[COLT, SAMUEL] WARD, W.A., Captain C.S.A. Two autograph letters signed ("W A Ward") TO SAMUEL COLT, Lexington [Georgia], 19 January 1860 and 3 February 1860. Together 3 pages, 8vo, small ink smudge, otherwise fine. [With:] CIVIL WAR ERA CARTRIDGE POUCH AND BELT. Writing to Colt at his Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, Ward requests samples of specific arms to be sent "by Express...One Pocket Pistol, Six In. Barrell - five shots at twelve dollars. One Pistol army size six shots 7½ in. barrel at eighteen Dollars. One Shot Gun 27 in barrel at $40. Our Company is to be armed with double barrel Shot Guns, with Sidearms and I would like one of your Shot Guns to show them its superiority over the ordinary double gun." Endorsed by Colt in pencil on verso "Send a lot of Buck Shot & other Cartridges with Shot Gun." The second letter acknowledges "the sample gun and pistols [which] have arrived and are satisfactory...As soon as our Military Company is fully organized I shall exhibit your arms to them for their selection." He also requests "5 more of your Revolving Shot Guns...[and] 1 Revolving Pistol steel mounted 5 in. barrel-Six shooter at 12/. The Shot Gun sent me scatters its shot too much - as we are pretty good shots & dont feel the necessity for barn door exercise. What is the price of the Shot Gun ammunition?" Although Colt invented the revolver in 1835, the demand for rapid-fire weapons did not emerge until the Mexican War of 1846. Following a large government order of 1000 revolvers, he established Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company. As the largest privately-owned armory in the world, Colt would eventually manufacture a range of models for both the Federal army and Confederate troops.