This is the 1844 story of how Samuel Colt's remarkable five-shot pistol proved decisive as Texas Ranger Captain, John Hays, finds his select group of fifteen men he has chosen to patrol the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio, are suddenly surrounded by 75 Comanche warriors bent on slaughtering them. The timing could not have been more critical. Texas president, Sam Houston, is tenuously negotiating for peace will all Texas Indians far to the north . Any disturbance could destroy progress made toward that goal. Outnumbered 5 to 1, Hays has no choice this day but to bet the lives of his men on his decision to have armed each with two of Colt's 5-shot Paterson pistols. Unable to pay his men, Houston had given Hays these surplus Texas Navy weapons thinking they might be something of value. The Navy had found them useless. Hays studied Colt's design carefully and trained his men in what he believed could be their only application. Unable to reload this weapon while mounted, Hays knew, if ever forced to rely on them, that his men must make every shot count or face a certain death. He is convinced that they must only be fired in proximity able to inflict a powder burn. It takes men with exceptional courage not to fire any weapon until just within feet of a screaming, charging warrior. Complicating matters is that the Paterson 5-shot pistol requires the use of both hands to ready for firing. Designed without a trigger guard and no visible trigger, one had to hold the pistol by its barrel as the other cocked the hammer. Only then did the trigger descend-an act that was made even more dangerous if facing an opponent who knew that no weapon then known was able to fire twice. Hays had bet the lives of his men, and his own, that this theory will work. Hays successful application will save a bankrupted Colt. Colt, accepting recommendations from these rangers will create a repeating pistol that helped win the West.
