The Cavalry During The Civil War
Uploaded by Admin on Nov 21, 1999
The Civil War played a crucial role in American history. Many different types of soldiers fought in this war, such as Cavalry soldiers, who fought on horseback. The Cavalry played a strong role in the fighting and used many different weapons and tactics.
One type of Cavalry weapon was the revolver. Only one hand was needed in the firing of this type of weapon. This was very important since the soldier's other hand was used to manage the horse. The Colt was the most popular brand of revolvers during the war. The Army and the Navy were the two main models. The Army model was the most popular of the Union Army. It was a six shot, .44 caliber revolver that weighed two pounds. "This weapon accounted for 40% of all handguns bought by the Union Ordinance Department" (Weapons of the Civil War 2). The Navy model was very similar to the Army. It had a round barrel instead of an octagonal barrel and held .36 caliber cartridges. "38,000 were produced during The Civil War and 15,000 of those were produced within the Confederacy" (Weapons of the Civil War 2).
The most famous foreign pistol of the war was The Le Mat, produced by Dr. Le Mat in France. It was unique in that it had two barrels, like a small shotgun. The upper barrel shot .40 caliber rounds while the lower barrel shot .63 caliber rounds.
Starr was the third largest producer of revolvers. Starr was known for it's six shot double action revolver that weighed three pounds and was used mainly by the Union soldiers. It was very convenient because it held combustible cartridges and could also be fired by the old ball and powder method. Since Colt had a patent on its firing procedure Starr was forced into coming up with its own. To fire this pistol a soldier would pull the trigger, which unlocks then rotates a hammer that then snaps back and fires the cartridge.
Another company was Savage, which produced the well-known "Figure of Eight" which had a very odd shape. "11000 were bought by The Union" (Commager 284). After it's trigger was pulled the cylinder would be cranked forward to make a gas tight joint with the barrel prior to its firing.
The next most popular to The Colt was The Remington. Popularity is not everything though, some experts believe the Remington was better mechanically....