Rock Island Auction Company– Ulysses S. Grant’s Remington revolvers are a National treasure in the same vein as Abraham Lincoln’s Henry rifle and George Washington’s flintlock pistols.
Late firearms author and expert Steve Fjestad put it best, “Without a doubt, these cased Remingtons constitute the most elaborate and historically significant set of currently known revolvers manufactured during the Civil War.”
They remained hidden for generations, only revealed to the public for the first time in 2018, and are now offered to the collecting public for the very first time in Rock Island Auction Company’s May 2022 Premier Firearms Auction.
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Details on the set
The set and its history were discussed in detail in the article “General Grant’s Magnificent Set of Lost Remingtons” by the late firearms author S.P. Fjestad published in the National Rifle Association’s “American Rifleman.”
The revolvers themselves are true works of art on “steel canvases.” While no signature has been found on this pair of revolvers, we do know the identity of the engraver: iconic 19th century Master Engraver Louis D. Nimschke of New York. The pair identified as a gift to the Czar Alexander II of Russia in appreciation for the visit of the Russian fleets to the United States in 1864 and sold in Rock Island Auction Company’s May 2021 Premier Firearms Auction was signed by Nimschke (“N”) and has some of the same exact patterns featured on this revolver. That pair is notably recorded in Nimschke’s famous pull-book in detail, and the patterns overall on this historic pair are very similar overall minus the naval anchors and arrows. The barrel engraving on Grant’s revolvers also matches the designs from Nimschke’s pull-book and shown on page 25 of “L.D. Nimschke Firearms Engraver” by R.L. Wilson.
The barrels include border designs at the muzzle and breech ends, scroll patterns with punched backgrounds on the sides, entwining bands and floral motifs at the center on the sides and repeated three times on the top, and entwining line motifs on the upper side flats at the breech. The bulk of the engraving on the revolvers consists of Nimschke’s exceptionally well-executed scroll engraving patterns with punched backgrounds. Among the scroll patterns are also floral accents such as the blooms on the left side of the frames at the breech and among the scrollwork on the left side of the frames as well as checkerboard and dot patterns on the right side of the frames and butts. The recoil shields have floral and fan patterns.
The top straps have twisted or entwining rope patterns along the sides sighting grooves. Columbia’s shield is located behind the hammers followed by “FROM YOUR FRIENDS/O.N. CUTLER. W.C. WAGLEY.” down the back straps. The left grip of the first revolver and of the second revolver features an excellent raised relief carved eagle, flags, and Columbian shield patriotic motif that was also used on the grips of the Alexander II revolvers, and the right panel of the first and left panel of the second feature the significant and beautifully executed raised relief carved bust of General Ulysses S. Grant.
The choice of Remington’s New Model Army revolvers is also notable. They began production in 1863 and became the second most issued sidearm of the Union Armies during the Civil War. As the latest and greatest in martial sidearms, they were an excellent choice for presentation to the Union’s greatest military hero. Serial numbers “1” and “2” respectively are marked on the bottom of the barrels, inside of the grips, and on the grip frames. The trigger guards were not removed out of caution and immense respect for this historic pair but are clearly original and likely also have “1” and “2” on the rear spurs. The left side of both grip frames have “1” in addition to the respective “1” and “2” on the right side. Whether these are the first two Remington New Model Army revolvers off of the production line or have special custom order numbers is not known. The regular production began around serial number 15000 continuing from the 1861 Army range. The revolvers have the “pinched” blade front sights, “PATENTED SEPT. 14. 1858/E. REMINGTON & SONS. ILION. NEWYORK U.S.A./NEW MODEL” marked on top of the barrels, full blue finish aside from the silver trigger guards and casehardened hammers, and expertly carved and fitted grips.
The deluxe rosewood presentation case has a blank lid escutcheon, pheasant and dog pattern powder flask with sloped charger, oiler, blued ball/bullet mold, L-shaped combination tool, cleaning rod, key, and Eley Bros. cap tin. Grant’s uniform in the carving on the grips displays the insignia of a two-star general (major general). Grant attained this rank in the volunteers in 1862 after he captured Fort Donelson (RIAC sold his commission for this rank in May of 2021) and then became a major general in the regular army in the fall of 1863.
Grant was promoted on March 2, 1864, and became the country’s second three-star general (lieutenant general) in history, after only General George Washington. After the war, he became the first living four-star general (General of the Army of the United States/Commanding General of the U.S. Army) on July 25, 1866, and held that position until he resigned when he became president in 1869.
