The Pettengill

The patent genealogy of the Pettengill (often misspelled Pettingill) was threefold. The basic pepperbox design with inside striker was the invention of C. S. Pettengill of New Haven No. 15,388 dated 22 July, 1856. Edward A. Raymond and Charles Robitaille, Brooklyn, New York, further improved the gun, taking out patent No. 21,054, July 27, 1858. Refinement for production was accomplished by Henry S. Rogers, of Rogers & Spencer, patent No. 36,861, November 4,
1862. Because of the close similarity between the Pettengill barrel, frame front and loading lever, as manufactured, and the eventual Rogers & Spencer revolver, it seems likely the form in which the Pettengill was made was due to Rogers.
By December, 1861, Rogers & Spencer had established a shop in Millvale, Oneida County, New York, where they were making the Pettengill pistol in pocket .31, and belt .34 calibers. They asked Secretary Cameron for an order, stating:

.  . . we are making the Pettingill (sic) pistol, a very superior arm for cavalry, belt or any other army service, of any size, of finish and material equal to the sample we present for your inspection . . . We are prepared to manufacture these pistols, army size, at the rate of 1,000 in ninety days, and 1,000 per month thereafter; and at this rate we should be glad to receive so large an order as the government please to give . . . We will make and deliver, of the army size, any number, for $20 each pistol, at times above indicated . . .

The lead time of three months pretty definitely establishes that Rogers & Spencer did not have the .44 Pettengill in production at the time; their misspelling of their patentee’s name suggests that Pettengill himself had long since lost any rights or authority in the control of his patent. Ripley ordered 5,000 on December 26, 1861, at $20, first delivery 90 days. Before the Commission in June, 1862, Rogers and Spencer themselves declare “It was upon the presentation by us of a pair of the Pettengill pistols, belt size, that the order for 5,000 of the same, army size, was issued to us.” The belt size they specifically describe as .34 caliber.

Pistol invented by Pettengill, Raymond and Robitaille was further improved by Henry Rogers of Rogers & Spencer. Inside striker principle dated from 1856 patent but form of loading lever and frame front resembles the Civil War R & S revolvers; was probably engineering refinement of Rogers himself. Casehardened frame contrasted with blued cylinder, barrel. 2,000 were ordered by Ordnance in .44 caliber.

But Rogers & Spencer were to receive a decided shock in their production expectations. Having gotten about 1,000 ready for the assembly room, about 2,000 in the machinery, and the fourth 1,000 just going into the factory as raw materials, they learned that orders had been given not to accept any of their pistols, that they were “not satisfactory.”
Rogers and Spencer had asked their partner, George
C. Tallman, of Washington, D. C. to deliver a pistol to the Secretary of War as a sample and to ask an extension of time, their 90 days having run out. It had taken that long to get the special tools ready to produce the Army size, and it was their wish to supply an exact duplicate of the production guns, made on the same machinery, for all the Pettengills were to be fully interchangeable. George Tallman’s son, Henry, called upon Secretary Stanton and received assurances that the extension was okay; his nephew, Edward D. Tallman, was the one who delivered the sample pistol to the War Department.
When the Commission came to consider whether the Pettengill contract should be ratified, the question was raised as to whether the sample required in Ripley’s letter had ever been received and approved after inspection. Major Hagner concluded that it had been received but never approved, so there was that much doubt at least as to the validity of the Rogers & Spencer claim. But, wanting to be fair, Hagner recommended to Ripley that the sample pistol be tested by Major Dyer at Springfield Armory. Mr. Tallman, possibly nephew Edward, arrived at Springfield about the first week in May, Dyer said:
SPRINGFIELD ARMORY,
May 20, 1862
General Ripley,
SIR: In compliance with your instructions to me, dated April 14, 1862, directing me to “examine and try the sample Pettengill pistol which will be presented,” and to report to the commission on ordnance stores through your office my opinion “of its sufficiency and suitableness in all respects for the purpose for which it was designed,” I have the honor to report that Mr. Tallman presented the sample pistol to me for trial about three weeks since; that I carefully examined the workmanship and found it to be good, the parts being as little liable to get out of order as those of any other re- volving pistol I have seen.
The firing was accurate, and the penetration good, the balls penetrating three white pine boards one inch thick and embedding themselves in the fourth, at a distance of fifty yards. The calibre of the pistol is .44. The charge 24 grains of powder and a conical ball weighing 218 grains. As many as sixty shots were fired. The cylinder which contains the charges is revolved and the pistol is cocked and discharged by pulling the trigger. I regard this as a serious objection and do not see how it can be corrected. The great distance to be passed over by the trigger in revolving the cylinder and discharging the pistol makes it impossible, even when the pistol is clean, to fire rapidly with ease, and after a few discharges it becomes foul and heated, and the firing is done with great difficulty. I sometimes found it impossible to revolve the cylinder by means of the trigger.
Mr. Tallman was of opinion that the objections could be removed, and asked to be allowed to withdraw the sample pistol in order to have the necessary alteration made. This was allowed. Mr. Tallman returned about two weeks since with the pistol, and it was again tried. When clean it was fired with less difficulty, but after a few discharges it was almost impossible to revolve the cylinder by means of the trigger, and the pistol was again withdrawn.
It was again presented for trial a few days since, and has been fired more than 100 times. It has worked better than on either of the former occasions; still it has not been free from the objections named above. In my opinion, it is not “suitable in all respects” for the military service.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. B. DYER, Captain of Ordnance
As a consequence of this report, Hagner directed Rogers & Spencer to suspend manufacture, and to indicate when an improved sample would be ready for trial. Rogers was especially hurt by this directive, for his was the responsibility of the final form of the pistol. With about $25,000 invested in tooling, and their money lenders doubtful of returns when stop work orders issued so freely from the Commission, Rogers went to Washington to try and get the matter adjusted.
He pointed out that the “serious objection” of double action firing was in fact the distinguishing feature of the Pettengill, and was present in the .34 caliber samples which had been in Washington at the start of the whole contract. The Navy had pronounced it “the perfection of arms,” and Rogers stated he could not have anticipated Hagner’s or Dyer’s objections under the terms of their order, with which terms he

