Colt Walker of Texas had been the major purchaser of the early Paterson Holster Pistol (No. 5 model), a five shot cal .36 revolver, and Samuel Walker became familiar with it during his service as a Texas Ranger. In 1847, Walker was engaged in the Mexican-American War as a captain in the United States Mounted Rifles. He approached Colt, requesting a large revolver to replace the single-shot Aston Johnson holster pistols then in use. The desired .44-.45 caliber revolver would be carried in saddle mounted holsters and would be large enough to dispatch horses as well as enemy soldiers. The Colt Walker
Colt Dragoon Revolver California teamster, James Douglas Byrd, Town Marshal, Watsonville, California, 1868, Tiburcio Vasquez, Union general George B McClellan, and fictional Augustus McCrae, in the novel "Lonesome Dove", Mattie Ross in the novel "True Grit" and in the 2010 film version (the 1969 film of that name had Mattie Ross using a Colt Walker revolver, though John Wayne's character Rooster referred to it as a Colt's Dragoon). Charley Parkhurst, while driving freight, was confronted by two bandits whom he dispatched with the Colt Holster Pistol. According to "Harper's Weekly", James Butler (Wild Bill) Hickok arrived in Springfield, Missouri carrying a Dragoon though