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“Spare Cylinders.” aka “extra” cylinders.
In some segments of the Reenacting Community, one will find the use of ”spare” or extra loaded revolver cylinders to facilitate reloading and to ensure a higher rate or length of firing. And also, to avoid reloading in the Period manner using factory or arsenal cartridges removed from packets, boxes, or envelopes. With multiple pre-loaded cylinders also comes the need for spare cylinder “holsters.”
The Reenacting use of spare cylinders has been, is, defended by a wide range of campfire legend, car pool lore such as making pronouncements about if they had had them they would have used them. Or, I thought of it now someone could have thought of it then. Or someone read somewhere Mosby’s men carried multiple revolvers and must have carried multiple cylinders. Mix in the accounts of Quantrill’s men with multiple revolvers on their person as well as horses. And then bake in the Hollywood oven of Clint Eastwood in ‘Pale Rider” using extra cylinders to reload his metallic cartridge Remington revolver.
But…
What does History say? What does research and documentation say?
William Woods Averell had graduated from West Point in 1855 and had been commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Mounted Rifles. His early duty assignments included garrison duty at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and the U.S. Army Cavalry School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. From there he went to New Mexico for two years until wounded in action against the Indians in 1859 and was placed on the disabled list until the outbreak of the Civil War.
In August 1861, he was appointed colonel of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry regiment, and led it through the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. On July 6, 1862, he was given command of the 1st Cavalry Brigade in the Army of the Potomac.
On February 12, 1863 Averell rose to division command of the 2nd division of the Cavalry Corps. He did well at Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863, but his 2nd Division's reputation was dinged when it participated in Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's fruitless cavalry raid in the Battle of Chancellorsville. On May 2, 1863, army commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker relieved Averell of his command due to his slow performance during the raid. Hooker sent an angry telegram to the War Department informing them that Averell "seems to have contented himself between April 29 and May 4 with having marched ... 28 miles, meeting no enemy deserving of the name, and from that point reporting to me for instructions."
Averell left the Army of the Potomac for the Department of West Virginia at the brigade and division level. In November 1863, he led “Averell's West Virginia Raid” against the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Averell received a brevet to lieutenant colonel in the Regular Army for the Battle of Droop Mountain in West Virginia on November 6, 1863, and to colonel for actions at Salem, Virginia, on December 15, 1863. He led another cavalry raid toward Saltville but was stopped by Generals John Hunt Morgan and William E. "Grumble" Jones at Cove Gap. Returning to West Virginia, he later commanded a cavalry division under Maj. Gen. David Hunter in his failed raid on Lynchburg.
In 1864 when Lt. Gen. Jubal Early had invaded Maryland and defeated a series of Union commanders, Averell proved to be the only Union commander to achieve victory against the Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley. He routed Confederate Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur at the Battle of Rutherford's (aka Carter's) Farm on July 20th despite being significantly outnumbered. When Brig. Gen. John McCausland burned Chambersburg, PA on July 30, Averell tracked him down to Moorefield, WVA. By using intelligence from his scouts, Averell routed McCausland in a sunrise attack upon the Confederate’s camp capturing hundreds of prisoners and a four-gun battery.
During the Valley Campaigns of 1864 against Early, Averell fought under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan. But due to a dispute with Sheridan over the Battle of Fisher’s Hill, , Averell was relieved of command a second time on September 23, 1864. That seemed to have broken him.. A staff officer wrote "I saw General Averell sitting in front of his tent ... He was dreadfully depressed and broken. I believe he started for the rear within a few moments after we left him, and never was employed again during the war." Averell resigned from the Union Army volunteers and from the U.S. regular army on May 18, 1865.
Averell had started a diary when he got to West Point in 1851. It would prove invaluable to him when he wrote two books starting in 1891. The first was his memoirs ("Ten Years in the Saddle: The Memoir of William Woods Averell 1851-1862.”), and the second was a history of the 3rd PA Cavalry. Both books were published after his death in 1900.
