The Mississippi in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Sabers
In Response To: Re: Sabers ()

Robert --

I don't have an inspection report handy at the moment, but older posts about sabers in Forrest's command (at least in 1864) mention few on hand.

The best-armed company under Forrest's command was usually Capt. Jackson's escort. An inspection on May 16, 1864, reported the following firearms available for sixty-five officers and men present for duty --

31 Colt revolvers, cal. 44
32 Colt revolvers, cal. 36
63 Sharps carbines, cal. 52
5 Burnside carbines, cal. 56
5 Maynard carbines, cal. 51

Notice that there are no shotguns in this command. It does not mean there were never arms of that kind available, but towards the second half of the war, these tended to disappear. I don't know of any Confederate arms manufacturer who produced shotguns or ammuntion for shotguns.

The inspection report mentioned gives the following arms totals --

Buford's Division (Bell's and Lyons' Brigades, aggregate present of 3,908)
1,809 muskets and rifles of various types (Enfield, Springfield, Mississippi, Lorenz),
400 Sharps carbines,
163 French revolvers,
150 Colt cal. 36 revolvers
337 Colt cal. 44 revolvers

Complaining that he had no arms whatsoever for 3,000 men, Forrest received a large shipment from Selma just prior to the Battle of Brice's Crossroads. These would have been primarily infantry arms.

George Martin provided the following quote concerning sabers in Forrest's cavalry --

The following is taken from Miller's Photographic History of the Civil War, volume on cavalry, page 282.

Forrest knew nothing about tactics---could not drill a company. When first ordered to have his brigade ready for review, he was quite ignorant, but Armstrong told him what commands to give, and what to do himself.

Forrest will always stand as the great exponent of the power of the mounted rifleman to fight with the revolver when mounted and with the rifle when on foot. His troops were not dragoons 'who fought indifferently on foot or horseback,' nor were they cavalry who fought only with sabers. Few of his command ever bore sabers, save some of his officers, who wore them as a badge of rank. He himself had no knowledge of its use, but he would encounter half a dozen expert sabreurs with his revolver.


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