Excerpt from Chapter 1:

The first revolver was patented by Samuel Colt in 1836. Since then there have been no less than 156 manufacturers of revolving handguns. The Army and Navy, since that time, have adopted 44 different revolvers and 9 different pistols, made by 32 separate manufacturers, ranging in caliber from 32 to 58. The earliest model was accepted in 1842, the last in 1911. While Colt invented the first firearm which successfully employed a cylinder containing separate charges of powder and ball, it remained for another soon-to-grow-famous New Englander, Douglas Wesson, to adapt his newly perfected 22 rim fire cartridge to an equally successful and new revolver. His revolver, puny and low powered, was quite popular with Union officers during the War between the States. This revolver, a seven-shot breech loader, was the Model of 1855.