Civil war pistols

Many different pistols, and revolvers or handguns as they were called at the time, were used throughout the civil war by both the North and the South. Sometimes the exact same model and version of a handgun would be used by both sides, or the handgun would be built to specifications set forth by the respective faction. Generally speaking the Confederate troops were always outnumbered by the North in both manpower and available weapons to use.This caused the confederate troops to use as many captured weapons as possible throughout the war. This crossing over of weapons from one side to the other, as well as the actual production of the same model handgun in various styles makes it difficult to specifically say one weapon was used by any one side. If there was any one handgun used the most by Union troops it would have to be the Colt models 1851 and 1860 army versions,as well as the Starr revolver. For the Confederate troops it would again be either the Colt models or the Remington model 1858 revolver.