It was, however, clear that Custer's assessment of the Spencer as "the most effective firearm our cavalry can adopt," was correct. Over the winter of 1863-1864, Spencers began to flow into the field on a regular basis and were issued to a number of units, primarily cavalry outfits. Several infantry regiments were issued Spencer rifles as well. One was the 46th Ohio Veteran Volunteers. In a recent monograph on the Spencer, Mr. John C. McQueen has reprinted in its entirety his original copy of a Spencer manual written by the 46th's Colonel Charles C. Walcutt. Mr. McQueen's book, a must for the Spencer scholar and shooter, is available from the author. (1900 Amherst Rd. NE, Massillon, OH 44646-4010; $15 postpaid)

Colonel Walcutt's work details a new manual of arms for the Spencer, but offers no tactical suggestions. If followed to the letter, Walcutt's drill, in which soldiers return to the "ready" before levering another round into the chamber, negates to a degree the Spencer's prime virtue, rapid fire. Considering the situation the 37th Massachusetts found itself in at Winchester, however, the fears of officers that men armed with repeaters might blaze away all their ammunition to little effect doesn't seem so far off the mark. One Confederate commander recalled that his men didn't mind fighting Spencer armed Yankees for precisely that reason.

Some commanders may have exercised considerable fire discipline, however. The number of relatively heavy Spencer rounds a man could carry (especially an infantryman) was necessarily limited. In Major General James Wilson's massive cavalry raid in the final weeks of the war, troopers were issued 100 rounds each with another 85 per man in reserve. Considering that a Spencer can (conservatively) be emptied in under ten seconds and reloaded in well under a minute, Wilson's horsemen could have, in theory, expended their whole ammunition supply in half an hour. Yet this supply was considered enough for a whole campaign, and proved sufficient through several battles.

Traces of specific Spencer tactics can be found in Wilson's raid, as well as at the Battle of Nashville in December, 1864. Had the war lasted another year, a tactical doctrine might well have evolved. Doctrine or no, the growing number of Spencers in the hands of Federal troops would probably have played a decisive role in the Union victory.

The realities and possibilities of the Spencer were soon forgotten, however, and the Spencer's eventual replacement in the service by a single shot weapon indicates that evidence of its effectiveness and potential failed to penetrate the military mind of the day. General Custer must have rued the day his "most effective firearm" was dropped from the army inventory, however, the fears of officers that men armed with repeaters might blaze away all their ammunition to little effect doesn't seem so far off the mark. One Confederate commander recalled that his men didn't mind fighting Spencer armed Yankees for precisely that reason.

Massachusetts infantry regiments began receiving their state purchased Spencer rifles in the summer of 1864. The sharpshooter company of the 57th Massachusetts received their guns, promised them at their January enlistment, in July. The men of the 37th Massachusetts regiment were issued Spencer rifles on their way to the Shenandoah Valley the same month. Other units received Spencers during the Valley campaign, including the sharpshooter detachment of the 1st New Jersey Brigade. Some soldiers issued Spencers to themselves. When Adjutant Edmund Halsey of the 15th New Jersey took an inventory of his unit's weapons on August 19, 1864, he found one of his infantrymen armed with a Spencer carbine.

Elisha Hunt Rhodes of the 2nd Rhode Island, a featured character in the recent PBS series on the Civil War, was a Spencer fan. On July 18, 1864, Rhodes borrowed forty Spencers from the 37th Massachusetts to surprise some Rebel pickets who were picking off his men. On September 19, at the battle of Winchester, the men of Rhodes's regiment filled their pockets with .56-.56 rounds and ran to the support of the 37th, which had shot away all its ammunition and was lying helpless under fire. Resupplied, the Bay State men rejoined the attack, which was ultimately successful. Rhodes, a gun buff who was president of the Officer's Rifle Association of Rhode Island in the 1890s, was impressed enough with the Spencer to carry one as his personal weapon in the closing months of the war.

According to Earl J. Coates and Dean S. Thomas in An Introduction to Civil War Small Arms,(Thomas Publications, 1990) 36 Infantry and 15 Cavalry outfits in the Union army were armed in whole or in part with Spencers during the "1863-1864 time period." By 1865 many more regiments, primarily cavalry, were equipped with the repeaters. Spencers were effective weapons and, perhaps as important, were great morale boosters. They were not, however, war winners or even battle winners. Spencers in the hands of the 7th Connecticut repulsed a Rebel assault at Olustee, Florida in February of 1864, but did not save the battle for the Union.

By 1864, some Confederates, including the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry, the 8th Texas and General Joseph Wheeler's escort guard were carrying "galvanized" Spencers. Nathan Bedford Forest was one of several cavalry raiders whose men captured a number of Spencers which were, no doubt, used with with great effect on their former owners as long as captured ammunition held out.

Although some authors have contended that repeating rifles caused a revolution in tactics, there is no solid evidence to buttress the allegation. Civil War "tactics" manuals were largely drill manuals whose combat application revolved around getting men massed to deliver maximum amount of fire for Muzzle loaders.

The repeater was a definitive asset in the defense, and a welcome addition to the lonely skirmisher. If vollies were used, then volumes of fire were never lived up to! A soldier's basic load of ammo for repeaters would have been expended in a matter of minutes; they surely used a rate of fire much slower than we have been to believe.

The impressive results of Wilson's Cavalry in the final months of the war on the Elma Raid probaly had as much to do with the fact that the COnfederacy was, by that time, a hollow shell than that the federal troops were armed with Spencers.

This is not to say that the Spencer (and Henry as well) could not have made a significantt difference if a tactical doctrine had evolved. There was more than a gem of truth in the assertions made that breechloaders and then repeating rifles (and in the years to follow, semi and selective fire shoulder arms) would encouracge soldiers to waste ammo or at elast fire off their basic load of cartridges. Witness the 37th Massachusettsts at Winchester.

Tactical situation on parts of battlefields no dount aletered expressly in short time period, by a blizzard of bullets from repeaters, If a regiment quickly shot away its ammo supply or if, as happened, soldiers discarded weight of ammo on the march and got caught short their repeaters were as good as sticks against men armed with a rifle musket. Although ad hoc local tactics were developed for Spencer armed soldiers, they depended on the creativity of small unit leaders, and were never committed to doctrine.