A Pistol For Dragoons

With the adoption of the U.S. Dragoons on March 5, 1833, the U.S. Army found itself woefully lacking in pistols for a mounted unit. Handguns at that time were close-range, single-shot affairs, and the U.S. Ordnance Department had a hodge-podge of old flintlock pistols on hand, going all the way back to the 1805 Harper’s Ferry models. After issuing an assortment of pistols—many either in poor condition or utterly unserviceable, military heads realized that new arms were sorely needed. [c