While at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas circa 1857, 2nd Lt. Averell recorded and later recalled:
"When the old Dragoon revolver was first made, a dozen of them were sent to his [Harney] regiment for trial. A dozen men were selected to carry and use them. When the men were assembled to receive them at the Colonel's headquarters, he [Haney] said to them mildly, "My men, I have selected you on account of your intelligence and steadiness to test this new arm," and then went on to explain to them its action and use, showing that each pistol had TWO (emphasis added) cylinders, both of which were kept loaded so that when the one in the pistol had been exhausted it could be removed and replaced by the extra one in a moment. Now said the Colonel (warmly):
No man can be such a blankety blank fool as not to see the importance of not losing this extra cylinder, for if lost you will have only six shots and when they are gone you will be at the mercy of your enemy and if you have lost it I hope to God he’ll kill you,, and if he don’t by the blankety blank blank I will, but I expect to hear that they are all lost before you ever get a chance to use them and if I do, (furiously), the very first one that is lost the blankety blank idiot that lost it will wish that all the blank blank Indians in Florida had him instead or me, blank blank him. Now go and lose them, blankety blank.”
It is likely that his unit was part of at 12 man trial to test whether the idea would work or not. And was a one of kind deal that appears to have failed and gone nowhere and was not repeated.
And at the risk of using a “Universal,” as evidenced by the total lack of maker/factory documents, Government contracts and purchase orders, armory/arsenal or field issuance records, inventories, or unit arms and equipment inspections for any CW unit, time, or place. This was an unsuccessful trial (it did not exactly have its Colonel Haney’s blessing.
It does show that the idea of spare cylinders did occur to someone, but died on the vine.
I want to make the point of not taking an isolated, rare example and making it a universal whole for the CW. To date…..there is no maker/factory record, no Government contract or purchase record that lists spare cylinders among spare parts. No arsenal/armory records of having them or issuing them. And no unit inspection, inventory, or issuance record of them in the field. I suspect, that his unit may have been chosen as part of a trial to see whether the concept would work. And when it did not, it was dropped and never made universal. If one were depicting or portraying Averell or his unit at Fort Leavenworth at that time in 1857, it is a golden reference.
“Ten Years in the Saddle: The Memoir of William Woods Averell 1851-1862.” Stan Clark Military Books; First Edition (July 1, 1996)
Curt
“Spare Cylinders.” aka “extra” cylinders.
In some segments of the Reenacting Community, one will find the use of ”spare” or extra loaded revolver cylinders to facilitate reloading and to ensure a higher rate or length of firing. And also, to avoid reloading in the Period manner using factory or arsenal cartridges removed from packets, boxes, or envelopes. With multiple pre-loaded cylinders also comes the need for spare cylinder “holsters.”
The Reenacting use of spare cylinders has been, is, defended by a wide range of campfire legend, car pool lore such as making pronouncements about if they had had them they would have used them. Or, I thought of it now someone could have thought of it then. Or someone read somewhere Mosby’s men carried multiple revolvers and must have carried multiple cylinders. Mix in the accounts of Quantrill’s men with multiple revolvers on their person as well as horses. And then bake in the Hollywood oven of Clint Eastwood in ‘Pale Rider” using extra cylinders to reload his metallic cartridge Remington revolver.
But…
What does History say? What does research and documentation say?
William Woods Averell had graduated from West Point in 1855 and had been commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Mounted Rifles. His early duty assignments included garrison duty at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and the U.S. Army Cavalry School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. From there he went to New Mexico for two years until wounded in action against the Indians in 1859 and was placed on the disabled list until the outbreak of the Civil War.
In August 1861, he was appointed colonel of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry regiment, and led it through the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. On July 6, 1862, he was given command of the 1st Cavalry Brigade in the Army of the Potomac.
On February 12, 1863 Averell rose to division command of the 2nd division of the Cavalry Corps. He did well at Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863, but his 2nd Division's reputation was dinged when it participated in Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's fruitless cavalry raid in the Battle of Chancellorsville. On May 2, 1863, army commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker relieved Averell of his command due to his slow performance during the raid. Hooker sent an angry telegram to the War Department informing them that Averell "seems to have contented himself between April 29 and May 4 with having marched ... 28 miles, meeting no enemy deserving of the name, and from that point reporting to me for instructions."
