2020 September Premier, Volume I

Rock Island Auction Company® Proudly Presents the Incredibly Historic & Iconic "Floyd Navy"
The Curt McClymond Collection
134
LOT 135
Historic Cased “National Treasure” Gustave Young Deluxe Factory
Engraved Colt Factory Presentation Model 1851 Navy Percussion
Revolver Inscribed from Colonel Colt’s Workmen to U.S. Secretary of
War and Future Civil War Confederate General John B. Floyd with
Documents - Serial no. 63838, 36 cal., 7 1/2 inch octagon bbl., blue/
casehardened finish, highly figured varnished walnut grips. Rock Island
Auction Company proudly presents the incredibly iconic “Floyd Navy.” The
engraving was executed by master engraver Gustave Young and has his
classic deluxe style with floral blooms and animal heads among the highly
detailed scroll engraving. Note the dog head among the scrolls on the left
side of the barrel and classic wolf/dog head on the hammer, typical
features of Gustave Young’s work. The overall pattern is the classic style
perfected by Young. The inscription on the back strap reads, “To Hon J.B.
Floyd/From Col. Colts Workmen.” A second presentation inscription is
featured on the front strap and reads, “Peter Otey from Gen. Floyd.” The
revolver has an apostrophe marked by the matching serial numbers on the
barrel, frame, trigger guard, and back strap indicating factory engraving.
The cylinder, wedge and arbor pin are also numbered to the gun. The left
side of the frame is stamped “COLTS/PATENT” above “US.” The revolver falls
in the 42000-80000 serial number range of Model 1851s which were
purchased by the U.S. Army prior to the Civil War. This revolver was
manufactured in 1856. It is fitted with a dovetail type front sight. The top
barrel flat is marked “-ADDRESS SAML COLT NEW-YORK CITY-”. The cylinder
has the naval battle scene along with scrollwork at the rear. Fitted with a
nicely figured deluxe walnut grip with varnish finish. The partitioned case
contains a sealed Eley Brothers cap tin, a sealed package of six seamless
skin Navy cartridges, a “COLT’S/PATENT” double face powder flask featuring
a patriotic/military motif, a blued “COLT’S/PATENT” dual cavity bullet mold,
and some lead balls. Includes a 2012 dated Bobby Smith Antique guns
receipt (copy) for the revolver. The revolver is pictured and identified in R.L.
Wilson’s “Fine Colts: The Dr. Joseph A. Murphy Collection” on pages 38-39.
The revolver was also exhibited in “Samuel Colt Presents” at the Wadsworth
Athenaeum in 1961-62 and is pictured and identified in the book of the
same title on page 245. It is also photographed in the iconic 1970s Texas
Gun Annual from the collection of Dr. Robert Nelson, whom also once
owned the famous “Millikin Dragoon”. This revolver is one of 3 Colt
presentation arms along with a shoulder stock presented to Floyd as
documented in “Samuel Colt Presents” (pages 241-246). As R.L. Wilson
explains, “The [Colt factory] gift consisted of
at least a Third Model Dragoon with matching shoulder
stock (number 16467), a Model 1849 Pocket revolver (number 113858),
the Model 1851 Navy, and a Sidehammer revolving rifle (number 1935).
