Editing Samuel Colt (section)

== Later years and death ==
In the period leading up to the [[American Civil War]], Colt supplied both the [[Union (American Civil War)|North]] and the [[Confederate States of America|South]] with firearms.<ref name=tucker87>{{harvnb|Tucker|Tucker |2008|p=87}}</ref> He had been known to sell weapons to warring parties on both sides of other conflicts in Europe and did the same with respect to the war in America. In 1859 Colt considered building an armory in the South and as late as 1861 had sold 2,000 revolvers to Confederate agent [[John Forsyth, Jr.|John Forsyth]].<ref>{{harvnb|Warshauer|2011|p=49}}</ref> Although trade with the South had not been restricted at that time, newspapers such as the ''[[New York Daily Tribune]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'' and the ''[[Hartford Daily Courant]]'' labeled him a Southern sympathizer and traitor to the Union.<ref name=tucker88>{{harvnb|Tucker|Tucker |2008|p=88}}</ref> In response to these charges, Colt was commissioned as a colonel by the state of Connecticut on May 16, 1861, in the 1st Regiment Colts Revolving Rifles of Connecticut armed with the [[Colt revolving rifle]].<ref>{{harvnb|Mann|1982|p=123}}</ref> Colt envisioned this unit as being staffed by men over six feet tall and armed with his weapons. However, the unit was never deployed and Colt was discharged a month later, on June 20.<ref name=tucker88 />

[[File:Samuel Colt memorial.jpg|thumb|Samuel Colt memorial in [[Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)|Cedar Hill Cemetery]]]]
Samuel Colt died of complications of [[gout]] in Hartford on January 10, 1862.  He was interred on the property of his private residence [[Armsmear]] and reinterred at [[Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)|Cedar Hill Cemetery]] in 1894.<ref>{{cite web |title=Samuel Colt (1814-1862) |url=http://cedarhillfoundation.org/notable-residents/samuel-colt/ |website=www.cedarhillfoundation.org |access-date=8 February 2020}}</ref>  At the time of his death, Colt's estate, which he willed to his wife and three-year-old son Caldwell Hart Colt, was estimated to be valued at about $15,000,000 ({{Inflation|US|15000000|1862|fmt=eq|cursign=[[United States dollar|US$]]|r=-6}}). His professional responsibilities were turned over to his brother-in-law, [[Richard Jarvis (businessman)|Richard Jarvis]].<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Pierpaoli|White|2010|p=123}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/1862/01/11/archives/death-of-col-samuel-colt.html|title=Death of Col. Samuel Colt.|work=The New York Times |date=January 11, 1862 |access-date=July 7, 2018|language=en}}</ref> The only other person mentioned in Colt's will was Samuel Caldwell Colt, the son of his brother, [[John C. Colt]].<ref name=Edwards181 />

Colt historian William Edwards wrote that Samuel Colt had married Caroline Henshaw (who later married his brother, John) in Scotland during 1838, and that the son she bore later was Samuel Colt's and not his brother John's.<ref name=Edwards181>{{harvnb|Edwards|1953|p=181}}</ref> In a 1953 biography about Samuel Colt based largely on family letters, Edwards wrote that [[John C. Colt|John Colt]]'s marriage to Caroline in 1841 was a way to legitimize her unborn son, as the real father, Samuel Colt, felt she was not fit to be the wife of an industrialist and divorce was a social stigma at the time.<ref name=Edwards181 /> After John's death, Samuel Colt provided financial support for the child, named Samuel Caldwell Colt, with a large allowance, and paid for his tuition in what were described as "the finest private schools." In correspondence to and about his namesake, Samuel Colt referred to him as his "nephew" in quotes. Historians such as Edwards and [[Harold Schechter]] have said this was the elder Colt's way of letting the world know that the boy was his own son without saying so directly.<ref name=Schechter310 /> After Colt's death, he left the boy an amount equivalent to $2 million in 2010 dollars.{{clarify|date=December 2024|reason=what was the actual amount at the time of Colt's death? Not having that number makes the phrasing her awkward.}} Colt's widow, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt, and her brother, [[Richard Jarvis (businessman)|Richard Jarvis]] contested this. In probate court Caroline's son Sam produced a valid marriage license showing that Caroline and Samuel Colt were married in Scotland in 1838 and that this document made him a rightful heir to part of Colt's estate, if not to the [[Colt Manufacturing Company]].<ref name=Edwards181 /><ref name=Schechter310>{{harvnb|Schechter|2010|p=310}}</ref>

Colt was a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Famous Freemasons (A – Z) Continued – Freemasons Community |url=https://freemasonscommunity.life/famous-freemasons-z-continued/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=freemasonscommunity.life}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Famous Fremasons – Grove Masonic Lodge No.824 |url=https://grovemasoniclodge.org/famous-fremasons/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=FraternalTies |title=18 Popular Brands You Didn't Know Were Founded By Freemasons |url=https://www.fraternalties.com/blogs/news/18-popular-brands-you-didnt-know-were-founded-by-freemasons |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=FraternalTies |language=en}}</ref>