Samuel Hamilton Walker

Samuel Walker
Samuel Hamilton Walker
Born	Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817-02-24)February 24, 1817 Toaping Castle, Maryland, United States
Died	Huamantla, Tlaxcala, Mexico
Occupation	Army Captain, Texas Ranger
Spouse(s)	Ali Walker
Children	15

Samuel Hamilton Walker (February 24, 1817 – October 9, 1847) was a Texas Ranger captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas and the United States armies. Walker served in several armed conflicts, including the American Indian Wars and the Mexican-American wars.

Biography

Walker was born on February 24, 1817 at Toaping Castle in Maryland to Nathan and Elizabeth (Thomas) Walker and was the fifth of seven children.

Military

Walker arrived in Texas in 1842, when he took part in the defense against the Mexican invasion led by General Adrian Woll. He then joined the Texas Rangers in 1844 under the command of Captain John Coffee Hays. Promoted to the rank of captain, he later led a Ranger company in the Mexican–American War with General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott's armies.

Walker was involved in, and was a survivor of, the Black Bean Episode.

Walker Colt

Colt Walker Revolver

Walker is best known as the co-inventor of the famous Walker Colt revolver, along with arms manufacturer Samuel Colt. Walker is said to have self-funded a trip to New York to meet with Colt and proposed to him the concept of a weapon based on the then-popular five-shot Colt Paterson revolver, with many enhancements such as adding a sixth round. By 1847, the new revolver was produced. The United States Mounted Rifle companies were provided with the new weapons, which proved to be extremely effective.

The death of Capt. Walker

Death

On October 9, 1847, Walker was killed in Huamantla, in Tlaxcala, while leading his troops in the Battle of Huamantla during the Mexican–American War. He was struck down by a shotgun (escopette, variously escopeta) round fired from a balcony, although popular legend often has claimed the weapon was a lance.

In 1848 his remains were moved to San Antonio. On April 21, 1856, as part of a battle of San Jacinto celebration, he was reburied in the Odd Fellows' Cemetery in San Antonio.

Walker County, Texas was renamed for him after the original namesake, Robert J. Walker, sided with the Union during the Civil War.

See also

• History of the Texas Ranger Division

Notes

Charles D. Spurlin, references, Texas Veterans in the Mexican War: Muster Rolls of Texas Military Units (Victoria, Texas, 1984). Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Walter Prescott Webb, The Texas Rangers (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1935; rpt., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982). Courtesy of Handbook of Texas Online.

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Further reading

• K. Jack Bauer, The Mexican War, 1846–1848 (New York: Macmillan, 1974).
• Albert Gallatin Brackett, General Lane's Brigade in Central Mexico (Cincinnati and New York: Derby, 1854).
• Edmund L. Dana, "Incidents in the Life of Capt. Samuel H. Walker, Texan Ranger," Proceedings of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society (1882).
• "Reminiscences of the War with Mexico, As Told by Col. Thos. Claiborne," Vedette 7 (April 1886). Marilyn M. Sibley, ed., Samuel H. Walker's Account of the Mier Expedition (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1978).
• Charles D. Spurlin, "Ranger Walker in the Mexican War," Military History of Texas and the Southwest 9 (1971).