Object Details
licensee
Leavitt
Wesson
associated person
Brown, John
maker
Massachusetts Arms Company
Description
United States "Belt Revolver" .31 caliber with Maynard primer.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed the two states to decide the issue of slavery by a popular ballot. The fight in Kansas was so intense that the state earned the nickname “Bleeding Kansas.” John Brown bought 2,000 of these revolvers and sent them to Kansas for the “Free-Soilers.” New England abolitionists helped bankroll “Free-Soilers” to move to the settlement of Lawrence, Kansas. In 1856, after abolitionists were attacked in Lawrence, John Brown led a raid on scattered cabins along the Pottawatomie Creek, killing five people. Kansas would not become a state until 1861, after the Confederate states seceded.
Credit Line
Allen H. Johness, Jr.
ID Number
1982.0723.01
accession number
1982.0723
catalog number
1982.0723.01
Object Name
revolver
Other Terms
revolver; Firearms; Tape Prime; .31 In; Rifled; Sa
Physical Description
steel (overall material)
wood (part material)
Measurements
overall: 4 1/2 in x 12 in x 1 1/2 in; 11.43 cm x 30.48 cm x 3.81 cm
Place Made
United States: Massachusetts, Chicopee
used
United States: Kansas
United States: Nebraska
See more items in
Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
Military
ThinkFinity
Exhibition
Price of Freedom
Exhibition Location
National Museum of American History
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Firearms
related event
Kansas Struggle
Expansion and Reform
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_440044