Possibly more pieces were involved…[but] records are incomplete. All
items in the set were engraved and inscribed, excepting no inscription was
present on the back strap of the Dragoon.” Wilson attributed the engraving
to Gustave Young. According to Wilson, “Young was one of the factory
workmen who journeyed to Washington, D.C., for personal presentation of
the set to Floyd.” The presentation occurred in 1857. Samuel Colt was a
master salesman above all his other attributes, and he found that the best
kind of advertising that he could employ to promote his products were the
products themselves. He handed out finely engraved and inscribed
presentation guns to anyone he thought to be a worthy recipient. One of
his guns placed in the hands of an influential person, believed Colt, would
go a long way in winning support and acceptance of his products. As
Secretary of War during the U.S. President James Buchanan administration
from 1857 to 1860, John Floyd was the perfect candidate for a set of Colt
presentation arms that originally included this Model 1851. John B. Floyd
(1806-1863) studied law at South Carolina College, and after graduating in
1829, set up his own law practice in Abingdon, Virginia. This was to be a
brief venture as he soon left Abingdon with one of his brothers for
Arkansas where they invested in a cotton plantation. In the beginning the
cotton enterprise was profitable, but the Panic of 1837 left Floyd in debt
and as a result he lost the plantation. Making matters worse was an
infectious disease outbreak that killed most of his slaves and nearly killed
him. He returned to practicing law in Abingdon. By the late 1840s Floyd, a
Democrat, was involved in state politics. He was elected to the General
Assembly in 1847 and in 1849 was elected governor, a position his father
held during the Nat Turner Insurrection. An original land deed from 1850
signed by Floyd when he was governor is included as well as a carte de
visite of Floyd. In 1857, President James Buchanan appointed Floyd
secretary of war, a reward for aiding Buchanan during the presidential
campaign. Floyd’s tenure with the War Department was generally viewed
as corrupt; he was accused of orchestrating shady government contracts.
His decision to appoint a family member as quartermaster general of the
army over senior officials created many enemies including future
Confederate General Robert E. Lee and President Jefferson Davis, and the
dispute followed him to Richmond. Floyd resigned from the War
Department on December 29, 1860. He disagreed with Buchanan over the
handling of Major Robert Anderson’s occupation of Fort Sumner, was
accused of secretly transferring arms and munitions from Northern to
Southern arsenals in preparation of the Civil War, and was accused and
later exonerated of taking part in a bonds scandal at the Department of
PRESIDENT BUCHANAN AND HIS CABINET FROM LEFT TO
RIGHT: JACOB THOMPSON, LEWIS CASS, JOHN B. FLOYD,
JAMES BUCHANAN, HOWELL COBB, ISAAC TOUCEY,
JOSEPH HOLT AND JEREMIAH S. BLACK (C. 1859)
the Interior. In late May 1861, Floyd was appointed brigadier general in the
Confederate army and spent most of the summer and autumn of 1861
quarreling with fellow former Virginia governor Brigadier General Henry
Wise before being assigned commander of Fort Donelson in Tennessee. He
arrived at Fort Donelson just as the fort was under attack by Union naval
and army forces commanded by Ulysses S. Grant. While Floyd may have
been a horrible Secretary of War, he was an even worse military tactician.
Historians have argued that Floyd’s lack of leadership played a significant
role in the Union’s first major victory. With little military experience, Floyd
deferred most of the decision making to his experienced subordinates,
Brigadier Generals Gideon Pillow and Simon Buckner. Union forces laid
siege, resulting in a furious fight as the Confederate forces attempted
break out. As the tide of the battle was turning in the favor of the
Confederacy, the order was given for the Southern troops to return to their
entrenchments. Grant took full advantage of the confusion and indecision
that befell Floyd’s forces by launching a counterattack that resulted in the
retaking of lost ground as well as gaining new footholds. Floyd and Pillow
turned command of the fort to Buckner and escaped with about 2,000
men to Nashville. Buckner surrendered to Grant who demanded, “No terms
except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” For
the rest of his life Floyd claimed that he escaped because if captured he
would have been hanged as a traitor due to the controversy surrounding
his time as Secretary of War just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War and it
was futile to defend “the naked fort,” as he called it, from the Union’s
onslaught. Included in this lot is a March 25, 1862 dated letter written by
Floyd and addressed to the Honorable Henry S. Foote, Chairman Virginia
House of Representatives. The four page letter is Floyd’s defense for the
defeat at Fort Donelson. This letter is pictured with the revolver in “Fine
Colts.” In conjunction with the capture of Fort Henry, the Battle of Fort
Donelson was the first major Union victory and forced the South to give up
southern Kentucky and much of Middle and West Tennessee. The rivers
and railways in the area became vital Northern supply lines in the
Western Theater.