What kind of revolver did Possenti use?

[possenti]

I'm doing a little research on the inspiration for my screen name. For those that don't know, St. Gabriel Possenti is the patron saint of handgunners and marksmen. Here's a story from http://www.possentisociety.com/ - -

In 1860, a band of soldiers from the army of Garibaldi entered the mountain village of Isola, Italy. They began to burn and pillage the town, terrorizing its inhabitants.

Possenti, with his seminary rector's permission, walked into the center of town, unarmed, to face the terrorists. One of the soldiers was dragging off a young woman he intended to rape when he saw Possenti and made a snickering remark about such a young monk being all alone.

Possenti quickly grabbed the soldier's revolver from his belt and ordered the marauder to release the woman. The startled soldier complied, as Possenti grabbed the revolver of another soldier who came by. Hearing the commotion, the rest of the soldiers came running in Possenti's direction, determined to overcome the rebellious monk.

At that moment a small lizard ran across the road between Possenti and the soldiers. When the lizard briefly paused, Possenti took careful aim and struck the lizard with one shot. Turning his two handguns on the approaching soldiers, Possenti commanded them to drop their weapons. Having seen his handiwork with a pistol, the soldiers complied. Possenti ordered them to put out the fires they had set, and upon finishing, marched the whole lot out of town, ordering them never to return. The grateful townspeople escorted Possenti in triumphant procession back to the seminary, thereafter referring to him as "the Savior of Isola".

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Being 1860, it's obvious that it was a revolver, but what arms were available/common in Italy at that time, particularly by military personel? I have no idea, but I'm sure some of the firearm historians here could make a pretty good guess. If you have pictures, that would be even better. Thanks.

 

[mete]

BTW in the Italian paper ,www.corriere.it, I saw an item about drug wars in Naples which have now claimed 130 lives !! Of course the most violent time in Italian history was in the 1400s and 1500s. As for Possenti's pistols I wonder if they weren't single shots. There weren't all that many revolvers at that time. ....Garibaldi lived at one time in Staten Island [NYC] and was instrumental in some of the revolutions in latin america.

 

[MrMurphy]

Revolvers had been around since 1836, so it could have been a wheelgun, but being in middle-of-nowhere Sicily I think it was, odds are, single shot pistol.

 

[joab]

Possent disarmed the soldiers , so he would have been using whatever the standard military sidearm of the time was.

All I could find referencing the type of gun was that it was a .36 cap and ball

I also read that the incident is generally accepted as happening in 1865 but even if it is 1860 that was a nine years after Colt started manufacturing in England.

It's possible that they were using 1851s

 

[mec]

One version of the story has him telling the soldier that he has another pistol fully charged. This suggests a pair of single shots.

 

[joab]

Colt developed his own image as well: in the 1850s he began calling himself �Colonel Colt� (a title to which he had no more claim than the Dr Colt of his days selling laughing gas) and embarked on an assiduous campaign of self-promotion. Like his contemporary P.T. Barnum, he deliberately cultivated myths about himself, which added to the stature of his products. In the meantime, he was a ruthless salesman who had few scruples about his clients. One of his first major contracts was to the army of Ottoman Turkey; during the Crimean War he sold arms to both Russia and England, and the Irish Fenians and Garibaldi�s Redshirts were among his other customers.

Telegrams from Sicily say that General Garibaldi was marching on Messina. The General was about to receive large supplies, both of men and stores; about 2,000 men were to sail for Sicily from Genoa, where great numbers of volunteers are assembled; and a French house is said to have taken a contract for some thousands of revolvers, rifles, and muskets for Garibaldi's service.

 

[mec]

He was made a colonel in some state militia outfit- mainly for the title. I've also read that he sold guns to the Confederacy until the last possible moment.

On the other hand, Charles Dickens gave Colt high marks for his treatment of the workers in the London armoury. Colt himself at least gave lip service to loyalty to loyalty to his employees.

There are a number of variations of the Possenti story by now and it's impossible to know for sure how he was armed. Colt London agency revolvers are a possibility as are some belgian guns made under agreement with colt and others which were patent infringements. By the late 1850s, colts extended patent had expired and there were a number of competitive revolvers out there.

The picture painted of Possenti was that he was from a fairly wealthy family and had enjoyed quite a bit of riding, shooting and carousing before taking orders. I kind of get the idea that he might have had a brace of pistols for a few years - predating the general distribution of revolvers.

 

[joab]

It should also be noted that Colt and Garibaldi were friends

 

[Stainz]

It had to be one of those Navy Arms Italian made clones, like the .36 brass receivered one I had twenty-odd years ago... I'll bet Armi San Marcos or Aldo Uberti had some kinfolk then.... wonder if they were better made than today's clones...

Neat story. Happy New Year!

Stainz