Product Details
FORMERLY THE PROPERTY OF MAJOR-GENERAL N. BANKS, U.S. ARMY
AN ENGRAVED .36 PERCUSSION COLT 1851 NAVY REVOLVER, serial no. 100878,
for 1861, with 7 1/2in. octagonal barrel, the top-flat signed 'ADDRESS SAML COLT HARTFORD CT.' within an engraved border, engraved band at muzzle, scroll engraving at breech, the left side inhabited with the head of a hunting dog, plain cylinder with traces of roll engraved scene, open iron colour-hardened frame with borderline and scroll engraving, the left side marked 'COLTS PATENT', scroll and border engraved silver plated brass back-strap and trigger-guard (much plating remaining), the back-strap mostly vacant, smooth walnut one-piece grip (small losses to heel), hinged under-barrel rammer with scroll engraved joint, the whole retaining traces of original finish and together with a framed illustration of Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks including a synopsis of his life and a small daguerreotype of the officer and a file of paperwork relating to the Major General and the revolver
Provenance: The papers accompanying this revolver include a statement from the Jackson Police Laboratory, Mississippi stating that the name 'N.P. Banks' along with other illegible writings can be seen with ultra violet light on the wood underneath the original varnish in the area concealed by the back-strap
Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on January 30th, 1816. He received a common school education, practised law and was a prominent Member of Congress from 1853-1857. He was Governor of Massachusetts from 1858-1861, and when the Civil War broke out he was president of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, but immediately offered his services to the Government. He was made Major-General of Volunteers, and was appointed to the command of the Department of Annapolis, and then to the Department of Shenandoah. In the organisation of the Army of the Potomac in March 1862, he was assigned to the Fifth Corps, but his force was detached on April 4th 1862, and remained in the Shenandoah Valley where Banks retained command until that corps was merged in the Army of Virginia, June 26th, 1862. After the Army of Virginia was discontinued, Banks was at the head of the Military District of Washington until October 27th of that year, He succeeded Major-General B.F. Butler in command of the Department of the Gulf, and was actively engaged along the lower Mississippi and Red Rivers, successfully capturing the Port Hudson in 1863. He resigned his commission after the disastrous Red River expedition of 1864, and was immediately re-elected to Congress. In 1890, owing to increasing mental health issues, he was obliged to retire from public life. He died at his home on September 1st, 1894
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Estimate £3,000-5,000