INSCRIBED COLT POCKET REVOLVER OF LT., ADJ., AND MAJOR J.B. COLONEY, 1st MARYLAND U.S., “A SOLDIER OF THE UNION,” MORTALLY WOUNDED AT WELDON RAILROAD, 1864

INSCRIBED COLT POCKET REVOLVER OF LT., ADJ., AND MAJOR J.B. COLONEY, 1st MARYLAND U.S., “A SOLDIER OF THE UNION,” MORTALLY WOUNDED AT WELDON RAILROAD, 1864

Hover to zoom

Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4 Image 5 Image 6 Image 7 Image 8 Image 9 Image 10

$4,500.00

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 1273-163

Shipping: Determined by Method & Location of buyer

To Order:
Call 717-334-0347,
Fax 717-334-5016, or E-mail

Formerly in the Toomey collection, this Colt pocket revolver is period inscribed in open, flowing script on the backstrap between two arrow-like foliate flourishes, ““J.B. Coloney. 1st Md Regt.” Coloney was an active and well-respected officer in the regiment, rising from 1st Lieutenant to Regimental Adjutant and, lastly, to regimental Major. The regimental history says he was in “nearly every battle in which the regiment was engaged”, and specifically records his battle honors as: “Front Royal, Va., May 23, 1862; Maryland Heights, July 7, 1863; Funkstown, July 12, 1863; Harris' Farm, Va., May 19, 1864; Spotsylvania, May 20, 1864; North Anna, My 23 to 27, 1864; Shady Grove, May 30. 1864; Bethesda Church, May 31 and June 1, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 2 to 5, 1864; Assault on Petersburg, June 17 and 18, 1864; siege of Petersburg, 1864; Weldon Railroad, August 18 to 21, 1864, (mortally wounded.) Died October 9, 1864, of wounds received in action at Weldon Railroad, Va.” Interestingly, in October 1863 he seems to have been suspected of disloyalty on the basis of a letter written to his wife that came to the attention of U.S. authorities. Nothing came of it, however: there seems to have been doubt the letter was even in his hand, and he was on duty with the regiment, promoted to Major and fulfilling the duties of that post, though not yet commissioned, when it joined Grant’s Overland Campaign in May 1864. After his death from wounds, officers of the regiment passed a series of resolutions in his honor and in sympathy with his family. His tombstone, perhaps decided upon by his wife to also lay to rest any doubts about his loyalty, reads, "A SOLDIER OF THE UNION / DIED FROM WOUNDS RECEIVED BEFORE PETERSBURG VA."

Coloney’s pistol is a Model 1849 Colt pocket revolver, .31 Caliber, with 5-inch barrel, serial numbered 199923 throughout, giving it an 1862 date of manufacture. The pistol is all original and rates about very good for condition with good barrel address and  Colt patent stamp on the frame, good serial numbers, though with wear to the cylinder scene and some patches of shallow, salt-and-pepper pitting on the cylinder. There are some small dings on the rear of the barrel assembly, likely from taking it apart for cleaning, and wear to the finish of the grips from use, but wood has a tight fit to metal, good color and good edges. The barrel shows some thin, faded blue. The color on the loading assembly is stronger. The cylinder has some brown tones creeping in. The frame is mostly a silver gray. The brass has a pleasing, medium, aged patina. The back of the hammer and screws at backstrap shoulders show some darker blue. The cylinder indexes correctly when cocked, though hammer does not hold at half-cock and could use some tinkering. All in all, it is a privately purchased officer’s pistol that saw field use, but was cared for.

Josiah B. Coloney was born in Ohio in 1835 and was a printer by profession. In 1852 he moved to Baltimore where he later joined the militia as a member of the Baltimore City Guards. At the war’s start he helped raise a company of volunteers, who elected him First Lieutenant and joined the Union 1st Maryland Infantry as Company I, with Coloney enrolling May 15, 1861, at Baltimore and mustering in May 27 at Relay House, where the regiment helped guard railroad and communication lines. The regiment spent most of 1861 and early 1862 posted by company to  guard various fords and ferries along the upper Potomac, with some companies taking part in skirmishes and short expeditions. Coloney himself was acting Provost Marshal at Williamsport from Aug. 9 to Oct. 15, 1861, and was then back with his company where he served as company commander through April 1862, when it moved to western Virginia and the Shenandoah to take part in operations against Jackson.

