The standard cavalry arm was the saber, augmented by a pistol or two. That meant fighting close up, usually mounted. Carbines had a short range, so if a mounted unit was armed with a long rifle, that meant it had the capability to fight dismounted as infantry. Forrest's men often carried Enfield's, but they also liked shorter versions, even sawing the barrels themselves. Earlier in the war, many CS cavalry units were armed with shotguns. Not sure if they kept them as better arms became available.
THESE are the progenitors of American cavalry weapons: The standard French so-called "musketoons" of the Napoleonic Wars. ( Not the top one - I have yet to figure out exactly what it is, though I've owned it longest. ) I included this to show the 1898 print of French dragoons, who are armed with dragoon-pattern sabres ( like the officer's model at left ) pistols in saddle holsters, an the distinctive
dragon fusil like the one second from the top; notice how it's slung on the saddle of the trooper at center waving the captured Prussian flag.
Below are better pictures of the cavalry weapons photographed outside in better light; top is the dragoon musket. The shorter shoulder arms are NOT carbines in the strict sense of the term. The French wisely standardized ALL military arms at .69 for ease of ammunition supply, a practice also adopted by the U.S. when all were smoothbores like these. These 2 were carried in exactly the same manner as our Civil War carbines, suspended from a wide leather over-the-shoulder sling by a
carbine hook. The strange-looking one at bottom is NOT cut down! It's made that way to make it as LIGHT as possible and was used to arm the so-called
light cavalry whose function was scouting and skirmishing. The middle arm was the most common and used to arm a wide variety of troop types. Both are short-range and difficult to load while on horseback.
The top below dragoon musket is slightly shorter than the conventional infantry musket and points up the intended difference between
cavalry and
dragoons: Cavalry weapons ( sabres, lances, pistols, and musketoons ) were impractical for fighting enemy infantry while dismounted. Man, horse, and weapon were considered as one! Dragoons on the other hand were like what we're calling
mounted infantry here; their weapons gave them parity with infantry when fighting dismounted. American Civil War dragoons or cavalry were NOT really intended for fighting this way originally; they were thought of as scouts or glorified couriers, and that's how commanders like McClellan used them. Stuart and Morgan were forward-thinking because of their raiding which was eventually widely copied. Buford's use of his cavalry at Gettysburg comes closest ( despite his armament ) to the French concept of dragoons as mobile infantry.
Below, the primary weapon of French light cavalry; the heavy sabre at top is an enlisted man's, at bottom is the lighter and more ornate officer's model with its blued-and-gilded steel blade: