The Colt Walker is among the most iconic and highly sought after antique firearms and has been particularly heavily associated with the American Southwest and Mexico thanks to their historic use in the Mexican-American War as well as by Texas Rangers on the antebellum frontier and during the American Civil War by primarily Texas cavalrymen fighting for the Confederacy. Since 2021, it has been the official handgun of the State of Texas. During their service life, many Walkers lost or destroyed. Those that have survived tend to show signs of hard period use and abuse. However, this revolver remains in high condition for a Colt Walker and retains nearly all of the cylinder roll-scene of the Texas Rangers battling the Comanche in the 1830s. This scene is rarely visible on the original Walkers, and this certainly points towards this revolvers above average condition, and the cylinder even retains the safety pin. The revolver also has a very interesting marking on the grip that connects it to Mexican Republican general and governor Andres S. Viesca. The legendary Colt Walker revolvers were manufactured at Eli Whitney Jr.'s Whitneyville, Connecticut, factory for Samuel Colt's to fulfill a U.S. contract for 1,000 revolvers. The revolvers were serial numbered A-D Company 1-220 and E Company 1-120. Although purchased to arm the Mounted Rifle Regiment, the first 394 A, B, and C Company revolvers were issued to the 1st Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers commanded by Colonel Jack Hays at Vera Cruz, Mexico, on October 26, 1847. When the Texas Mounted Volunteers mustered out of service on May 8, 1848, they turned in 191 Walker revolvers; 202 pistols were lost in service or retained by the Texans. The remaining 600 Walker revolvers were issued to the Mounted Rifle Regiment in Mexico or the 1st Dragoon Regiment on the Texas/New Mexico frontier following the Mexican War. The Walker revolvers saw hard service. In 1984, Lt. Col. Robert Whittington III identified 150 surviving A, B,C, D, and E Company marked revolvers in his book "The Colt Whitneyville-Walker Pistol." Twenty-seven B Company marked revolvers are listed in his book, including this one. The revolver the cylinder came from, B Company No. 106, was not listed. B Company No. 102 was also listed in the well-known list of Wilbur Quick, and the revolver was cataloged by the Far West Hobby Shop as part of the David Leeds Ingalls Collection. The barrel has a short German silver blade front sight, "ADDRESS, SAML COLT NEW-YORK CITY" marked on top running from the breech towards the muzzle, "B COMPANY No 102" on the left side above the wedge, and "US/1847" on the right side. The revolver has an interesting replacement loading lever with a tension spring running along the right side of the plunger, a clever solution to the issue of loading levers falling during use. The frame has "B COMPANY No 102" on the left side. The cylinder has the noted roll-scene along with a "B" inspection mark, "B COM-Y No 106" between the "MODEL U.S.M.R." and "COLT'S PATENT" roll-engraving, and the number "546" on the rear which is in the correct 440-660 range for the B Company Walkers per Pate in "The Colt Walker Army Revolver." The brass squareback trigger guard has "B COMY-No 102" with a struck line through it ahead of the bow, "102" on the left side under the grip, and "Andres S. Viesca" in ornate Old English style script on the right side under the grip. The iron back strap has "B COMPANY No 102" on the butt. The grip spacer has "96" at the toe. The revolver is accompanied by a 2024 authentication letter from Herb Glass discussing the revolver's various details, including that this revolver was modified in the period for a Dragoon style latch and then later the novel Walker style loading lever with a retention spring as discussed above was installed. Glass wrote, "I find this gun to be a genuine Colt Walker in very good condition..." later concluding, "B Company No. 102 is well above average for a Walker. These guns generally saw long hard use with many parts replaced in the field during their service." Brigadier General Andres S. Viesca (1827-1908), full-name Andres Saturnino Jesus de los Dolores Viesca Bagues, was a Mexican military officer in the War of Reform and the Second French Intervention in Mexico on the side of the Mexican Republic and also served multiple times as the governor of Coahuila de Zaragoza in Northern Mexico along the border with Texas in 1864-1867, including from April 7, 1865, to February 21, 1867. He was born in Parras de la Fuente in the southern part of the state of Coahuila and Texas prior to the Texas Revolution. His uncles Jose Viesca and Agustin Viesca had both previously been governors of Coahuila and Texas (1827-1831 and 1835 respectively) and had also held other political offices and opposed Santa Anna. General Viesca held political offices in the 1850s prior to becoming governor and was among the most powerful and influential men in the region along the U.S. border. The state's capital, Saltillo, had been occupied by U.S. troops during the Mexican-American War in 1846, and the famous Battle of Buena Vista on February 22-23, 1847, was fought south of the capital near Puerto de la Angostura. Pate and Whittington in their respective books indicate that dozens of Walker revolvers were lost in battle during the Mexican-American War. Pate details 39 battlefield losses along with 85 revolvers stolen or lost, so it is possible this revolver came into Viesca's possession after being lost by an American trooper during the Mexican-American War. Another possibility is that the revolver was used by a Confederate during the American Civil War before finding its way to Mexico. Colt Walkers were considered obsolete by the time of the outbreak of the American Civil War thanks to Colt's improved Dragoon and Model 1860 Army revolvers, but they were still serviceable and were the most powerful revolvers available. Around 85 were sold as surplus by the San Antonio Arsenal in 1860 and others would have been among the arms there when the arsenal was captured by the Confederacy in 1861. The Walkers were used by Confederate cavalrymen from the Southwest during the Civil War, and some Confederate troops fled to Mexico through Texas rather than surrender to Union troops after the defeat of Robert E. Lee and the bulk of the Confederate Army in the Spring of 1865. Confederate generals such as Joseph O. Shelby and Sterling Price offered to fight for Emperor Maximilian which would have made them Viesca's enemies. Shelby's men approached the border at Eagle Pass well-armed and positioned his artillery so that it could fire across the border at Piedras Negras placing Viesca in a tense situation. The two men negotiated, and Shelby's men were allowed to peacefully cross into Mexico, and Viesca worked to get Shelby's Confederates to join the Republican cause, offering a commission to Shelby and to allow him to remain near the border to recruit for the Republican army, but his men were staunchly opposed and wished to support Emperor Maximilian. Interestingly, in an interview in 1877 about his "expedition," Shelby indicated that he had sold "cannon, muskets, ammunition, revolvers, sabres-munitions of war which I had brought out of Texas in quantities-" to "Gov. Blesca [sic], the Juarez governor of the state of Coahuila." His men are said to have been paid $16,000 in silver and a promise of the same amount in script (see "Centennial History of Missouri, Vol. II" by Walter B. Stevens and "General Jo Shelby's March" by Anthony Arthur ). The sale of the arms provided the Confederates much needed funds and lessened resistance to their movement through Mexican territory. Maximilian generally declined to accept the Confederates into his army but encouraged them to settle in colonies in Mexico. With Maximilian's execution, the Confederates largely fled back to the United States. It is thus possible that Viesca got the revolver from a Confederate soldier in the 1865-1866. Provenance: The David Leeds Ingalls Collection; Property of a Gentleman

Very good. The revolver displays attractive mottled gray and brown patina and mild pitting throughout the iron components, aged patina on the trigger guard, a replacement loading lever and other smaller parts (seven screws, bolt, hand, trigger/ bolt spring), distinct scene on the period swapped cylinder which retains a solid safety pin, mostly legible markings, and moderate overall wear. The undersized replacement grip has a chips and repairs at the toe, mild edge wear, and some minor cracks. Mechanically fine. This is a highly desirable example of a historic U.S. Colt Model 1847 Walker revolver and featuring an interesting marking linking it to Andres S. Viesca, a Mexican Republican general and the governor of Coahuila.