Averell left the Army of the Potomac for the Department of West Virginia at the brigade and division level. In November 1863, he led “Averell's West Virginia Raid” against the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Averell received a brevet to lieutenant colonel in the Regular Army for the Battle of Droop Mountain in West Virginia on November 6, 1863, and to colonel for actions at Salem, Virginia, on December 15, 1863. He led another cavalry raid toward Saltville but was stopped by Generals John Hunt Morgan and William E. "Grumble" Jones at Cove Gap. Returning to West Virginia, he later commanded a cavalry division under Maj. Gen. David Hunter in his failed raid on Lynchburg.
In 1864 when Lt. Gen. Jubal Early had invaded Maryland and defeated a series of Union commanders, Averell proved to be the only Union commander to achieve victory against the Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley. He routed Confederate Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur at the Battle of Rutherford's (aka Carter's) Farm on July 20th despite being significantly outnumbered. When Brig. Gen. John McCausland burned Chambersburg, PA on July 30, Averell tracked him down to Moorefield, WVA. By using intelligence from his scouts, Averell routed McCausland in a sunrise attack upon the Confederate’s camp capturing hundreds of prisoners and a four-gun battery.
During the Valley Campaigns of 1864 against Early, Averell fought under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan. But due to a dispute with Sheridan over the Battle of Fisher’s Hill, , Averell was relieved of command a second time on September 23, 1864. That seemed to have broken him.. A staff officer wrote "I saw General Averell sitting in front of his tent ... He was dreadfully depressed and broken. I believe he started for the rear within a few moments after we left him, and never was employed again during the war." Averell resigned from the Union Army volunteers and from the U.S. regular army on May 18, 1865.
Averell had started a diary when he got to West Point in 1851. It would prove invaluable to him when he wrote two books starting in 1891. The first was his memoirs ("Ten Years in the Saddle: The Memoir of William Woods Averell 1851-1862.”), and the second was a history of the 3rd PA Cavalry. Both books were published after his death in 1900.
While at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas circa 1857, 2nd Lt. Averell recorded and later recalled:
"When the old Dragoon revolver was first made, a dozen of them were sent to his [Harney] regiment for trial. A dozen men were selected to carry and use them. When the men were assembled to receive them at the Colonel's headquarters, he [Haney] said to them mildly, "My men, I have selected you on account of your intelligence and steadiness to test this new arm," and then went on to explain to them its action and use, showing that each pistol had TWO (emphasis added) cylinders, both of which were kept loaded so that when the one in the pistol had been exhausted it could be removed and replaced by the extra one in a moment. Now said the Colonel (warmly):
No man can be such a blankety blank fool as not to see the importance of not losing this extra cylinder, for if lost you will have only six shots and when they are gone you will be at the mercy of your enemy and if you have lost it I hope to God he’ll kill you,, and if he don’t by the blankety blank blank I will, but I expect to hear that they are all lost before you ever get a chance to use them and if I do, (furiously), the very first one that is lost the blankety blank idiot that lost it will wish that all the blank blank Indians in Florida had him instead or me, blank blank him. Now go and lose them, blankety blank.”
It is likely that his unit was part of at 12 man trial to test whether the idea would work or not. And was a one of kind deal that appears to have failed and gone nowhere and was not repeated.
And at the risk of using a “Universal,” as evidenced by the total lack of maker/factory documents, Government contracts and purchase orders, armory/arsenal or field issuance records, inventories, or unit arms and equipment inspections for any CW unit, time, or place. This was an unsuccessful trial (it did not exactly have its Colonel Haney’s blessing.
It does show that the idea of spare cylinders did occur to someone, but died on the vine.
I want to make the point of not taking an isolated, rare example and making it a universal whole for the CW. To date…..there is no maker/factory record, no Government contract or purchase record that lists spare cylinders among spare parts. No arsenal/armory records of having them or issuing them. And no unit inspection, inventory, or issuance record of them in the field. I suspect, that his unit may have been chosen as part of a trial to see whether the concept would work. And when it did not, it was dropped and never made universal. If one were depicting or portraying Averell or his unit at Fort Leavenworth at that time in 1857, it is a golden reference.
“Ten Years in the Saddle: The Memoir of William Woods Averell 1851-1862.” Stan Clark Military Books; First Edition (July 1, 1996)
Curt
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