The regiment was in the advance on Winchester and the skirmish at Bunker Hill, but saw its hardest fighting in the defeat at Front Royal in which the Confederate 1st Maryland had a hand, resulting in the capture of most of the regiment, including Coloney. The men were interned at Lynchburg and Belle Island at Richmond until paroled and exchanged in mid-September, with Coloney himself traded for a Confederate 1st Lieutenant of artillery on Sept. 21. In reorganization of the regiment at Baltimore he was appointed and commissioned Adjutant in early October. During the Antietam Campaign the regiment held Williamsport and remained on duty between there and Hagerstown until December when they were sent to reoccupied Harpers Ferry, seeing some campaigning during the Jones-Imboden raid into western Virginia in May 1863. In the Gettysburg campaign they were assigned to the 1st Army Corps for the pursuit of Lee and took part in the Fall campaign of the Army of the Potomac, taking part in the advance to the Rapidan, Bristoe Station, and Mine Run.

Coloney in the meantime had been ordered on detached duty to organize drafted men on July 21 and spent much of his time until April 24, 1864, on Mason’s Island, DC. In October, however, he was suddenly placed under arrest and clapped in the Old Capitol Prison. Details are vague, but letters in his service file indicate a letter to his wife containing disloyal statements of some sort had come to the attention of authorities. Hia service file doe not indicate a courtmartial or anything further about the matter, but does include a request for someone familiar with his handwriting, implying there was some doubt about the authorship, or perhaps that that was his defense. In any case, it seems worthy of further research, but the short version is that he remained, or was returned, to duty, rejoining the regiment for the Spring campaign of 1864, during which it was assigned to the 2nd Division 5th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac.

He rejoined the regiment about April 24, while it was reorganizing, with reenlisted veterans returning from furlough, to be joined by newer recruits with time left to serve, and the other veterans who had not reenlisted, preparing to go home. In the realignment of officers Coloney was promoted to Major, though not officially commissioned until Sept. 6, 1864, while lying mortally wounded in hospital. But, a later pension request by his widow includes testimony from Lt. F.M. Smith, who replaced Coloney as Adjutant, that, “Coloney was acting as major before and at the time of his being wounded,” which reflects the muster out of the previous Major, B.F. Schley, on May 23, 1864. The non-reenlisted veterans and new recruits had seen some action in the Wilderness; the reorganized regiment reached the front in time for the tail end of Spottsylvania with significant fighting at Harris Farm. They then saw continuous action with the 5th Corps on the move to the North Anna, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, and then the trenches of Petersburg. On August 21, the last day of fighting on the Weldon Railroad, the Colonel was killed and Coloney mortally wounded: “At the battle of the Weldon Railroad he exhibited great bravery, and his words of encouragement, uttered amid & tempest of shot and shell, ‘Keep cool, boys: shoot low, and let them see you can preserve your line in trying times the same as on dress parade,’ can never he effaced from the memory of those to whom they were addressed. On the morning of the last day's fighting on the Weldon Railroad, (Angust 21,) he was struck hy a musket ball, which entered the right hip and passed completely through, making a dreadful wound, from the effects of which he died in hospital, at Philadelphia. Pa, on the ninth of October, 1864.”

The. Colt M1849 Pocket was favorite among officers for its convenient size and light weight. Given its 1862 production date, Coloney may have acquired it before seeing action against Jackson, but more likely carried it after his exchange and return to duty during the Antietam Campaign through two more years until his death wound at Weldon Railroad in 1864.  [sr][ph:L]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS.

THANK YOU!

Inquire »

Inquire About INSCRIBED COLT POCKET REVOLVER OF LT., ADJ., AND MAJOR J.B. COLONEY, 1st MARYLAND U.S., “A SOLDIER OF THE UNION,” MORTALLY WOUNDED AT WELDON RAILROAD, 1864

should be empty