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Neat photo but just a picture to send home to mommy or his wife, and most likely the photo shop own the guns. And bet he was in supply.

Agreed, he looks too well fed for those times, and no self respecting Soldier would want to appear so ridiculously over-armed.
Now before anyone tries to flame me, consider the photo how those handguns are carried and the weight of them all as being totally impractical.
 
Yeah. Your right. As I understand it, soldier photos at that time often had an over embellishment of weaponry in a photo shoot. Most probably some of the soldier's buddies waiting in line for their photo loaned him their revolvers for the photo. Although, I have read some time ago in the forum by a civil war buff that Calvary soldiers carried multiple revolvers.
One is none.. two is one.. as the saying goes
 
Definitely Cavalry :thumb:

I doubt it, he looks far to fat to be a Horseman, even in those days Cavalry Troopers were preferably lighter for mounted work; understandable considering the Horses were expected to carry a fair bit of gear with the Man in the saddle often on poor rations and in less than good condition. He looks very much like a "Cracker Barrel Cavalryman", most of his service was probably in Supply where the living was good.
 
I doubt it, he looks far to fat to be a Horseman, even in those days Cavalry Troopers were preferably lighter for mounted work; understandable considering the Horses were expected to carry a fair bit of gear with the Man in the saddle often on poor rations and in less than good condition. He looks very much like a "Cracker Barrel Cavalryman", most of his service was probably in Supply where the living was good.

coinneach..howdy down yonner!! Good to hear from ya. Yes, I admit you have brought up a good point with this gentleman in the photo. Let's go a little further and say what if the guy, when he was younger, was a slender mounted cavalryman but now just an aged old man of 35. Fast forward a couple of more years and the travelling photographer comes to town and his family encourages him to put on his old uniform for posterities sake? It could have happened? No?
 
Soldiers aren’t supposed to run from anyone… the idea, to paraphrase General Patton, is to make the other sob run for his life…
Patton allegedly lined up some tanks on the Chattahoochee River (separating GA and AL) facing westward towards a little corrupt town also know as little sin city. A side note: Hollywood actually produed a B-Movie was about this town. The story continues that the sin city jailer had some of Patton's men locked up and refused to let them go. Anyone heard that one?
 
coinneach..howdy down yonner!! Good to hear from ya. Yes, I admit you have brought up a good point with this gentleman in the photo. Let's go a little further and say what if the guy, when he was younger, was a slender mounted cavalryman but now just an aged old man of 35. Fast forward a couple of more years and the travelling photographer comes to town and his family encourages him to put on his old uniform for posterities sake? It could have happened? No?

Yeah thats a possibility but consider his uniform would it have fitted him all those years later ?
Hard to believe that he would have gone out and had bigger version of duds made just for the photo.
 
Now this is what I call a well armed soldier. Nothing like having three shooters at hand. Hmm? :rolleyes: Calvary trooper?

View attachment 117580
Credit: Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
I have read that it was not uncommon to find cavalry troops with up to half a dozen hand guns picked up on the battle field but most were carried into combat on the saddle in various ways with one or two stuffed in an on person holster or sash. I would think one would want to have as many like model pistols as possible for ammunition conformity and that a good deal of horse trading went on to accomplish this logistical advantage.
The other thing I read was that the technique was to charge through an infantry troop, shoot the pistols and carbines dry and as a last resort bring out the sabre. They would shoot dry , try to disengage, break from the conflict out of range to reload and then charge again as needed. The idea was to break up infantry cohesion and cause panic and confusion. They did not reload while engaged as doing so on horse back would be impractically if not impossible in the fray.
The days of the horse soldier were done with the advent of the squad size machine gun though that could mow down a whole line of charging steeds.
I think probably the charge of the Light Brigade was one of the last uses of horse charges. I viewed it the other night on Utube and think it was early 1900 or so and occurred some where in the middle East with Australian cavalry if I remember correctly. That would have been against squad size machine guns but they were well spread out and in three waves.
Getting back to civil war era armament I also read the reason the .44 cal revolvers were commissioned by the ordnance people was it would bring down horses as well as people. When one remembers it was only the officers in infantry units that had revolvers and the troops were generally armed with .58 cal single shot rifles , several six shooters available to each horse soldier would be a distinct advantage particularly at close range.
 
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Yeah thats a possibility but consider his uniform would it have fitted him all those years later ?
Hard to believe that he would have gone out and had bigger version of duds made just for the photo.
I agree Coinneach, very good point. :thumb:
 
Yeah thats a possibility but consider his uniform would it have fitted him all those years later ?
Hard to believe that he would have gone out and had bigger version of duds made just for the photo.
While I can still wear my class A uniform from 1969, I am not likely to wear it for a portrait photo.

I still think that the revolvers and saber are photographer's props. I don't see cavalry insignia to justify the saber.
 
Upon further review, this is the back, so maybe it was this feller's name.
32144r.jpg
 
Here is a somewhat modified part of the image - the sword is on a cavalry hanger, BTW -

1643752622135.png
1643752881597.png

To me they have the air of the Remington New Model Army revolver. Experts, please put me right.
 
