Colonel Colt's Plantation
Samuel Colt moved to Hartford to build a factory and create a myth. History credits him as an inventor, a risk-taking industrialist, a benefactor of the poor, and a democrat who welcomed immigrants to the workers' paradise he was building at Dutch Point. The truth, however, is less romantic. In fact, Colt was a snake oil salesman an extravagant millionaire who was accused of cheating his partner, worked to ruin his enemies, and the ruler of "Coltsville" --his town within a town-- like a southern plantation owner.
Young Sam Colt made his mark by patenting a six-shooter design in 1836 which his collaborator charged Colt stole from him. While he was experimenting with the design, Colt made a living by demonstrating nitrous oxide (laughing gas) in performances around the country, much the way traveling salesmen peddled miracle cures.
As Colt's success from weapons production grew, he built gun factories in New Jersey and New Haven. But he found his real fortune when he married into a wealthy family and moved to Hartford in 1852. With a plan to build an industrial empire, he quietly began to buy up land south of downtown. When landowner Samuel Porter refused to sell a parcel of farmland at a cheap price, Colt enlisted his political allies and his friends at the Hartford Times. The newspaper unleashed a steady barrage of attacks against Porter in print. Colt, who reportedly envied the "old money" of his rival, was even said to have set up a brothel across the street from Porter's mansion.
Colt became so wealthy that he financed the building of his industrial complex in cash. That did not stop him, however, from demanding tax abatements from the City Council and reimbursement for the local streets he built around his factory. Colt regularly threatened to "pull up stakes" and leave Hartford if the Council didn't give in. Despite these threats, his considerable political clout, and a 2,000 person rally he organized to pressure the Council, Colt never did get the tax breaks.
"Coltsville" was one of two hundred company towns created by industrialists in Connecticut during the 1800's. Like Cheneyville in Manchester (home to silk textile mills) and Hazardville in Enfield, Coltsville was a grand scheme to build a miniature society that could shape the culture and thinking of the workers who lived and died there. Colt's town had a gas works, a farm, and produce warehouses. He built residential housing, complete with a windmill, vineyards and a beer garden. He constructed a railroad depot, a shipping dock, a wicker furniture factory, a grocery store and a cultural center. He established a military band, an honor guard, and the Colt Fire Engine Company. The crowning jewel was Armsmear, Colt's big house on the hill.
Sam Colt was an important backer of the Democratic Party who helped elect William Hamersley to the Mayor's office and Thomas Seymour to the Governor's seat. Hamersley had the distinction of leading the fight against Connecticut's child labor protection law when he became a state legislator. It was Seymour who gave Colt (who did not serve in the military) the honorary title of Lieutenant Colonel. Ironically, although the Democratic Party opposed Abraham Lincoln and did its best to accommodate slavery, Colt profited greatly by providing arms used in the Civil War. He shipped his last batch of arms to the South as Fort Sumter was being fired upon.
Colt met the demand for weapons by forcing his employees to work overtime and on Sundays, a move that scandalized even his supporters. The Colonel took his title a little too seriously when he funded a mercenary expedition to overthrow Spanish rule in Cuba.
The industrial revolution brought huge factories to the cities, and with them came urban poverty and slums that bred crime, disease and vice. Colt attempted to offset criticism of his growing empire by establishing a military-like atmosphere that tightly controlled almost every aspect of his workers' lives. He kept a notebook of his employees' political affiliations, he propagandized them during working hours, and he fired large numbers of Lincoln supporters.
Although his historical reputation credits him as a generous employer who rewarded workers with the highest wages around, it is important to put that view in perspective. Prices rose in the 1860's by more than 100%, outdistancing the salary increases that Colt handed out. Only the skilled tradesmen made high wages, while Colt's female workers made barely enough to survive.
With the rise of industry in this country came a corresponding rise in occupational injuries and death. Although he bragged about his safe working conditions, explosions, unshielded machinery, and deafening factory noise made for dangerous work at Colt's factory. There are no records of accidents or fatalities at Coltsville, but the Colonel clearly understood the danger of what he was manufacturing. He set up his ammunition factory a mile away from his other operations, and hired young, single immigrant women to do the deadly work of filling cartridges with gunpowder.
Colt Firearms remained non-union during the Colonel's lifetime. The only recorded workers' rebellion against Sam Colt was not on the factory floor but on the battlefield. It was working men who were drafted into the Union Army--a rich man could buy his way out by paying a worker to take his place. A number of these citizen soldiers were issued Colt's brand-new repeating rifle. The first soldiers who actually used the weapon found that the design forced them to hold the barrel with their left hand, placing it in front of the revolving cylinder. When they pulled the trigger, it was likely to blow off their thumbs. From that point on, soldiers refused to fire the rifles, the army stopped buying them, and Colt's profits suffered.
The wealth created by Colt's workforce trickled down to them primarily through Mrs. Colt's picnics, gala balls, and charity events. The Colt Armory Band, which was touted for its efforts to raise money for the local poor, cost Colt the equivalent of $300,000 to support. The band accompanied the Colt family on sailing cruises to Newport, Rhode Island where the Colonel lounged in the famous Turkish outfit he purchased while touring the world.
The legend of Sam Colt has been well-crafted in histories and biographies, but since there is no first-hand account by even one of the Colonel's thousands of employees, the whole story behind the Colt legend will never be known. After Colt's death, his wife spent her life and much of her fortune to secure Colt's place in history. She even dug him up after he was buried so he could rest in a newer, classier cemetery. To the end, Sam Colt's real life and myth are difficult to untangle. Did he die of overwork, as the official story goes, or of venereal disease? History books record both versions, and that says a lot about who writes those records and whose purpose the Colt chronicles serve.
