Texas Day by Day
On this day in Texas history…
Colt patents the "gun that won the West"
February 25th, 1836
On this day in 1836, Samuel Colt, of Hartford, Connecticut, patented the Colt revolver. This invention, along with windmills and barbed wire, brought order to the Great Plains. It was eventually produced in numerous models, the most famous being that of 1871. In 1839 the Republic of Texas ordered 180 of the .36 caliber holster models for the Texas Navy. The Texas Rangers gave the Colt revolver its reputation as a weapon ideally suited for mounted combat. Frederick Law Olmsted remarked that "there were probably as many revolvers in Texas as there were males."
