Jim Taylor
Reading about the border war in Missouri and Kansas
Wednesday, August 18, 2021, 12:11

it was not uncommon for "the boys" to carry up to to 8 revolvers.

"The real secret to their success in combat against a more numerous Union enemy, aside from their guerrilla tactics, lay in their superior weapon, the Colt's revolving pistol. The revolver was the primary weapon of Quantrill's men, and there is abundant evidence that they were deadly with this
frontier weapon. It became customary for the guerrilla's to carry from two to eight revolvers in their belts and on their saddles. These rapid firing five and six shot weapons, in addition to the customary Sharps carbine, gave them a tremendous volume of fire power....." (from The Grey Ghosts of the Confederacy by Richard S. Brownlee, page 104)

From the same book, an account of the "Centralia Massacre" -
"Nearing the
Singleton farm, the Union forces topped the gentle rise and saw ... a line of two hundred dismounted guerrillas standing silently to their horses....Major Johnson was a brave officer.... he calmly dismounted his company.....and formed a twenty-yard line of battle. The guerrillas were astounded. ....John Kroger...said..."the fools are going to fight us on foot." and then added, "God help'em." ....led by a screaming Bill Anderson they charged up the hill at the Union Infantry.

Johnson's men fired one volley with their single-shot Enfield muskets. That volley, downhill, was high, and only three of the partisans were hit....In the next minute the guerrillas, their terrible revolvers popping, had ridden into the terrified Union infantry, through it, and had scattered their horses. Frank James stated that some of the soldiers were desperately....attempting to reload. In a
few moments, most were dead...The guerrillas roared back into Centralia and rode over Theis's men....in a little more than an hour the Thirty-Ninth Missouri Infantry had lost 114 men and two officers killed, two men wounded and six men missing."