Boxed middle-size Pettengill had been pronounced by Navy “the perfection of arms” but trial at Springfield Armory revealed defective trigger relationship to handle making toolong a double action pull. Caliber is called .36 but contemporary documents refer to it as .34". Paper boxes from last century are very rare firearms “accessory.” From Shore collection, Chicago.

Comparison of Army .44 sixshooter and small Pettengill in .31 caliber shows not only difference in size but difference in loading lever latching. Bottom pistol had two studs and lever arm was cramped between them when not in use.

had tried to comply. To compromise, Rogers offered to surrender a parallel contract for 25,000 Springfields, upon which Tallman said nothing had been done, and to deliver instead 2,000 Pettengills slightly modified. The anti-fouling extension should be on the cylinder instead of part of the frame, to keep the smoke from jamming the cylinder pin. “We will also, if it is desired, substitute for the thumb screw, which holds the centre- piece in place, one with smaller head, and nicked for screwdriver . . .”
Most Pettengills seen have the thumb screw, so apparently this was not required; the change in the cylinder was directed by the Commissioners and on June 27, 1862, a contract in due form was executed between Amos Rogers, Julius A. Spencer, and George Tallman, partners in Rogers & Spencer, and General Ripley, for 2,000 Pettengill .44 revolvers. First delivery was October 20, 1862. The last delivery January 17, 1863, of 401 arms (total 2,001) included a replacement for the pistol held out of the first lot by the inspector.
Battlefield use of these arms is not well recorded; most specimens seen show considerable use and it appears they definitely were issued. One gun formerly in the U. S. Cartridge Company collection was a firstissue Pettengill, “from the battle-field of Gettysburg, Pa., July lst-4th, 1863.” The distinction is not one of model, but of frame stamping. First-issue Pettengills with lower serials are marked on top of the frame in two lines on each side of the sighting groove, pettengills patent 1856 and Raymond & robitaille patented 1858. Second-issue Pettengills have slightly different marking: pettengills patent 1856, and patent JULY 22 1856 & july 27 1858. The underside of the frame is stamped patented/nov. 4, 1862.
When Rogers & Spencer confirmed their Pettengill business it was mainly to use up what parts they had nearly finished, to avoid loss. Aside from obvious profit motive, there is a rather pitiable element of patriotism shining through their pleas to gain a contract. Before the Commission they said on June 4, 1862:
We have no disposition to urge upon our government an arm it does not want; but the present shape of the matter is disastrous to us in the extreme, and we therefore request you to consider whether some relief should not be afforded us. Cannot we make for the government some army pistol that we would be at liberty to make, and of which the government is in need, for such prices as are paid to other parties, and on such terms as to time as will enable us to manufacture them advantageously? Our preparations for this work are good. We can do it to the extent of their capacity as cheaply as other parties. Such as arrangement would enable us to work up a large amount of partly-wrought stock which otherwise will be lost.
At the time, Major Hagner could only urge the acceptance of the 2,000 order, but it was to appear in the record later than the Ordnance Department had a heart. Meanwhile, Rogers was left with partly-wrought work to get rid of. The expression is important, for he said not “cast” but “wrought,” which means, forged. The frames of the Pettengill are made of malleable iron. Such parts if only cast represented littie investment; if finished, it is believed their total number dictated the number of Pettengills actually contracted for. Serial numbers have been seen between 1600 to 4600 range, but the three partners may have had much more laid up in their steel loft, such as barrels and loading lever forgings, “wrought work.” There must have been a displacement of their 180 workmen, but not until November, 1864 did they again get an order from Government. Possibly the interim was occupied in finishing the 2,600 additional Pettengills for civilian sale, though they earlier closed down their New York sales office to devote their entire production to Government work.
They were ready to go again and make “some army pistol,” this time a new model. In November Rogers & Spencer proposed to supply more guns, and General Dyer, who remembered his role in helping kill their commercial chances in 1862, had the pleasure of righting a wrong:
Ordnance Office, War Department, Washington, November 29, 1864 GENTLEMEN: I have to acknowledge yours of the 25th instant, offering to furnish army pistols, and hereby give you an order to deliver to the inspector of contract arms, subject to the usual inspection, 5,000 revolving pistols, for which you will be paid, for all such as pass inspection, at the rate of twelve (12) dollars for each pistol, to include all the necessary appendages. Deliveries to be 500 in the month of January, 1865, and 500 per month thereafter.
Respectfully & c
A. B. Dyer Brigadier General, Chief of Ordnance Messrs. Rogers & Spencer
Utica, New York
The arm which Rogers now prepared was made under patents obtained from C. B. Hoard. It was the short-lived revolver of Austin Freeman. Rogers adapted to it the Pettengill barrel, loading lever, pin front sight, and top strap with sighting groove. The resultant model was marked on the top strap on each side of the sight groove, rogers & spencer and utica, n. y. Though hundreds of thousands of other revolvers,

