Sidearms on parade

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Greetings:
Would an officer wear his sidearm marching in a parade or just his sword?
Thanks,
Jeffrey Cohen

[Dan Kohli]

Are you asking about Infantry, artillery, or cavalry. I believe it's dependent upon the grade and arm that the officer belongs too.

[79thpard]

It’s definately up to the officer cav officers definately carried pistols
infantry officers did but not always but it was a good measure
artillery im unsure of but as far as I’m concerned protection would have been key but remember light artillery carried carbines and heavy had full length rifles
so an artillery position was not entirely undefended much even so if infantry were in the fray battling ahead and or were tasked with defending gun positions
as said above though rank and pay grade played a part in what they carried but remember officers had to furnish there own equipment they were not issued there own equipment so whether or not an officer would carry a pistol would depend on how much he trusted his men
and how much he thought a danger to his life was
given that field officers were prime targets I would
bet that in some way they would have some form of defense mounted officers in the rank of major or colonel stayed behind the lines a lot with staff officers and others serving them I can expect when everything went awry I would bet high ranking officer would want to defend themselves in some way but mileage may vary
food for thought
let me know if I’m wrong

chris roberts 79th New York infantry company c

[79thpard]

As for on parade I don’t think
there would be much reason for officer to carry a pistol on parade seems out of place camp wise during the regular hours of the day

[79thpard]

I forgot to mention shooting deserters In the heat of battle but how accurate that is to period or is farb reenactorism im unsure but your comment was specifically about parade so I might be trailing off the path of the original comment completely
so Sorry

chris roberts
79th New York company c

[thomas aagaard]

artillery im unsure of but as far as I’m concerned protection would have been key but remember light artillery carried carbines and heavy had full length rifles so an artillery position was not entirely undefended much even so if infantry were in the fray battling ahead and or were tasked with defending gun positions
c

Pretty sure that is not correct.
As fare as I know a artillery battery only had some revolvers to be used to put down horses.

And a blast of canister from 4-6 guns would allways be more effective at stopping an attack than having less than 100 men firing carbines.

https://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/military-forums/camp-of-instruction/2221-sidearms-and-cannoneers

Heavy artillery. They where trained in the use of muskets, since they where trained and equipped to be able to man a fort on their own without needing infantry support.
But when they where used in the field as siegeartillery I don't belive they carried muskets with them.

[79thpard]

Thomas Aagaard

thank you for responding I’m certain I was wrong considering that the strength of a battery is small
I remember the whole purpose of this forum is learning
and I didn’t read much about artillery when I was younger and much more of a farb but fair enough
thanks

Chris roberts 79th New York highland guard