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ARMS
Southern Shotguns
By Shannon Prichard
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scoured the countryside in search of sporting rifles, old flintlock pistols and shotguns; any weapon that could aid in arming
their volunteers.
In a short and to the point note dated
May 18th, 1861, the Confederate Secretary of War wrote to Mississippi Governor
Pettus, Can you give me two regiments for
twelve months, armed with heavy double
barrel shotguns?
A few days later Virginia Quartermaster M. O. Harmon wrote to Virginia Governor Letcher The Greenbrier Cavalry,
a fine body of men arrived today, and I
This cavalryman wears mostly civilian clothes and
holds a double barreled shotgun, the VR on his
hat might stand for Valley or Virginia Rangers.
In the first months of the war the goverment asked
its citizens to turn over any arms they had for use
by the troops. 1/6th plate ambrotype courtesy
Library of Congress, Liljenquist collection.
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By 1863 all infantry regiments in the Army of Northern Virginia were armed with 58 caliber rifles
or at a minimum 69 caliber muskets. The fact that this gun was found on the Gettysburg retreat
route attests to the continued use by some cavalrymen. Courtesy Old South Military Antiques.
mounted infantry.
Where are all those shotguns? I suspect
that there arent many surviving that had
been converted for military use because a
sawed off shotgun was of little value after
the War. One could hunt game with a rifle
or musket, or even a full length shotgun
but, a sawed off shotgun is only good for
one thing, killing men.
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