As the war progressed sidearms were authorized for Confederate officers and some NCOs in the artillery. They used them for shooting wounded horses. Enlisted men who had sidearms had to turn them in or send them home. Besides, they had enough to carry without lugging a pistol around.

Most sidearms were revolvers which were loaded from the business end of the cylinder. There were some pistols that used metallic cartridges, mostly rim and pin fire. Premade cartridges were available for most all caliber sidearms. The most popular calibers were .44 and .36.