For sale is a Whitney Navy 2nd Model revolver in .36 Cal. Serial number- 15565P. This revolver is in great working condition for being around 161 years old. All SNs are matching even the grips! The most famous and easily recognized revolver manufactured by Eli Whitney, Jr . was his Navy Model. The U.S. Navy purchased 4,300 of Whitney Navy revolvers during the Civil War, with roughly 33,000 of 1st and 2nd Model Navy revolvers manufactured by Whitney in the late 1850s to early 1860s in various configurations. This 4th Type is all numbers matching and falls in the serial range of 15000-25000. The suffix on the serial number reads “P” and on other parts are a “JW” are both likely inventory markings or factory locations. From what we see this revolver is not martially marked and the naval scene on the cylinder is faint, but still there. With this serial information, we estimate this revolver was made in 1862.

Eli Whitney Sr. established his Whitneyville Armory in 1798 and produced firearms by contract for the young U.S. government. Just prior to this, in 1793, Whitney invented the mechanical cotton gin, which dramatically changed the economic landscape in the U.S., namely in the South. While his invention was a labor-saving device, making the processing of harvested cotton extremely efficient and requiring fewer laborers, his machine caused the market for cotton to explode and more laborers were needed to plant, grow and harvest the crop. This resulted in a corresponding boom in the Southern slave trade. Great fortunes were created, and the population of the South became such that one in three Southerners were slaves. All this provided the fuel that would become the raze that was the American Civil War.

Eli Whitney died in 1825, and his son, Eli Whitney Jr., began running the family business in 1841. Whitney Jr. seized the opportunity in 1847 to manufacture 1,000 of Samuel Colt’s latest revolver the Colt Walker revolver. Production of this revolver helped both parties immensely as it kept Colt in business and it allowed Whitney Jr. to tool up and gain experience making revolvers. With the expiration of Colt’s patents in 1857, Whitney began production of percussion revolvers based on Colt’s patents, some of them very closely copied. V2-I3-NV Barrel Length: 7.5 Bore condition: Fair Year Manufactured: 1862