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Come Jine the Cavalry
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THE CAVALRY
Weapons
The cavalrymen had three main weapons: the saber, the carbine and the revolver. Each man was issued with at least one revolver; some carried as many as four. Although they were supposed to be issued with both a saber and a carbine, many troopers were issued with either one or the other.
A cavalry saber and scabbard. |
The saber was the traditional weapon of the cavalry. It had a curved, single-edged blade, about 36" long and was designed to be used while mounted. It was held in the right hand and was swung in heavy, hacking or slashing blows, much like swinging an axe. The saber is often confused with a sword, which has a straight blade and has sharpened edges on both sides. When the military leaders realized that the cavalry would not be fighting European-style battles with massed charges, the saber’s importance began to diminish. The saber is still in use today by the United States Army, although only for ceremonial purposes.
The carbine was a short (about 39" long) compact firearm designed to be carried, and sometimes fired, from horseback. Besides being compact, the carbine also had to be lightweight, to reduce the burden carried by the horse. Carbines used by the Federal cavalry were usually single-shot, rifled breechloaders (the cartridge was inserted through the back of the barrel).
One Federal cavalry regiment, the 1st Missouri Cavalry, carried the Model 1855 Colt Revolving Carbine at Pea Ridge. This weapon was basically Samuel Colt's famous revolver, with the barrel lengthened and a shoulder stock added. It was made in both a rifle and a carbine version. It fired five rounds, but had the unfortunate tendency to occasionally discharge all of the chambers at once. |
Cylinders of Model 1855 Colt Revolving Carbine The Colt revolving carbine was loaded in the same manner as the Colt revolver. The cartridge was loaded in the front of the cylinder (powder first, then the ball) and then compressed with the plunger beneath the barrel. This was repeated until all five cylinders were loaded. Percussion caps were then placed on the vent nipples. The weapon was then ready to fire. |
Confederate carbines tended to be shortened versions of muzzleloading rifle-muskets. Some were smoothbore, while others were rifled. Many Confederate cavalrymen in the West and Trans-Mississippi preferred a sawed-off, double-barrel shotgun over the carbine, due to the shotgun's devastating, close-range firepower.
Many Confederate cavalrymen preferred to use a double-barrelled shotgun instead of a carbine or rifle. They would charge at the enemy, fire both barrels at the enemy and then ride away to reload. The shotgun's firepower was devestating at close range. |
Colt .44 caliber "Army" revolver |
Revolvers were compact handguns with a revolving cylinder usually holding 6 rounds. The majority came in two sizes – the .44 caliber "Army" and the .36 caliber "Navy". (The "Army" and "Navy" designations had nothing to do with which service used the weapons and was instead a marketing technique developed by Colt to sell his revolvers to the US government.) The revolvers made by Colt and by Remington were well-made, reliable weapons and were highly prized by those who carried them. Revolvers were loaded by pulling the hammer back to half-cock, allowing the cylinder to spin freely. The weapon was held so that the barrel pointed straight up. The end of the paper cartridge was torn off and the powder and ball were placed in the front of the cylinder. The cylinder was turned so that the freshly loaded chamber was under the lever (a ramrod attached to the bottom of the barrel). The lever was pulled down ramming the ball and powder tightly into the chamber. When this had been repeated for all six chambers, a percussion cap was placed on all six nipples. The weapon was loaded and ready to fire. Each time the hammer was pulled back, a mechanism would rotate the barrel so that a loaded chamber was lined up with the barrel.
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Last updated on:
October 11, 2003
Written by: Interpretation Staff
http://www.nps.gov/peri/cav3
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