Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a U.S. Navy Model 1861 signal pistol manufactured at the U.S. Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. in 1864. One of an estimated 1,000 produced, marked “U.S.O.Y.W/W.N.J/1864” for manufacture by the U.S. Ordnance Yard in Washington and inspection by W.N. Jeffers. The Navy Model 1861 differs from the Army version – the barrel is cast integral with the right frame side. All-brass construction made it corrosion-resistant in saltwater environments aboard naval vessels.
This used the Coston Light System, which operated differently from modern flare guns. The system did not propel the flare into the air. Instead, the flare burned while affixed to the pistol, which acted as igniter and receptacle. Martha Coston developed the system after her husband Benjamin Franklin Coston died in 1848. She found his notes for a maritime signal flare system and perfected the design. She patented it in 1859, and the Navy adopted it before the Civil War. Colored flares allowed ship-to-ship communication at night and in poor visibility.
The Coston system used pyrotechnic compositions producing red, white, and green lights in specific patterns corresponding to signal codes. Naval vessels carried these pistols and flares as standard equipment. W.N. Jeffers was William Nicholson Jeffers, a Navy officer serving as inspector at Washington Navy Yard during the Civil War. His inspection mark appears on naval ordnance from the yard. Jeffers later commanded the ironclad USS Monitor. Production of approximately 1,000 units makes these Navy signal pistols scarce.
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“Civil War U.S. Navy Model 1861 Percussion Signal Pistol.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4096/1175/civil-war-us-navy-model-1861-percussion-signal-pistol. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.
The post POTD: Navy Model 1861 Signal Pistol – Coston Lights at Sea appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.
