Description
This fine old Colt percussion pistol surfaced recently in an estate in Oregon where it had been for over 80 years. It is all matching and retains an original Civil War era brown leather military flap holster. All mechanics function well and there is a generous 75%+ original cylinder scene under the deep age brown patina. All markings are clear and crisp.
The most interesting part is that according to documents in the Springfield Research Service archives, it was once in a group of weapons documented as SEIZED at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in 1865! Fort Sumner was a military fort in New Mexico Territory charged with the internment of Navajo and Mescalero Apache populations from 1863 to 1868 at nearby Bosque Redondo.
In April 1865 there were about 8,500 Navajo and 500 Mescalero Apache interned at Bosque Redondo. The Army had planned only 5,000 would be there, so lack of sufficient food was an issue from the start. As the Navajo and Mescalero Apache had long been enemies, their enforced proximity led to frequent open fighting. The environmental situation worsened. The interned people did not have clean water; it was full of alkali and there was no firewood to cook with. The water from the nearby Pecos River caused severe intestinal problems, and disease quickly spread throughout the camp. Food was in short supply because of crop failures, Army and Indian Agent bungling, and criminal activities. In 1865, the Mescalero Apache, or those strong enough to travel, managed to escape. The Navajo were not allowed to leave until May 1868 when the U.S. Army agreed that Fort Sumner and the Bosque Redondo reservation was a failure.
The 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo was negotiated with the Navajo and they were allowed to return to their homeland, to a “new reservation”. They were joined by the thousands of Navajo who had been hiding out in the Arizona Territory hinterlands. This experience resulted in a more determined Navajo, and never again were they surprised by raiders of the Rio Grande valley. In subsequent years, they have expanded the “new reservation” into well over 16 million acres (65,000 km2).
Fort Sumner was abandoned in 1869 and purchased by rancher and cattle baron Lucien Maxwell. Maxwell rebuilt one of the officers’ quarters into a 20-room house. On July 14, 1881, Sheriff Pat Garrett shot and killed Billy the Kid in this house, now referred to as the Maxwell House.
