This classic Colt Model 1851 Navy revolver was manufactured in 1866 just following the American Civil War while bloody conflict on the western frontier continued with various Native American tribes, including the South Cheyenne. It has a period dovetailed blade front sight, the one-line New York barrel address, standard navy roll scene and patent markings, "B" and "36 CAL" on the left side of the trigger guard, a "2" on the left side of the barrel lug, blank wedge, "L" marked by the matching serial number "189899" on the barrel, frame, trigger guard, and back strap; and the matching partial serial number "9899" on the arbor, cylinder, and loading lever. The back strap is inscribed "Presented to Maj Joel Elliott/by officers + troopers of the 7th U.S. Cav. 1868.” The revolver is accompanied by a dark brown leather flap holster as well as the books "Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer's Attack on Black Kettle's Village" by Richard G. Hardorff and "Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyenne, 1867-1869" by Jerome A. Greene. Major Joel Elliott joined the Union Army in August 1861 as private in Company C of the 2nd Indiana Cavalry and was wounded twice in combat, including being left for dead after being shot in the lungs at White's Station while serving under Colonel Frederick W. Benteen. He nonetheless recovered and rejoined the fight. At the end of the war, he became a major in the 7th U.S. Cavalry. In 1867, he assumed command of the 7th when Custer was court martialed and suspended. 1868 was a fateful year for Elliott. At the Battle of Washita on November 27, Elliott took a detachment and chased after Indians fleeing from Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle's village after the 7th Cavalry's initial assault. Elliott called out, "Here’s for a brevet or a coffin!" He continued the pursuit approximately 2 miles from the village. There, he and more than a dozen of his men made their last stand after being surrounded by the warriors coming to the aid of Black Kettle's band. This ill-fated detachment represented the vast majority of the 7th U.S. Cavalry's losses under Custer in the battle: 18 of the 21 killed. As was later the case at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Custer had divided his men for an attack on an Indian village without first conducting proper reconnaissance and determining what other villages were in the area, and the men became separated by vast distances. Though Custer sent a detachment in search of Elliott, he withdrew before learning of his fate. Their mutilated bodies were not discovered until two weeks later when a large force including the 7th Cavalry returned to the Washita. Custer reported: "The bodies of Elliott and his little band, with but a single exception, were all found lying within a circle not exceeding twenty yards in diameter. We found them exactly as they fell except their barbarous foes had stripped and mutilated the bodies in the most savage manner. All the bodies were carried to camp; and there (was reached after dark It being the intention to resume the march before daylight, the following day) a grave was hastily prepared on a little knoll, near our camp, and with the exception of that of Major Elliott, whose remains were carried with us for interment at Fort Arbuckle, the bodies of the entire party, under the dim light of a few torches held in the hands of sorrowing comrades were consigned to our common resting place! No funeral note sounded to measure their passage to the grave: No volley was fired to tell us a comrade was receiving the last, sad rites of burial: yet not one of the living but felt that the fresh earth had closed over some of their truest and most daring soldiers! Before interment, I caused a complete examination of each body to be made by Dr. Lippincott, Chief Medical Officer of the Expedition, with directions to report on the character and number of wounds received by each as well as to mutilations to which they had been subjected. The following extracts are taken from Dr. Lippencott's [sic] report. Major Joel H. Elliott. Two bullet holes in head; one in left cheek; right hand cut off; left foot almost cut off x x x x [sic] deep gash in right groin; deep gashes in calves of both legs; little finger of left hand cut off and throat cut." The death of Elliott and his seventeen compatriots left a black mark on Custer's record, souring what he claimed as a tremendous victory over the Southern Cheyenne. Some of the troopers and officers of the 7th Cavalry never forgave Custer for "abandoning" Elliott and his detachment to their fate. Chief among them was Benteen. Many have theorized that the loss of Elliott played a role in Benteen failing to reinforce Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 when, like Elliott before him, Custer was killed after his smaller detachment was overwhelmed and decimated by the warriors of the tribes of the Great Plains.