The Naval Battle Scene on the cylinders of Colt Navy and Army revolvers was a personal tribute from Sam Colt to his friend Commodore Edward Ward Moore, the commander of the Texas Navy during the Battle of Campeche fought on 18 May 1843. The battle was fought off the coast of Yucatan, Mexico between the Texas Navy and the Mexican Navy. In actual fact, the Texas Navy had been "rented" by Yucatan rebels that were in rebellion against the dictatorship of General Santa Ana.
To confuse matters further, several of the "Mexican" ships were were commanded by British naval officers and the crews a mixture of British and Mexican sailors!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_CampecheLong before the battle, Commodore Moore had traveled to the United States to recruit American sailors for the Texas Navy. By pure luck, he stopped by a sporting goods story in the North East that had a display of Paterson Colt revolvers and Paterson Colt long arms.
Intrigued by the concept of repeating pistols and long arms, Commodore Ward placed a sizable order for Colt firearms directly from Sam Colt for the Texas Navy. So, Colt arms were aboard the Texas ships in the Battle of Campeche. After the battle, as the Texas Navy was sailing North to Galveston, President Sam Colt of the Republic of Texas declared Commodore Moore a "Pirate" and when the ships docked in Galveston, Houston had Moore arrested, to be tried for a long list of charges Houston had placed against the Commodore.
Commodore Moore was cleared in his Court Martial, but Houston ordered the ships of the Texas Navy sold. The Colt arms aboard the ships were boxed up and shipped to a government warehouse at Washington on the Brazos.The Paterson pistols remained in storage until they were found by Captain Hays of the Texas Rangers who was recruiting and commanding a new company of Texas Rangers.
Hays ordered the Paterson Colts issued to his Rangers, figuring that their firepower would come in handy in any battles with the Comanche Indians. Well, to make a long story short, the new revolvers played a major role in the hands of Hay's Rangers in defeating a superior force of Comanche Indians:
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/btw02One of the Rangers involved in the Battle of Walker's Creek was Samuel Walker.
A few years later, Texas had joined the Union and the Mexican War was starting.Samuel Walker was organizing a force of Mounted Rifles for the Mexican War. He talked General Zachary Taylor to allow him to return to the Eastern United States to not only recruit
additional troopers for his unit, but to secure a supply of Colt revolvers for his soldiers.
In the meantime, the Colt Paterson company had failed and Sam Colt was living in poverty in New York. Walker actually tracked Sam Colt and together they designed a "new and Improved" revolver: the Walker Colt.
Sam then handed Colt an Ordnance Department contract for a large number of those new pistols. Colt got the Whitney Company to produce the revolvers and Sam Colt was back in the gun business!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_WalkerOh yes....GUESS which Texas battle (between Indians and soldiers) is depicted on the cylinder scene of Colt's Dragoon Revolvers!
That was Sam Colts tribute to Sam Walker!
So, now you know about the battle scenes on several models of Colt revolver cylinders and about both Commodore Moore and Sam Walker!!!!
