Papers presented by Joseph Slaughter since 2019

2023 Detroit, MI, United States

"God & Guns: Making Colt Christian"

Abstract:

Today, the Colt name is synonymous with technological innovation and American mythology – specifically, the circumstances by which the Western U.S. was “won” and “tamed.” Samuel Colt’s revolver helped create the American cowboy myth, further burnishing the ethos of the country’s gun culture. Much of this was thanks to his wife Elizabeth’s work after his death in 1862, as she actively shaped how Sam was remembered through stone memorials, charitable foundations, and literary works. This included building a grand gothic church near his Hartford, Connecticut factories in 1866, the Church of the Good Shepherd. It was a curious way to memorialize a man who few would consider religious. While the church is certainly noteworthy for how it incorporates gun iconography into its exterior (including intertwining with crosses), inside, astute visitors will notice that the Colt Memorial Window depicts Joseph of the biblical book, Genesis. In the window, Joseph is shown dispensing grain in his position as pharaoh’s right-hand man, fulfilling the claim of Genesis 50:20, God had his hand on Joseph, guiding him through many trials into a position of power to “accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Especially informed onlookers will realize that Joseph resembles Sam Colt. It is quite a statement by Elizabeth – that the deceased Sam was like the ancient Hebrew, saving lives as a part of God’s grand plan. It certainly fit her effort to paint Sam Colt as a Protestant American hero, and in so doing she not only baptized the products of Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, but also laid the groundwork for the “God and Guns” culture of the twentieth century that views Christianity and gun ownership as not only as inseparable, but intrinsic to what it means to be a true American.

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