[Scorch]

Jim is right, of course. Cavalry charges were stopped by killing the horses, and you can see the means used to stop cavalry charges when you look at old arsenals of weaponry, be it with pikes, short swords, or chain shot.

Colt started out with much smaller caliber sidearms, the Patterson being a 36 caliber, and the Colt Pocket (the most numerous Colt revolver produced) being in 32 Caliber. Of course, everyone talks about the Walker (which Colt did not produce, they subcontracted it), the 1st and 2nd model Dragoons, and the Army models, these made Colt's reputation, as did the later 1873 "P" model. But Colt made a lot of small caliber sidearms prior to the 1861 Army model. It's just that between 1840-1865, there was a lot of development in the firearms industry due to the development of percussion caps, the so-called Indian Wars, and the Mexican-American War. And just about the same time, a few guys got together at Bull Run and kicked off The Big Game.