Research: 1887 Colt
Please note that some articles have been transferred over from the Old Word Museum site. You may occasionally encounter broken links or outdated information in these articles.
Written By: Betty Wilson
Date: 2002
1878 COLT HAMMER SHOTGUN
The Colt and Parker companies mass produced high-quality double-barrel, breech-loading shotguns in the nineteenth century. While price was secondary in these guns after quality, the companies did keep the shotguns at competitive prices.
Colt advertised the 1878 Hammer Model as being made of the best materials and constructed with the best workmanship. And, not long after being introduced, the Model 1878 was winning medals.
Colt produced 22,683 Model 1878 shotguns, with serial numbers logically running from 1 to 22,683. The model 1878 was discontinued in 1889 due to stiff competition from domestic and foreign companies. Shooters had been choosing cheap prices and poor quality over the quality of he Colt Shotgun.
The standard Model 1878 was manufactured in 10 gauge and 12 gauge with 28, 30, and 32 inch barrels. A 12 gauge with 28 inch barrels weighed about 7.5 pounds.
The breech-loading shotgun with outside hammers had rolled Colt markings on the lockplates and barrel rib, hard rubber butt plates and checkering on the stock. Barrels were blued or browned with a Damascus twist.
Army officers sometimes ordered weapons on their own, and the Colt Co. gave them an incentive to buy the Model 1878 hammer shotgun or the 1883 hammerless shotgun by offering the two side-by-side double-barreled shotguns at a 25 percent discount.
I have a 10 gauge Model 1878 Colt Shotgun with outside hammers, blue Damascus barrels with the rolled Colt markings, engraving, and checkered stock. The shotgun has a letter of authenticity states it was sold to a hardware store in San Francisco in 1878.
Sources: Colt: The American Legend by R.L.Wilson, The Peacemakers by R.L. Wilson, Guns of the Wild West: Firearms of the American Frontier from 1849-1917 by George Markham, Bluebook of Gun Values by S.P. Fjestad, and a Colt Letter by the Colt Historical Society owned by Betty Wilson.
Originally Printed for the Western Writers Newsletter. Permission to reprint by Betty Wilson. For information on subscribing to the WHR Newsletter, contact WHRJulie@aol.com
Bio of Betty Wilson:
Arizona Territorial Newspaper
Apache Junction, Arizona
Wrote over a hundred feature articles for them.
Theme: Arizona Western History
Wrote for the newspaper under another Editor: Weekly Column: Guns of the West
Pinal Observer Newspaper
Apache Junction, Arizona
Weekly column: Guns & Lace
Column was partial history, information, and political
Self-Published a book called The Best of Guns & Lace, which is no longer available. I published the book mainly to compile the column and accommodate my customers at the gunshop who wanted to keep copies.
Arizona Arms Association
State of Arizona
As Secretary of the Organization, I was editor and writer of the monthly newsletter for the organization.
Wilson’s Gunshop
Apache Junction, Az.
My husband and I owned the shop until July,1997. We closed due to my husband’s disability which occurred this past summer.
Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic Nurse Registered Nurse Arizona
Research: Diary Excerpts
Please note that some articles have been transferred over from the Old Word Museum site. You may occasionally encounter broken links or outdated information in these articles.
Written By: P1umtree
Date: 2002
EXCERPTS FROM DIARIES OF FAMOUS AMERICANS
FAMOUS WESTERN HISTORICAL FIGURES
Here are some direct quotes from diaries written by famous people. They come from The Book of American Diaries edited by Randall M. Miller and Linda Patterson Miller and published by Avon Books.
February 13, 1844
The meat train did not arrive this evening, and I gave Godel leave to kill our little dog, (Tlamath,) which he prepared in Indian fashion; scorching off the hair, and washing the skin with soap and snow. Shortly afterwards, the sleigh arrived with a supply of horse meat; and we had tonight an extraordinary dinner–pea soup, mule, and dog.
John C. Fremont
February 19, 1836
We are all in high spirits, though we are rather short of provisions, for men who have appetites that could digest anything but oppression; but no matter, we have a prospect of soon getting our bellies full of fighting, and that is victuals and drink to a patriot any day. We had a little sort of convivial party last evening: just about a dozen of us set to work, most patriotically, to see whether we could not get rid of that curse of the land, whisky, and we made considerable progress; but my poor friend, Thimblerig, got sewed up just about as tight as the eyelet-hole in a lady’s corset, and a little tighter too, I reckon; for when he went to bed he called for a bootjack, which was brought to him, and he bent down on his hands and knees, and very gravely pulled off his hat with it, for the darned critter was so thoroughly swiped that he didn’t know his head from his heels. But this wasn’t all the folly he committed; he pulled off his coat and laid it on the bed, and then hung himself over the back of a chair. . . .Seeing the poor fellow completely used up, I carried him to bed.
