4607 UNIQUE PATRIOTIC LETTER TO SAMUEL COLT, APRIL

Category Firearms & Military
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 200.00 USD
Estimated at 400.00 - 600.00 USD
1861, SELLING ARMS TO SOUTHERN REBELS. 4 page framed letter with American flag from attorney Daniel Gardner (1798-1863), telling Colonel Colt that selling large quantities of munitions to the South is an act of treason and goes on to say "to put down treason, men in your position must put forth their money and make the fight our battle. If you raise a regiment and arm it with your guns and revolvers and name it "Colt's Railroad Legion", I will take the trouble of finding the officers and men of the highest efficiency to the number of 1000 men…." Little did Daniel Gardner know, that in fact Colt was selling as many guns being paid for in NYC by Southern agents before they would no longer be allowed by law after the firing on Fort Sumter April 12. Colt, indeed shipped thousands of revolvers South in the month of April 1861, after Ft. Sumter was fired on. UNATTACHED ACCESSORIES: transcription of letter from dealer/collector Fred Sweeney. CONDITION: appears very good, mounted in mylar sleeve inside frame which was not opened. PROVENANCE: Martin Lane Historic & Western Americana Lifetime Collection. (02-21558/JS). $400-600.