What arms would a Civil War Union Infantry Lieutenant carry?

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rickyrick

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I’m trying to figure out what my GrandfatherX2 might have carried during the Civil War.
He served the entirety of the war and started as a Private. He was of the Ohio volunteers.

I am most interested in the sword, but it may have been the M1850 foot officer’s sword, but if there are other possibilities I’d like to know.

I was also wondering, what type of firearm might he had carried as an officer?

As a private I’m sure it was whatever the standard issue was.

Would his weapons have changed with his rank or would he have ended up with a mix of what he had as the war progressed?
 
Many civil war soldiers, even in lower ranks, carried small, privately owned revolvers or single shots as a back up. They had a big variety of makes and models to choose from, and many were relatively inexpensive. When you look at photos of civil war soldiers posing in uniform, you can often see these guns proudly displayed.
 
A lot of private soldiers carried only their rifle musket, ammo, and some gear to make camp with. Their pistols and Bowie knives were discarded or traded off to somebody willing to bear the weight.

A lieutenant promoted from the ranks might have bought a sword, but might have just carried a revolver; more effective and less cumbersome.
 
one of my relitives who was in GAR carried a springfield .58 caliber thru two years of war and after the war bought one and had it conferted into a shotgun, a cousin has it, still in ex original condition and i still try to get it. we fire it on the forth of july, i supply the musket caps and black powder and clean it very good and he puts it away untill the next forth of july.
 
As an infantry private he would not have been issued a revolver. Those only went to officers and cavalry.. Once he made sergeant he would have been issued a revolver, either a Colt or a Remington. Swords were intended for officers with a rank of Major but they were a private purchase so there was nothing stopping an officer of any rank from carrying one. If he owned one it would have most likely been an 1850 Army Foot Officer's Sword or a Staff and Field Officers sword. There's no way of knowing if he even had a sword tho. I would say that most LT's didn't carry one.
 
The most common were 1860 or 1851 Colt's, but there were a bunch of others that it could have been, but much less common.
 
Interesting, thanks for the replies so far.

Ghbucky, thanks for the link... I learned what a “mucket” was today.

gbclarkson, no one appreciates a dad joke more than I.
 
I never really thought about the daily activities of a civil war infantry person.
My ancestor was captured, escaped and recaptured by the south. He was then returned to the union army in a prisoner exchange.
I know a lot about this event leading up to his capture, when he was a prisoner and the ordeals of being a POW in confederate hands.
I am now trying to piece together the rest of his time in the war.
Only a small number of people were between me a him, but he died in his 60s so my father never got to meet him.
I know enough information to dig it all up I suppose, but as far as historical firearms and stuff, I always like to see what TFLers have to say.
Been here a long time, and this is by far the most informative forum around
 
Standard issue was a .58 caliber "rifled musket", but lots of imported and obsolete weapons were issued.
My great-great served, and while there's no way to know, now, a Springfield M1842 musket which was passed down on that side of the family, may have been his issue weapon.
Smoothbore muskets were obsolete, but to improve hit probability, a load called "buck 'n' ball" was developed, which added three pieces of buckshot to the .69 caliber ball.
Of course, there were also more advanced weapons issued, such as breechloading carbines to the cavalry, and scoped rifles to "sharpshooters".
 

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There was one outfit, from Michigan, I think, that was sad to have their muskets with buck and ball replaced by rifle muskets.

Note terminology. As I learned it, the 1855 and later .58s were produced as rifles with 33" barrels and as rifle muskets; a rifle with the 40" barrel of a musket.
A rifled musket was one of those 1842 smoothbores with rifling added. A .69 Minie ball is a BIG bullet.
 
As others have said, there are lots of possibilities. If he worked up through the ranks he might have retained a M1840 noncommissiond officers sword.

If he had bought his own sword or had one bought for him by friends and family, it could have been any model. Frequently that would have been a cavalry saber.

To open it up even more, he could carry a battle field pickup/capture sword.
A relative of mine capture a saber from the war of 1812.

A infantry lieutenant would have ridden shanks mare. So weight would have been a consideration and he might not have carried a revolver.

It is likely he would not have been issued a revolver till late in the war if at all.
A lieutenant's job was seeing to his troops not shooting rebs.
 
Buck and ball was used in the Mexican War.
At the Battle of South Mountain one New Jersey regimental commander ordered his men to stack their smooth bores and take the Enfields they had just captured from the Rebels. One soldier wrote home that they upgraded their armament at no cost to Uncle Sam.
 
The vast majority carried swords. It was symbolic of their status as an officer. They could have sidearms (revolvers).

It was very rare for officers to shoulder a long arm but there were a few. In my books I've mentioned Lt. "Coonskin" Foster of Vicksburg who raised sharpshooters among Grant's army at Vicksburg. Foster was supposed to have been Grant's best marksman (in Mississippi).

It was generally during a siege that a lieutenant would shoulder a rifle and fight back. At Petersburg, Lieut. P. (have to go to the library to dig out the officer's name) of the Andrew Sharpshooters even challenged the Confederates to a duel. They stand with the long gun at the side and then shoot it out. He out shot several Confederates before a rat shot him down when he wasn't ready. The Union soldiers were angry about the cheating. Winslow Homer made it the subject of a painting too (have to go to the library to find the name of that painting).

There was even a chaplain (Lorenzo Barber) of the Second US Sharp Shooters who used a scoped target rifle in combat. The men loved him as he not only saw to their spiritual needs, he fought alongside him. Post-war he died because of a shooting accident.

Those were exceptions though and officers generally waved their swords, led their men and inspired them in combat.
 
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