Davy Crockett
June 15, 1854 Went with Miss Dora Howells to the court house to hear Mrs. Gage lecture on womens rights. She is a woman of a good deal of talent–an easy fluent, & rather impressive speaker, but a little too ornate. She uttered some truths upon the subject of female education, but her leading idea, a change of places & pursuits between men & women is an absurdity. . . . I couldn’t help asking myself, & shrinking from the question, how I would like to see mother, sister or wife make such an exhibition. It is too great a violation of my instincts of female decorum & delicacy to admit of any enjoyment. . . . If women must lecture I prefer to patronize good curtain lectures, & think them far less offensive and injurious than these public displays. Orville Browning
June 16, 1849 When the train started Brewster and I went back to the hunting ground to search for the lost pistol and blanket. Hunted for more than 3 hours in vain, then set out to overtake the train. . . . The sun was hot, the road dusty and the wind blew almost a tornado. It was impossible to keep my hat on. I had to walk bent against the wind to keep from being blown off the trail. It was hard walking, and as it was over a dreary sand waste without water, we suffered such thirst that we had to drink out of a muddy stagnant pool. We overtook the train at 1:15 p.m., encamped on a high table land above the river bottom . . . . Once at home, as the camp really seemed to be, we prepared a good drink of lemonade to quench our thirst, and regaled ourselves on a dish of pinola mush and molasses, hard bread, cold coffee and buffalo steak. The train had traveled 12 miles. Bernard J. Reid
June 20, 1849 Just before leaving the hollow and entering the valley of the North Fork, I was behind the train reading some names on trees, when a very fine looking Indian came across the hollow towards me on a dun pony. He was naked down to the waist and his long black hair was plaited in a queue behind. He was armed with bow and arrows and spear. Could talk no English. We shook hands and made signs, but to little purpose. He rode and moved with dignity and agility. Soon Francisco came up and tried to talk to him but could not except by signs. Soon leaving us he started up the precipitous bluffs, which his pony climbed like a mountain goat. Bernard J. Reid
June 22, 1842 Proceeding up the valley, objects were seen on the opposite hills, which disappeared before a glass could be brought to bear upon them. A man, who was a short distance in the rear, came spurring up in great haste, shouting Indians! Indians! He had been near enough to see and count them, according to his report, and had made out twenty-seven. I immediately halted; arms were examined and put in order; the usual preparations made; and Kit Carson, springing upon one of the hunting horses, crossed the river, and galloped off into the opposite prairies, to obtain some certain intelligence of their movements. Mounted on a fine horse, without a saddle, and scouring bareheaded over the prairies, Kit was one of the finest pictures of a horseman I have ever seen. A short time enabled him to discover that the Indian war party of twenty-seven consisted of six elk, who had been grazing curiously at our caravan as it passed by and were now scampering off at full speed. This was our first alarm, and its excitement broke agreeably on the monotony of the day. John C. Fremont
Research: Important Dates In Cherokee History
Please note that some articles have been transferred over from the Old Word Museum site. You may occasionally encounter broken links or outdated information in these articles.
Written by: Julie Farrow
Date: 2002
* 1540 – The Spanish Explorer, Hernando De Soto and his party are the first whites seen by the Cherokees.
* 1629 – The first traders from the English settlements began trading among the
Cherokees.
* 1721 – The Cherokee Treaty with the Governor of the Carolinas is thought to be the first consession of land.
* 1785 – Treaty of Hopewell is the first treaty between the U.S. and the Cherokees.
* 1791 – Treaty of Holston signed. Includes a call for the U.S. to advance civilization of the Cherokees by giving them farm tools and technical advice.
* 1802 – Jefferson signs Georgia Compact.
* 1817 – Treaty makes exchange for land in Arkansas. Old Settlers begin voluntary migration and establish a government there. In 1828, they are forced to move into Indian territory.
* 1821 – Sequoyah’s Cherokee Syllarary completed, quickly leads to almost total
literacy among the Cherokees.
* 1822 – Cherokee’s Supreme Court established.
* 1824 – First written law of Western Cherokees.
* 1825 – New Echota, GA authorized as Cherokee capital.
* 1827 – Modern Cherokee Nation begins with Cherokee Constitution established by a convention; John Ross elected chief.
* 1828 – Cherokee Phoenix published in English and Cherokee, Andrew Jackson
elected President. Gold discovered in Georgia.
* 1828-1830 – Georgia Legislature abolishes tribal government and expands authority over Cherokee country.
