Arms, Armor & Militaria

.36 caliber. 5.5" round barrel. SN: 1725 (mfg. ca.1861). Blued and color casehardened finish, silver plated brass backstrap and triggerguard, one-piece walnut grip. Single action percussion revolver with five chambered fluted cylinder. Barrel with desirable one-line Hartford address that reads: - ADDRESS SAML COLT HARTFORD, CT -. Lower left of frame with two line COLTS/PATNET mark, one cylinder flute with the PAT. SEPT 10TH, 1850 marking and one flute with the serial number 1725. Matching serial numbers throughout, including the wedge, and probably the grip, although the period inked serial number is largely illegible. Standard brass truncated cone post front sight and notched hammer nose rear sight. Backstrap engraved in two lines: Presented to CAPT. CHARLES E RAND/by his brothers T.B. & J.H. RAND. 

Charles E. Rand (1833-1863) was a 28 year old landlord who joined the 1st Massachusetts Infantry on May 22, 1861 and was commissioned the captain of Company I two days later on May 24. The April 19th, 1861 Boston Evening Daily Transcript noted that "Captain Charles E Rand, who raised a company of 80 volunteers, was yesterday presented by an individual with a check for $100, for the purpose of purchasing a sword and a revolver. The liberal donor expressed the hope that the instruments of warfare might be well used in the cause to which he and his companions were about to give their service." The core of the 1st Mass was raised from a pre-war Boston militia unit that had been organized circa 1858 and consisted of such local companies as the "Roxbury City Guards" (Company D) and the "Union Guards" of East Boston (Company B). The regiment's first combat came at Blackburn's Ford leading up to the battle of First Bull Run where their gray militia uniforms caused confusion on the field. The regiment lost 13 killed, 1 wounded and 7 captured at the ford and then 1 killed at Bull Run. The regiment fought during the Peninsula Campaign, in particular at Yorktown and Williamsburg and then Fair Oaks and Seven Pines. They fought during the Seven Days, seeing combat at Oak Grove, Savage's Station, White Oak Swamp and Glendale and then Malvern Hill. The regiment fought at Second Bull Run that summer and at Fredericksburg in December of 1862.

They spent much of the winter of 1862 in the Washington D.C. area, and participated in the ill fated "Mud March'. The regiment participated it he Chancellorsville Campaign which culminated with that battle on May 1-5. The regiment suffered 11 killed, 51 wounded, 7 captured and 32 missing during the Battle of Chancellorsville, with Captain Rand being killed in action on May 2nd during the fighting. He was one of 8 officers of that regiment who would die in combat during the war. One of the brothers who presented the revolver to Charles was Thomas B Rand, who served as the Captain of Company C of the 33rd Massachusetts Infantry during the war. After the war Thomas his brother John operated the Parks House hotel & public house. Thomas visited the Chancellorsville battlefield twice after the war to reclaim Charles' remains, and was successful the second time, bringing Charles home for a funeral and burial in Boston in July of 1866.