Because of their feeling of being an elite force, it appears that cavalrymen tried to obtain yellow material for their facings even though it was uncommon for many other branches of service to wear facing colors.
Throughout the war the Confederate cavalry demostrated a dislike for close quarter fighting. Sabres were often discarded as useless and cumbersome. The favored weapons were the pistol, usually worn butt forward on the right hip, and the carbine. Southern carbines were invariably of the single-shot variety since the government was unable to manufacture or supply the special ammunition for the repeaters possessed by Federal forces. By the closing months of the war the grey cavalry was no match for their Northern advisary -- the tables had been completely turned. |
