpected weather delays gave authorities just enough time find the victim's corpse before departure.

The murder trial was sensational; it dominated the news cycle for months.

John Colt was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. His only request was that he could marry Caroline Henshaw the morning of his execution.

He lived lavishly in prison while awaiting his marriage/death -- silk pajamas, Cuban cigars, fresh flowers, fine dining, etc. Meanwhile, his many poor escapes attempts were foiled.

On November 14, 1842, he was married to Caroline Henshaw and witnessed by his brother, Samuel Colt. Suddenly, the prison caught fire. It was quickly extinguished, but only hours before his scheduled execution, John Colt stabbed himself in the heart with a pocket knife.

Shortly thereafter, Caroline gave birth. Of course they named the baby boy Samuel Colt.

Sam Caldwell Colt was Sam Colt's ""nephew"". Sam Colt's second son was named Caldwell Colt.

Sam Colt's actual nephew, also named Sam Colt, became a rubber tycoon.