Arms, Armor & Militaria

.31 caliber. 6" octagonal barrel. SN: 203753. Blued and color casehardened finish, silver plated brass backstrap and triggerguard, one-piece varnished walnut grip. Single action percussion revolver with six-chambered smooth round cylinder. Barrel marked in two lines - ADDRESS SAML COLT / HARTFORD, CT - with the two-line COLT'S/PATENT on the lower left of frame. Cylinder with standard Stagecoach Hold Up scene, COLT'S PATENT marking and serial number. Matching serial numbers throughout, including the wedge and grip. Standard hammer nose notch rear sight and brass post front sight. Butt of the revolver is engraved D Co 74th N.Y. with the top of the backstrap engraved 19 and the front strap engraved Presented by J.G. Dudley of. The balance of the backstrap is engraved Capt. Jas. C Strong 21st Regt N.Y.V.

The existence of a number of "D Co 74th N.Y." marked 6" Colt Pocket Revolvers has been known by collectors for some time but the true story of the meaning of the markings was not really revealed until an article was written by Dr. Oldenbourg and Wiley Sword in the February 1996 issue of Man At Arms. The markings represent Company D of the 74th New York State Militia, which was one of two Militia regiments based in the Buffalo area. At the beginning of the Civil War, the city of Buffalo arranged a "citizen subscription" to order 80 Colt Pocket Revolvers with belts and holsters at $14 each for the use of the members of Co. D of the 74th NYSM. It was intended that additional revolvers would be ordered by subscription for companies B and C as well. The revolvers were delivered on April 27, 1861 and according to period newspaper accounts would be distributed once they were marked, which explains the butt engraving and the rack numbers on these guns. The US government would not accept the 74th and 65th NYSM as 90-day regiments, as they wanted to enroll volunteers for two years service. As a result the regiments were not allowed to muster en masse and those that were willing to fight for two years became the core volunteers for the newly formed 21st New York Volunteer Infantry. As the revolvers were originally intended only for the use of that militia company, they were initially reclaimed by the city, but as they were purchased by the individual members it was decided that those willing to pay $1 to cover the original shipping costs for the guns (and possibly the cost of the engraving) could retrieve their revolver and take it with them to their new regiment.

James C. Strong (1826-1915) was originally a member of Company E of the 74th NYSM but apparently James Dudley served in Company D and acquired the revolver he was entitled to and then added the front strap inscription in order to make the butt inscription make sense. The Buffalo Daily Courier specifically mentions this presentation from Dudley to Strong, along with ten other presentations of these Company D 74th NYSM revolvers. Strong was a 35 year old attorney when he enlisted in the 21st New York Volunteer Infantry on May 7, 1861, initially as a private. He was promoted to Captain and command of the company on July 4, 1861. On January 11, 1862 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and he was discharged from the regiment on January 17 to take a position in the Field & Staff of the 38th New York Volunteer Infantry. The 38th fought during the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days, including the battles at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Oak Grove, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill. On May 5, 1862 at Williamsburg, Strong was severely wounded in the hip. He was promoted to colonel on October 10, 1862. However due to the wound and long recuperation he never rejoined his regiment and as a result he was officially mustered out of service effective June 22, 1862, even though he was carried on the rolls as "severely wounded - absent" into the fall of that year. He was subsequently mustered as the colonel of the 15th Veteran Reserve Corps Regiment on September 29, 1863 and was breveted brigadier general on March 13, 1865.

After the war Strong retuned to a prominent legal career in Buffalo, NY in partnership with his brother John. Strong represented the Cayuga and Seneca native people in various land claim lawsuits and was a strong supporter of Native American rights. He authored two books, Wah-kee-nah and Her People (1893) and Biographical Sketch of James Clark Strong (1910). He died in California at the age of 89 in 1915. 

The revolver is accompanied by a large binder of information about Strong, copies of the Man at Arms article about the Company D 74th NYSM Colts which features this gun specifically, copies of images and service records and a number of original letters from both James and his brother John. Also included are a CDV of Strong and copies of the two books authored by Strong.