Dance 1893 Revolver

Type: Double-action service revolver
Origin: Texas
In Service: 1893-1975
Used By: Texas, Oregon, Haiti, Liberia, Panama, Guatemala, Colombia, Netherlands, Denmark, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia
Wars: Antarctica Expedition, World War I, Chaco War, International intervention in the Russian Civil War, World War II, Ecuadorian-Peruvian War of 1941
Produced: 1893-1932
Weight: 2.33 lbs unloaded
Length: 8.2 in
Feed System: Six-round cylinder

The Republic of Texas always had a fascination with revolvers, dating back to its infant years when Colt Paterson revolvers were purchased by the young nation's Army and Navy and were used in combat against the Comanches and Mexicans. The Texian government had had a longstanding partnership with Colt, which was the origin of the majority of the army, navy, and law enforcement's sidearms; however, with relations between Texas and France growing closer after the signing of the Franco-Texian Treaty in 1841, an increasing amount of French armaments had found their way into Texas: most notably, the various assorted revolvers they had designed and produced.

Amidst all of this, the Texas government did increasingly turn to one particular local company in order to meet demand: that of the J.H. Dance & Company of Columbia, Brazos. Originally founded to produce assorted goods, the company found its true niche in 1862 when, following the outbreak of the War of Secession, the Federal government was desperate for more armaments to equip its somewhat-enlarged forces tasked with patrolling the eastern border with Confederate Louisana (particularly with the concurrently-built monitors Indianola and Copano, launched in 1866 and 1867, respectively). That year, following the submission of a letter to Brazos state governor Francis Lubbock, John Henry Dance with a request for money in exchange for the production of revolvers. These weapons, produced a dozen per year, saw action far earlier than anticipated with the formation of a 350-saur expeditionary force in 1864 with the express purpose of aiding the French support Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I against Benito Juarez's republicans. Armed with, among other weapons, a handful of Dance revolvers, they traveled south across the Rio Grande into Mexico; for the next three years, they fought alongside the hodgepodge assortment of regular French troops, foreign volunteer units (not just Texians, but also Confederates, Californians, Belgians, Austrians, Spanish, and Egyptians), and local royalist forces, eventually triumphing against the Juaristas, and the execution of Juarez himself (who is still seen to this day in Latin America as a martyr for the cause of freedom against European imperialism). They would again see service in the American War (albeit in greater numbers this time around) and would be replaced in military service by the French MAS 1873 in 1879.

In 1892, with news discerning the recent acquisition of double-action revolvers by California, Mexico, and the Confederate States, the Federal government commissioned the Dance Brothers Company with the design and production of a new service revolver to replace the antiquated MAS 1873. Designed by John Henry Dance himself, the weapon took inspirational design both from the French revolver and from a Colt design: that of the 1877 model (albeit with a less-complicated double action, influenced by those of French revolver designs). Entering production in 1893, the revolver would not only be adopted by Texian forces, but was also purchased by a number of Latin American and African nations looking for a cheaper alternative to various foreign designs; as the standard-issue sidearm of the Texian Army, Navy, Air Service, and Rangers, it was utilized during the extent of the Great War, where it came to be hated due to its odd appearance and the hideous shape of its trigger guard. Among the most noteworthy of its detractors was General Andrew Jackson Houston, who decried the weapon and discarded his issued Dance in favor of a Smith & Wesson Schofield. An improved variant, the Dance Model 93/15, in 1916 which made minor changes to the weapon's overall shape, made the trigger guard and handle more ergonomic, and rechambered the weapon for .45 ACP instead of the antiquated .45 Colt cartridge. In this form, the weapon continued to be used by the Texian Armed Forces well into the early 1960s, even after it was mostly supplemented by semi-automatic pistols. In the countries it was exported to, it was oftentimes used into the 1980s, with law enforcement of several countries (Haiti, Liberia, and Paraguay) continuing to use the weapon in the present-day.