Hi,
I have a question. I know offiers were usealy equiped with a pistol and a sword in the civil war. My question is: is there a known use of the pistol once hand to hand fighting begun? perhaps as a club or a way to stop evemy blows? My question doesn't only applay to the civil war, but also to simular conflicts at that time.

my guess is.. that it was used for close combat. Really helpful. Once the battalions are in hand to hand, the pistol can help alot, instead of using the bigger rifles. Its a kind of secondary thing..

So how exactly was it used? anybody knows?

what do u mean how was it used?? pull the trigger sound fair enough? orrrr...

That's when shooting, but what I'm asking is it's use oncce in Hand to Hand. Warn't the guns back then too inacurate to shoot when tring also to fight? That's what i'm asking. What exactly did people do with the pistol.

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what your getting at. Are you talking about the American Civil War? If so. The Revolvers were issued to Cavalry and most officers purchased their own. They were pretty much used the same way as they are today as CQB weapons or from horseback as primary weapons. Some of the Confederate Guerillas such as QuantrillS Raiders and Mosebys Raiders carried as many as 12 revolvers and used them as primary weapons..

As far as inaccurate the Colt, Remington, and other revolvers were state of the art for their time and had a pretty fair range.

aye, I do agree with USMC. They were basically recolvers too..

I think the problem is that i'm having a hard time explaining the situation I'm getting at, so I will try again:

When I say Hand to Hand, I mean when people stop shooting and begin to use bayonets. That's what I mean by hand to hand. You know, like most fighting used to be before gunpowder weapons. At that time, did people armed with/ guns still tried to shoot people in a point blank shoot, or maybe used it to block enemy blows? I don't talk about shooting or close range shooting. I'm getting more to the direction of bayonet fighting. i hope I made myself clear, because i'm real caries and you seem to be people who want to help. Oh, and yes, I do mean the american civil war.

well if u mean the american civil war then the guns have changed quite a bit. They are no muskets like the days of Napoleon. Guns are getting advanced. You dont only shoot one shot and try to reload and that may take u time. No, they also used rifles that can shoot consecutively. And I am not sure about bayonets, but certainly swords. And yes, the revolvers were used at any time during the hand to hand and i do understand what u mean. He, who ever had the revolver, can shoot at any time he wants, and whenever he feels the need to. There is no particular phase as to when he should shoot. hope i made sense

To be honest, there wasnt too many hand to hand engagements in the civil war. Picketts Charge and the Battle of the Crater are the ones that come to mind.

In Napolean Era the primary infantry weapon was the bayonet. Regiments would loosen volleys at each at close range and then close to engage in melee. The Civil War was different, the weapons were much more accurate at long range, so like WWI, infantry charge were very dangerous affairs. Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Ft.Wagner were classic examples of how well fortified infantry could repulse attacking armies much than there own. Therefore the main weapon of a ordinary private remained his rifle-musket, bayonet charges (after several disasterous lessons on both sides) were reserved to finishing off a weaked enemy line.

As for the original question. I think an officer would have used a pistol as a short range firearm. Pistoles have very short range so the close confines of a infantry would make it an ideal weapon. There were several attempts to modify pistoles to increase its firepower. One popular design in the south involoved a 2nd barrel slung underneath the main barrel (imagine the M-16/M203) with a single shot of 00 buckshot. There were other attempts to combine sword with pistoles, or make mini bayonets for pistole but none of these were great successes. While it was against regulations soldiers also carried pistoles (looted from the battlefield) during attacks, and kept them hidden under their uniforms. Most officiers turned a blind eye to this.