In the 1860s, after the Civil War, did US Cavalry officers of the frontier forts carry sidearms when off duty?
Of course they carried side arms. What would happen if they saw an “injun” and they didn’t have a gun? Geez, wouldn’t want to have to tell your friends about “the one that got away.”
The fact of the matter is, that American civilians were always better armed than the military, until very recent times. All weapons could be legally owned by any american citizen until 1934, when machine guns and sawed off shotguns were outlawed. In 1970, dynamite was outlawed, my family used to buy dynamite from the hardware store in town until 1970. Mortars, bazookas, etc, were not outlawed until 1968, until 1968, any american could own a bazooka or anti tank weapon.
My family ancestors on the frontier had repeating rifles and handguns, long before the military were issued them. I think the army even had single shot rifles until around 1900, for the most part. Some soldiers bought their own handguns, to supplement the single shot rifle issued by the army.
racosun: Can you cite the Army regulation?
Susanann: Your information is interesting, but it doesn’t actually address my question.
When I was in the service, a few years after the Civil War, carrying weapons – and this included some pocket knives – was severely regulated. Off duty, you were permitted to carry very little. No firearms were permitted – OFF DUTY.
In war zones, situation changed weapons’ availability. But my question pertained to NON-WAR ZONES.