Scattered few and far between among the bound unit records of some Union volunteer cavalry and artillery units (RG 94, entries 113 and 114) in the records of the Adjutant General's Office ( not the Ordnance Office) are occasional lists by serial number of pistols and carbines. However, the intensity of desire, coupled with the willingness to spend countless hours personally searching, can accomplish the seemingly impossible. It is not possible for the Archives to locate a record by serial number for any weapon of any type.
No series listing serial numbers of Civil War - era weapons were among the records of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance when those records were transferred to the National Archives. That is not true- at least, not entirely true. Those familiar with twentieth-century records often assume that official records of some kind will enable the possessor of a particular Colt percussion Army Model 1860 revolver (for example) to learn the name and unit of the person who received serial number 120055. The information most sought after in ordnance records is data on the issuance of arms by serial number.
4 | 'War in an Age of Wonders' By Michael P. Firearms Genealogy The Impossible Takes Longer
