Arms, Armor & Militaria

.31 caliber. 5" barrel length. SN: 171693. (Mfg. ca.1860) Blued and casehardened finish with brass gripstraps and one piece walnut stocks. Single action six-shot percussion revolver with an octagonal barrel and a toggle link ramrod. The left frame is struck COLT'S/PATENT with the address to the barrel reading ADDRESS SAML COLT/HARTFORD CT. The serial numbers match to all parts except the cylinder which shows a mark reading 14938 along with some faint traces of Ormsby's {Stagecoach Holdup} scene. V and G inspection marks appear on the left triggerguard. The backstrap is engraved Presented to J. Peddie by H. W. Langley. Nov. 8 1862. 

Private John Peddie was born in Scotland in 1840 and worked as a plumber prior to the Civil War. On August 23, 1861 he enlisted in Brooklyn, New York and was mustered into Company B of the New York 139th Infantry on September 9, 1862. The regiment shifted to Camp Hamilton for the following winter, but would see action the following year as part of West's Brigade, 1st Division, 3th Corps at Yorktown. The unit served during the Battle of Williamsburg, which ended in a Confederate withdrawal to Richmond. The 139th Infantry continued to serve into the following year, until it was ordered to Cold Harbor as part of the 18th Corps. In the brutal fighting that followed, the 139th suffered casualties amounting to 33 killed, 118 wounded, and 2 missing. Among the wounded was one Private John Pettie, who was wounded on June 3rd, 1862 by shellfire to the left leg. The leg was amputated, but infection set in, and Pettie died of his wounds on August 18, 1864 in Washington DC at Harewood General Hospital. His mother, Elizabeth Pettie, accompanied her son to the hospital and took possession of his personal effects upon his death. Pettie died at the age of 23, having suffered wounds during one of the most brutal battles of the American Civil War.

George Oldenbourg acquired this firearm from Vin Caponi Historic Antiques based in Malverne, New York. Comes with a folder of research into the fighting career of John Peddie.