* 1832 – US Supreme Court decision Worcester vs Georgia establishes tribal
sovereignty, protects Cherokees from Georgia laws. Jackson won’t enforce decision and Georgia holds lottery for Cherokee lands.
* 1835 – Treaty Party signs Treaty of New Echota, giving up title to all Cherokee lands in southeast in exchange for land in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).
* 1838-1839 – Trail of Tears. US Government’s forced removal of 17,000 Cherokees, in defiance of Supreme Court decision. More than 4,000 die from exposure and disease along the way.
* 1839 – Assassination of Treaty Party leaders, Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot for breaking pact not to sign Treaty of New Echota. Factionalism
continues untol 1846. New constitution ratified at convention uniting Cherokees arriving from the east with those in the west.
* 1844 – Cherokee Supreme Court building opens; Cherokee Advocate becomes the first newspaper in Indian territory.
* 1851 – Cherokee male and female seminaries open. Female seminary is the first secondary school for girls west of the Mississippi.
* 1859 – Original Keetoowah Society orgainzed to maintain traditions and fight slavery.
* 1860 – Tension mounts between Union Cherokees and Confederate Cherokees. Civil War begins.
* 1861 – Treaty signed at Park Hill between Cherokee Nation and the Confederate
government. Cherokee Nation torn by border warfare throughout the Civil War.
* 1865-1866 – Cherokee must negotiate peace with the U.S. Government. New treaty limits tribal land rights, eliminates possibility of Cherokee State and is prelude to Dawes Commission. John Ross dies.
* 1887 – General Allotment Act passed, requires individual owership of lands once held in common by Indian tribes.
* 1889 – Unassigned lands in Indian Territory opened by white settlers known as
“boomers.”
* 1890 – Oklahoma Territory orgainzed out of western half of Indian Territory.
* 1893 – Cherokee Outlet opened for white settlers. Dawes Commission arrives.
* 1898 – Curtis Act passed abolishing tribal courts.
* 1903 – W.C. Rogers becomes last elected chief for 69 years.
* 1905 – Land allotment begins after official roll taken of Cherokees.
* 1907 – Oklahoma statehood combines Indian and Oklahoma Territories and dissolves tribal government.
* 1917 – William C. Rogers, the last Cherokee Chief, dies.
* 1934 – Indian Reorganization Act established a landbase for tribes and legal structure for self government.
* 1948 – Chief J.B. Milam calls Cherokee Convention; beginning of model tribal government of the Cherokee Nation.
* 1949 – W.W. Bill Keeler appointed chief by President Harry Truman.
* 1957 – First Cherokee National Holiday.
* 1961 – Cherokees awarded 15 million dollars by the US claims Commission for
Cherokee Outlet Lands.
* 1963 – Cherokee National Historical Society founded. CNHS opens Ancient Village, 1967; Trail of Tears Drama, 1969, and museum, 1975.
* 1967 – Cherokee Foundation formed to purchase land on which the tribal complex now sits.
* 1970 – U.S. Supreme Court ruling confirms Cherokee Nation ownership of bed and banks of 96 mile segment of Arkansas Riverbed.
* 1971 – W.W. Keeler becomes first elected principal chief since statehood.
* 1975 – Ross O. Swimmer elected to first of three terms as principal chief. First
Cherokee Tribal Council elected. Congress passes Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.
* 1976 – Cherokee voters ratify new Constitution outlining tribal government.
* 1979 – Tribal offices moved into modern new complex South of Tahlequah.
* 1984 – First joint council meeting in 146 years between Eastern Band of Cherokees and Cherokee Nation held at Red Clay, TN. Council meetings now held
bi-monthly.
* 1987 – Wilma Mankiller makes history and draws international attention to tribe as first woman elected chief, Cherokee voters pass constitution amendment to
elect council by districts in 1991.
* 1988 – Cherokee Nation joins Eastern Band in Cherokee, NC to commemorate
beginning of The Trail of Tears.
* 1989 – The Cherokee Nation observes 150th anniversary of arrival in Indian Territory. “A New Beginning.”
* 1990 – Chief Mankiller signs the historic self-government agreement, making the
Cherokee Nation one of six tribes to participate in the self-determination project. The project, which ran for three years beginning Oct. 1, 1990, authorized the tribe to assume tribal responsibility for BIA funds which were formerly being spent on the tribe’s behalf at the agency, area and central office levels.
* 1991 – In the July tribal election the first council to be elected by districts since
statehood and Wilma Mankiller won second elected term as principal chief
with a landslide 82% of the votes cast.
* 1995 – Joe Byrd and Garland Eagle elected principal chief and deputy chief which marks the first time in nearly 200 years that full blood bilingual leaders occupy the top positions of the Cherokee Nation.
