Of the many weapons used during the Civil War, handguns proved to be the least desired. Rifles provided much greater accuracy and distance, and sabers and bayonets were much more effective during a charge or in close-quarters fighting. Noted Major Leonidas Scranton of the Second Michigan Cavalry: “Pistols are useless. I have known regiments that have been in the field over two years that have never used their pistols in action.”

For the average Union soldier, the issue was moot anyway. The government cheerfully handed out shoulder arms to all who needed them, but only cavalrymen and mounted light artillery were issued sidearms; everyone else had to provide their own.

The Union purchased 370,000 handguns over the course of the Civil War. The most preferred were the Colt .44 caliber and .36 caliber six-shooters. They were well-made, reliable, and accurate weapons that packed a punch. The U.S. government bought about 12,000 Lefaucheux .41-caliber revolvers. By the end of the war, a great many sidearms had been given away, sold, sent home, or merely tossed aside by Union soldiers, who found them unnecessarily heavy and just plain unhelpful.

Southern cavalrymen preferred sidearms because they were lightweight and extremely accurate at short range. Limited supplies prompted Secretary of War Benjamin to order that handguns be taken away from the infantry and given to the cavalry, which needed them more.

The handguns that were used to arm Confederate soldiers came from a multitude of sources, including Southern manufacturers, seized arsenals, fallen soldiers in the battlefield, foreign manufacturers, and private donations from Confederate citizens. The preferred Adams & Deane and the Kerr revolvers were manufactured by the London Armoury Company, the largest single producer of handguns imported into the South.