Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson founded the Smith & Wesson Company in 1852. The purpose was to develop a lever action pistol. But by 1854 the company was failing. They sold the company to a shirt manufacturer named Oliver Winchester. In 1866, Winchester renamed the company Winchester Repeating Arms Company. That same year Smith and Wesson formed the second company called Smith & Wesson. Their timing was right. Not long after they built their new factory in Springfield, the American Civil War started. 