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Common Small Arms

During the Civil War pistols of all shapes, sizes, and calibers were used by Union and Confederate soldiers, especially the officers and the cavalry. They were especially effective during close-in fighting. The most popular handguns were those made by American manufacturers Colt and Remington.

Colt 6-Shot Revolver The Most Common Civil War Handgun!
The 1860 "Army" Colt 6-shot, single-action, percussion revolver fired .44 or .36 cal. ammunition and weighed 2 pounds 11 ounces. During the war the Federal government purchased 38 percent of the total "Army" and "Navy" revolvers produced by Colt. Soldiers who obtained one of these weapons for self-protection prized them highly. Most of the Colts in Southern hands were brought to the battlefield from home.

LeMat 9-Shot Revolver Invented by a southerner
The most formidable handgun of the Civil War, the LeMat, was invented by a Southerner. It weighed 4 pounds and had two barrels. The .40 cal. upper barrel fired bullets from the nine-shot cylinder behind it; the lower .63 cal. smoothbore barrel was loaded with buckshot and could be fired separately. To fire the lower barrel, the user would flip a toggle on the hammer, redirecting the strike to the shotgun barrel. Approximately 1,500 of these handguns were imported into the South from Paris and London.

Sabre with ScabardCivil War Sabre and Scabard
This Model 1840 dragoon sabre, in spite of being heavier than the newer 1860 US sabre, was a very popular model during the Civil War. Many thousands of them were produced by both the North and South for use by officers and cavalry.

LONG ARMS

The Springfield Rifle usketThe Popular springfield Rifle Musket
Men in the field called these, simply, "Springfields" and it was the most common of the two popular long arms used in the Civil War, the Enfield being the next in numbers and desirability for soldiers on both sides of the conflict. The U.S. Model .58 caliber "Springfield" Rifle-Musket was the standard American infantry arm. The gun was rugged, simple in construction and was deadly even at a range equal to three football fields. It weighed nearly nine pounds was about 56 inches in length. During the war, the federal government made or purchased more than 1.4 million.

LONG ARMS

The Enfield MusketThe English Enfield

Angular BayonetAngular Bayonet
I'm pretty sure this Angular Bayonet was very common among Southern soldiers, as it was one that fit on the end of their 60 caliber Enfield Musket. With a few exceptions that was the backbone of their small arms arsenal.
photos on this page by Ralph Blodgett (Original weapons courtesy of Sharpsburg Arsenal)