The Butterfield Armies were finished with blue barrels and cylinders, bronze frames left bright, case hardened hammers and loading levers, and varnished black walnut grips. The standard models like this one were marked in three lines on the top strap BUTTERFIELD'S / PATENT DEC 11, 1855 / PHILADA. There are no markings on the barrel or on the sides of the cylinder.

The mechanical condition is very good with strong mainspring and good crisp hammer positions. The carrier for the primer discs works precisely. Indexing is accurate. Lock-up at full cock is fine. The loading lever latching is a little loose and could be easily tightened by a good gunsmith.

The bronze frame has a beautiful pleasing patina unmarked except for one ding on the right side probably from the period of its use. The barrel and cylinder are smooth, unpitted, gray/brown metal with nice traces of original finish at the barrel-to-frame juncture. The loading lever shows some faded case. The hammer and trigger have gone to a nice even dark gray tone. The grip to frame fit is still perfect. The right grip retains 75% original varnish and the left grip has about 90% original varnish. There are old and well-done repairs to two hairline cracks in the left grip and a chip out of that grip at the butt. There is a crack on the butt of the right grip but it has not gone through.

Matching serial numbers are readily visible on the butt strap, on the butt of each of the walnut grips, on the lower left barrel flat near the frame, and on the right side of the loading lever. Serial numbers are also to be found on the inside of both sides of the frame and on the back of the cylinder. The cylinder, #426, is not matching. (Please see last paragraph).

These are among the most unusual of the secondary martial revolvers. The Butterfield design provided for a slender tubular vertical magazine internal to the frame with its loading aperture just forward of the trigger guard. Into the aperture were loaded 5 wafer shaped priming discs made of copper and tin foil and containing fulminate of mercury. A spring-loaded follower was then inserted in the aperture behind them and a simple thumb screw arrangement at the base of the follower fastened the tube closed and held the primer discs firmly in place with the follower.

After the piece is cocked, when the trigger is pulled, a carrier with a primer disc on it emerges from the frame and positions a primer disc over the nipple where it is struck by the hammer as the hammer hits the nipple. The flash leaps into the chamber, ignites the load, and the gun fires. Then, when the gun is cocked again, the carrier is so constructed that the primer residue is scraped off as it returns to the primer disc magazine. Then a new disc is automatically seated in it by virtue of the spring-loaded tension from the follower. The cocking action has simultaneously rotated the cylinder to the next nipple and the sequence is repeated when the trigger is pulled again.

In 1861, the Ira Harris Guards, which developed into the 5th and 6th New York Infantry, ordered about 2300 Butterfields, but the contract was canceled and only about 650 pieces were made. Col. Colt seems to have gotten the sale instead with .36 and .44 caliber revolvers. It is not known whether any Butterfields were formally issued to the 5th or any other unit. It is known, however, that some of the Butterfields were privately purchased by members of the 5th New York.

One historian, Edwards in his Civil War Guns, suggests possible Confederate use because some are known to have been sold in the Carolinas in 1861. In any case, whether Union or Confederate, serial #395 with its cylinder # 428 was sold recently at the April 2002 Joseph Devine auction. Those numbers are so close to this gun, #382 with cylinder #426, that one has to wonder if a batch of these weren't in a civil war unit together and some cylinders were mixed up when they were boiled in the field to clean them.

(References: Civil War Guns, Edwards; Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and their values, Norm Flayderman; Small Arms Makers, Gardner; United States Martial Pistols and Revolvers, Gluckman; Civil War Pistols, McAuley; U.S.Military Small Arms 1816 to 1865, Reilly; Early Percussion Firearms, Winant.)