[BlueTrain]

Just by coincidence, there were some photos of Civil War soldiers published in the Washington Post last Sunday and one of them appears to be armed with one of these revolvers or a copy. The photo appeared again in today's paper because a reader recognized the individual and had sent in their own copy. He was a cavalryman in the First Virginia Cavalry. He is displaying his drawn saber and his revolver is thrust into his belt. It's a small photo but it is clearly neither a Colt nor a Remington. There are no holsters visible in any of the photos although the men in four out of the ten photos had pistols.

There were a number of interesting weapons in the photos, suggesting that troops were armed with a greater variety of weapons than you might otherwise think. Another cavalryman, for example, has two revolvers, one in his belt and the other fitted with a shoulder stock but it isn't perfectly clear that the two revolvers are the same. Another has one of the Harper's Ferry pistol-carbines. He's also a cavalryman and the only one with a carbine belt. The prize, however, has to go to a man with a revolving rifle. I don't know the make but it has a side-hammer. I also think the photo is printed in reverse (as are one or two others) because the hammer is on the left. He also is wearing a fine hat.

Several of them are sporting knives. One man, probably Confederate, has a jacket with shoulder straps (not the US kind) in a contrasting color, the first time I've noticed that in a Civil War photo.

The man with the First Virginia Cavalry who had the interesting revolver was killed in 1863 near Warrenton, Virginia. He was 19.