Historical inscribed Colt Model 1851 Navy Percussion revolver, Lt. Col. J. Hanson Thomas, Jr., Maryland!

Description

Extremely fine Colt revolver serial number 151,592 as manufactured in 1863 by Colt Manufacturing  with the New York barrel address.  This exceptional weapon has all matching numbers throughout and is deeply engraved on the backstrap “C.S.A. 1861-1865 J. Hanson Thomas Jr. Lt. Col. And A.D.C. (Aide de Camp) Maj. Gen. Loring’s Staff Army of the Tenn.”

At some point likely after the War ended, the weapon was plated in bright silver finish of which 99% remains.  The action is strong and crisp but the cylinder, while free and intact, sometimes does not rotate—a minor mechanical issue.

Lt. John Hanson Thomas Jr. was a physician and a Maryland legislator and also a member of the Baltimore City Council. He was imprisoned for his pro-Confederacy views early in the Civil War.  In 1861, Thomas was arrested and imprisoned for six months along with ten other Maryland legislators.  He originally enlisted in Company D, Weston’s Battalion, Maryland Line, and later served in Company H of the 1^st Maryland Infantry.  He was President of the Farmers and Merchants Bank for 35 years.

By 1862, he was promoted to Captain and later Lt. Col. and was noted as being a key member of the Staff of Confederate General W.W. Loring where he served as Aide de Camp as well as Acting Adjutant General.

He was paroled May 13, 1865 and returned to Baltimore.  He later was Treasurer of the Florida Railway and Navigation Company and died of pneumonia in Jacksonville, Florida, December 20, 1888.

He was educated at the University of Virginia and was a student at the outbreak of the Civil War.  He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and went to Harpers Ferry as a volunteer to seize the armory there.

He fought in the Battle of 1^st Manassas and later joined the staff of Gen. Loring where he was noted as a great soldier.  Gen. Loring said of him that “he was a soldier absolutely without fear.”  He fought in nearly all of the battles of Gen. Hood and Johnston while disputing Sherman’s March to the Sea.  He was taken prisoner but paroled and was with the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston when he surrendered.

This fine inscribed weapon comes with a significant amount of research and would be the centerpiece of any Confederate, Colt revolver or Maryland collection!