Standard Rogers & Spencer revolver is apparently covered by no special patents though right to use single action design is attributed to deal with Hoard’s Armory on Freeman revolver. 5,000 new guns remained in storage until sold off by Government as scrap in 1900. Big ,44s were among best, strongest design of War but never saw battle.

Sidehammer design of Ben Joslyn was rather bulky. Layout strongly suggested prototype Root revolvers made secretly by Colt in late 1850s but never produced. W. C. Freeman of Worcester was the contractor.

especially Colts and Remingtons, were pouring into Government storehouses, Ordnance inspector Captain Robert P. Barry stopped from his labors at Starr or Remington to take a look and stamped 5,000 of the guns on the left grip with his inspector’s cartouche. Deliveries were prompt; from January 30 to September 26, 1865, Rogers & Spencer delivered 5,000 arms at $12, a cost to the United States and the taxpayer of $60,000 for guns which at that late date had very little military value.
The pistols remained in storage at New York Arsenal and on October 17, 1870 were among arms offered for public sale by sealed bid. The Ordnance Department reserved the right to reject any or all bids “which may not be deemed sufficient or satisfactory.” A lot of 20,000 Starr revolvers put up at the same time was sold for $8 each to Austin Baldwin & Company but the Rogers & Spencers were not sold then. By March, 1904 they had been sold to Bannerman of New York, at the tum-of-the-century scrap sale of all Civil War surplus.
“We had the entire lot of 5,000 that was contracted for by the United States Government,” said Bannerman, “which were considered so good that they were held in reserve . . . Revolvers were never out of their original cases . . . We have sold off all the surplus, reserving enough for our customers (100 offered) who are collecting rare weapons. Price, $2.85 each.”
Ironically, the $60,000 worth of revolvers in 1865 had probably been worth at least $30,000 in 1870
when Starr revolvers, used, went at $8 each. But General Dyer felt so attached to them that he refused to sell for a low bid and the guns stayed in storage. By 1900 they were worth approximately the price of scrap iron, and for that price Bannerman bought them, said to have been 25$ each. But to the taxpayer’s dismay, this is the common story in the way our Government handles its surplus arms problem: refusing to sell when buyers can be found, then dumping later at a fraction of the possible return. Though among the first absolutely brand new guns to be sold that way, the Rogers & Spencers, alas, are not the last.
For the right to make these revolvers, which they sold for $12 and which the United States ultimately sold for scrap, Rogers & Spencer possibly traded off some scrap—parts for Springfield rifles. Though Rogers was willing to cede the 25,000 Springfield rifle contract, one of the sub-contractors, Courtney Schenck, was not so pleased. He declared that a large amount of work had been got up, and that Rogers  Spencer would be embarrassed by the cancellation. If Schenck was correct, even though speaking without authorization, it is likely that the deal involving the Freeman rights included an exchange of the Rogers & Spencer parts which then went into Hoard’s muskets to make up his delivery of 12,500.