Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker was born on February 24, 1817, in Prince Georges County, Maryland. He came to Texas when he was 25 where he was the first of 77 to become a member of Sam Houston’s First Brigade of Texas Militia to undertake a punitive expedition against Mexican commands in South Texas.
Walker was captured when they invaded Mexico and spent seven months in captivity before escaping and joining Capt. John Hays. Hays purchased 100 five-shot Colt Paterson revolvers and took a fifteen-man patrol north of San Antonio to check reports of raiding Indians where they encountered 60 to 70 Indians. In the battle, Walker and R.A. Gillespie were badly wounded by a lance. In his official reports, Hays credited the revolver for the victory.
Walker volunteered for the group of Texas Mounted Rangers, which Gillespie formed. Because he knew the terrain well from his service and escape, Walker was accepted and authorized to raise the first company of scouts for Zachary Taylor’s army. With a total complement of 93 men, Captain Walker’s unit was christened the Texas Mounted Rangers. It was not a unit that Mexican soldiers would want to meet in battle.
After Walker’s enlistment expired, he went to New York to recruit men. Walker met Samuel Colt and the two of them designed a new revolver which became known as the Walker Colt.
The gun was a masterpiece of destruction. The gun was large enough and strong enough to withstand close-quarters combat. The weight alone enabled the user to pummel their opponent to death when the chambers were spent.
On October 9, 1847, Company C had not received their Walker Colts. Four days later, during action against guerrillas in Huamantla, Mexico, Captain Walker was shot and killed in action. His body was brought back to the United States and buried in San Antonio.
Samuel Walker spent 30 years pursuing one war after another. His life ended on the battlefield, attacking Mexican troops directly commanded by Texas’ greatest enemy, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. It is doubtful Sam Walker would have wanted it any other way.