This feature appears in the March ‘17 issue of NRA America’s 1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.
Jefferson Finis Davis was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America. After the fall of Richmond, Va., the Confederate capital, Davis and his government moved south to Georgia under the protection of Capt. Given Campbell. Six days after he presented this imported Kerr revolver to Campbell, Davis and his men were captured by Union soldiers near Irwinville, Ga., on May 10, 1865.
Loaned by a friend of the museum, this .44-cal. revolver is presently on exhibit in Fairfax, Va., along with other historic artifacts from the Union and the Confederacy. Also displayed are a silver electrotype copy of the Great Seal of the Confederacy and the 1865 diary kept by Campbell describing the fateful days after the fall of Richmond.
The NRA National Firearms Museum at NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Va.; the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo.; and the Frank Brownell Museum of the Southwest at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, N.M.; each have fine selections of historic arms on display. Admission to each is free, and donations are gratefully accepted. For more information, visit nramuseums.com, phone (703) 267-1600 or email [email protected].