These ranks and dates plus the introduction of this model in 1863 suggest the revolvers were presented to Grant in the latter half of 1863 or early 1864. The exact date, location, and circumstances of the presentation of the set remains unknown, but the inscription on the back strap matches the inscriptions on a known pair of Colt Model 1861 Navy revolvers (11756 and 11757) manufactured in 1863 and presented to General James B. McPherson and provide more context for the presentation. Given the evidence available, it is likely the revolvers were presented to Grant sometime in the second half of 1863 or early 1864 after he captured Vicksburg on the Fourth of July in 1863 and thus secured the length of the Mississippi River for the Union.
The pair was presented by Otis Nelson Cutler and William C. Wagley, both veterans of the Mexican-American War. Wagley was a 2nd lieutenant in the 3rd Dragoons, and Cutler was a captain in the Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers. The included pages from “A Cutler Memorial and Genealogical History” lists Cutler as enlisting as an orderly sergeant in the 1st Mass. Volunteers in 1846 under General Taylor and later being promoted to captain. He formed a company of men to explore for gold in California where he met with success. He later built a home on the family farm in Lewiston, Maine, and was contracted for the building of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri and moved there and became the superintendent of the railroad and lived in Hannibal.
At the end of the Civil War, Cutler was assigned as a special treasury agent stationed at New Orleans. Wagley remained active in the river trade in Louisiana after the war and is recorded as commanding steamboats running to Mobile and Montgomery in at least 1865 and 1866. Fjestad concluded this incredible cased pair was “a ‘thank you’ for a wartime cotton-smuggling scheme” and that Cutler and Wagley most likely ordered these revolvers through Schuyler, Hartley & Graham of New York City, the largest dealers in the country at the time.
The retailer then contracted L.D. Nimschke, also of New York City, to execute the incredible embellishment on the pair. “The overall cost of the extravagant gift was no more than $400, with the revolvers’ original value at about $12 each. The set could have either been picked up or delivered to a specific location as per Cutler and Wagley’s request.”
How the revolvers got here
They are believed to have been brought to California in the late 19th century by either Ulysses Grant Jr. or Jesse Grant II. The two brothers ran the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego together in the early 20th century. Jesse Grant II was the last surviving child of General Grant’s and died in 1934. His second wife Lillian Grant saved many of the Ulysses S. Grant artifacts and passed them on to Ulysses Simpson Grant V, including likely the cased pair.
They were reported to have been given as payment by U.S. Grant V to a handyman who worked on the Jesse Grant home (also known as the Julia Grant home) around the time of the Great Depression. That man kept the revolvers for many years. The family was eventually convinced to sell the revolvers in 1976 after many years of pursuit by a collector.
A notarized statement from Richard Hatch dated January 6, 2022, accompanies the set and notes that his father had been pursuing these revolvers in the early 1960s when they were in the possession of Mel Reynolds of San Diego. His father stayed in regular contact with Reynolds after learning of the revolver around the 1950s and reminded him of his interest in the revolvers and purchased them after around 20 years in 1976. Reynolds was the son of the handyman that had received the revolvers from the Grant family. Per the statement, they were payment for work on “the ‘Grant House’ near the Park. The Park being Balboa Park in San Diego. Years later I found out by the ‘Grant House’ he meant the Julia Dent Grant House at 6th and Quince.” Hatch indicates he drove his father on December 26, 1976, to purchase the guns at Bill Reynold’s house in San Diego.
As documented in an included sales receipt dated “Dec. 26, ’76,” Bill and Mel Reynold’s “Received from Frank L. Hatch $1,500 for a pair of engraved Remington pistols.” A letter from Mel Reynolds discussing the sale is also included noting that his brother lived in El Cajon just east of San Diego. At that time, it appears these men did not know the revolvers had been originally presented to General Grant during the Civil War. Hatch, a resident of San Diego, kept his new treasures guarded, but he did begin researching the men whose names are inscribed on the back straps with help from his wife but little luck as demonstrated by the included correspondence with the Smithsonian, West Point, the U.S. Army History Institute, NRA’s American Rifleman, and R.L. Wilson.
Through these sources and his own research, he was able to find some details about the men who presented the revolvers, including their service in the Mexican-American War. Perhaps the most important information he uncovered is that gleaned from copies of pages he obtained from “The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant” in the early 1980s that provided clues as to the connection between Grant, Wagley, and McPherson relating to cotton discussed above.
When he died in 1987, the revolvers remained with his wife until she moved into a care facility in 2002 when they transferred into the possession of their son Richard who then inherited the pair when his mother passed in 2013. They remained hidden for several more years until they were put on display for the very first time in Las Vegas in 2018.