I have read that it was not uncommon to find cavalry troops with up to half a dozen hand guns picked up on the battle field but most were carried into combat on the saddle in various ways with one or two stuffed in an on person holster or sash. I would think one would want to have as many like model pistols as possible for ammunition conformity and that a good deal of horse trading went on to accomplish this logistical advantage.
The other thing I read was that the technique was to charge through an infantry troop, shoot the pistols and carbines dry and as a last resort bring out the sabre. They would shoot dry , try to disengage, break from the conflict out of range to reload and then charge again as needed. The idea was to break up infantry cohesion and cause panic and confusion. They did not reload while engaged as doing so on horse back would be impractically if not impossible in the fray.
The days of the horse soldier were done with the advent of the squad size machine gun though that could mow down a whole line of charging steeds.
I think probably the charge of the Light Brigade was one of the last uses of horse charges. I viewed it the other night on Utube and think it was early 1900 or so and occurred some where in the middle East with Australian cavalry if I remember correctly. That would have been against squad size machine guns but they were well spread out and in three waves.
Getting back to civil war era armament I also read the reason the .44 cal revolvers were commissioned by the ordnance people was it would bring down horses as well as people. When one remembers it was only the officers in infantry units that had revolvers and the troops were generally armed with .58 cal single shot rifles , several six shooters available to each horse soldier would be a distinct advantage particularly at close range.

It was the Confederate Cavalry that taught the Union about using Mounted Infantry (a lesson they seemed to have overlooked from when the US Dragoon regiments were formed well before the ACW).
I've been with Horses all my life even when I served in the Army for nearly 4 decades, and I can testify that any Horseman lugging more than 2 pistols tucked into a Sash or even Holsters wouldnt
I have read that it was not uncommon to find cavalry troops with up to half a dozen hand guns picked up on the battle field but most were carried into combat on the saddle in various ways with one or two stuffed in an on person holster or sash. I would think one would want to have as many like model pistols as possible for ammunition conformity and that a good deal of horse trading went on to accomplish this logistical advantage.
The other thing I read was that the technique was to charge through an infantry troop, shoot the pistols and carbines dry and as a last resort bring out the sabre. They would shoot dry , try to disengage, break from the conflict out of range to reload and then charge again as needed. The idea was to break up infantry cohesion and cause panic and confusion. They did not reload while engaged as doing so on horse back would be impractically if not impossible in the fray.
The days of the horse soldier were done with the advent of the squad size machine gun though that could mow down a whole line of charging steeds.
I think probably the charge of the Light Brigade was one of the last uses of horse charges. I viewed it the other night on Utube and think it was early 1900 or so and occurred some where in the middle East with Australian cavalry if I remember correctly. That would have been against squad size machine guns but they were well spread out and in three waves.
Getting back to civil war era armament I also read the reason the .44 cal revolvers were commissioned by the ordnance people was it would bring down horses as well as people. When one remembers it was only the officers in infantry units that had revolvers and the troops were generally armed with .58 cal single shot rifles , several six shooters available to each horse soldier would be a distinct advantage particularly at close range.

I've been around Horses all my life and can testify that any Horseman carrying more than 2 Pistols tucked into a Sash or Holsters would soon give it up as an embuggerance. Sure Saddle mounted Pistol Holsters were fitted to the Saddle pommel but that was mainly restricted to Field grade Officers.

Despite what we routinely see in period Studio photos, the Mathew Brady "on campaign" photos show otherwise, sure when War broke out some Soldiers festooned themselves with all manner of extra Arms and equipment, which they soon learned to drop once they had to carry it all (ask any Veteran who's had to carry a Pack on Exercises and /or Operations).

Apart from Cavalrymen and Officers Pistols weren't issued to Other Ranks, that said there were private purchases, but they were expensive in the day and not that well available apart from Battlefield pick-ups which often had to be handed in; and even when withheld difficult to get ammo for.

Among the Southern Cavalrymen Pistols became harder to get as the War dragged on, N.B Forrest meanwhile had proven the efficacy of DB Shotguns firing Buck and Ball rather than popping off with Pistols at the enemy from a moving Saddle in a Charge. Trust me its damn hard to hit anything other than a Barn wall in a Canter or a Gallop when mounted on a Horse, despite the BS peddled by Hollywood. (BTW I've owned Pistols for years, and well know their limitations).

"I think probably the charge of the Light Brigade was one of the last uses of horse charges. I viewed it the other night on Utube and think it was early 1900 or so and occurred some where in the middle East with Australian cavalry if I remember correctly. That would have been against squad size machine guns but they were well spread out and in three waves."

The Charge of the Light Brigade was during the Russian Crimean War in 1854 and didnt involve the Australians, the last acknowledged Charge by a Cavalry Regiment (actually there were two from an Australian Light Horse Brigade) was in 1917 at the Battle for Beersheba (modern day Israel); a well defended Turkish position that included Artillery and Machine Guns with entrenched Troops.

Read your history.
 
Here is a somewhat modified part of the image - the sword is on a cavalry hanger, BTW -

View attachment 118963View attachment 118966
To me they have the air of the Remington New Model Army revolver. Experts, please put me right.

A Cavalry hanger mounted on a belt that can be strapped on by anyone for a Studio photo, most of the periods photos were intended for the Folks back home and/or the Girlfriend/ Wife impression.
Theres no shortage of Soldiers from both sides looking fierce and frightening festooned with Swords, Bowie knives; Pistols, and various Long Arms that in all probability werent they're standard weaponry.

As I mentioned in another post, compare the Studio photos to the multitude of "on Campaign" photos Mathew Brady and others took of the various Troops and you'll see there's no similarity.
 
While I can still wear my class A uniform from 1969, I am not likely to wear it for a portrait photo.

I still think that the revolvers and saber are photographer's props. I don't see cavalry insignia to justify the saber.

Mate, you'd be only one of .004% of us Vets who could still fit into any of his uniforms LOL
 

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