Wesson and Leavitt Patent - using Maynard Primer; caliber .31; round rifled barrel; 6-shot; brass backstrap; etched floral design on cylinder and frame. Equipped with Maynard's tape primer caps. Small button in front of trigger which when pushed up releases cylinder. This arm has only one nipple which directs the fire from the percussion cap into the pin hole of each chamber.
Owned by Owen Brown, son of the radical abolitionist, John Brown, and carried by him in the Kansas civil war and at the raid on Harpers' Ferry. Originally acquired by Chicato Historical Society in 1917, the revolver was stolen in 1948 but recovered in 2010 from a private collector.
Subject Description
Cylinder and framework at the back etched with floral designs.
Curatorial Statement
Owen Brown's revolver is a vivid reminder of slavery, the most divisive issue in nineteenth century America.