Product Description
CIVIL WAR Antique WHITNEY ARMS Co. .36 Caliber Percussion NAVY Revolver
Over 50% Went to U.S. ARMY & NAVY Contracts
Here we present an antique Whitney Navy Percussion Revolver, made circa 1862 in New Haven, Connecticut with a production run between 1857 and 1865. The most famous and easily recognized revolver manufactured by Eli Whitney Jr. was his Navy Model. This revolver came onto the scene four years prior to the American Civil War with its 1st Model. An improved 2nd Model was developed as the war began and sales flourished as Whitney worked hard to market his revolver. Approximately 35,500 Whitney Navy revolvers were manufactured, including 1,500 of the First Model and 34,000 of the Second Model. Whitney obtained a contract with the U.S. Army in 1862 and provided around 7,600 through 1863. Including purchases through private vendors, the Army obtained over 10,000 of these revolvers. Between 1863 and 1865, the U.S. Navy purchased 6,226 Whitney Navy revolvers. Consequently, around 50% of all the Whitney Navy revolvers produced were purchased by the Army and Navy.
Eli Whitney Sr. established his Whitneyville Armory in1798 and produced firearms (among other things) by contract for the young U.S. government. Just prior to this, in 1793, Whitney invented the mechanical cotton gin, which dramatically changed the economic landscape in the U.S., namely in the South. While his invention was a labor-saving device, making the processing of harvested cotton extremely efficient and requiring fewer laborers, his machine caused the market for cotton to explode and more laborers were needed to plant, grow and harvest the crop. This resulted in a corresponding boom in the Southern slave trade. Great fortunes were created, and the population of the South became such that one in three Southerners were slaves. All this provided the fuel that would become the raze that was the American Civil War.
Eli Whitney died in 1825, and his son, Eli Whitney Jr., began running the family business in 1841. Whitney Jr. seized the opportunity in 1847 to manufacture 1,000 of Samuel Colt’s latest revolver the Colt Walker revolver. Production of this revolver helped both parties immensely as it kept Colt in business, and it allowed Whitney Jr. to tool up and gain experience making revolvers. With the expiration of Colt’s patents in 1857, Whitney began production of percussion revolvers based on Colt’s patents, some of them very closely copied.
The Whitney Navy Revolver came about when Fordyce Beals—later of Remington-Beal fame—came to work for the company. He was the primary designer, which was indeed why the Remington-Beals Navy and Army Revolvers came to look so much like the Whitney. The Whitney has the distinction of being one of the first successful solid framed revolvers. As their production began before the war in about 1857, both the Union and the Confederacy utilized them in the American Civil War. One very notable character known to have used the Whitney Navy was Confederate Cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart. As mentioned above, many of these were purchased by the U.S. government and by individual soldiers for use in the Civil War.
The overall condition is very good. Excellent action. Good bore with nice rifling. Both grips are firmly seated, and a small crack is present on the right butt. Numbers match.
Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.
Barrel is 7-1/2 inches.
Caliber: .38 percussion
Overall condition as seen in photos.
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$2400
#220220