Hello everyone. I'm writing a story set near the end of and the period immediately after the American civil war. I wanted to know what the average foot soldier would carry around with him in terms of weapons and equipment. I do have a knowledge of what the union and confederate cavalry carried with them, but I don't know what the infantry would carry beyond their rifles (well technically a more correct term would be 'long guns', because rifling had just started to be implemented) and from my knowledge the cavalry weren't representative of the average soldier in the civil war.
So what did a foot soldier in the civil war carry other than his rifle (or musket, depending on the circumstances)? Were they supplied with side-arms and if so then what kind? Swords? Single-shot pistols? Cap and ball revolvers? Did they carry anything else that would be important to know of?
Union or Confederate?
While there was some variation in arms, the "standard" arm of most soldiers in the war (most common by number) was the so-called "rifled musket." This was a muzzle loading rifle that fired the "minie ball" conical bullet in .58 caliber. The ammunition was in the form of paper cartridges that were torn open, the powder poured into the barrel, then the bullet, and the whole thing rammed down with the ramrod. A separate percussion cap was put on the nipple, the hammer cocked, and it was ready to fire. These were actually quite accurate but were most commonly used in volley fire as units fired in unison. This tech was firmly established before the start of the war and the use of unrifled muskets in .78 (or so) caliber was generally limited to less well equipped local militias and such. The Model 1861 Springfield was a common rifled-musket.
There were later developments in breechloaders, and even repeating rifles used, especially in the North, but the rifled-musket was the most common by the numbers.
In addition to the rifled-musket, the solider would have a cartridge box holding the cartridges, a belt for the box, typically worn over the shoulder, pants and jacket, a canteen, a bedroll, a haversack with any extra clothes, a cap, a mess can, plate, fork, knife, often a "bread bag" which was a smaller sack for food, maybe a Bible or other books, possibly a pen or pencil and some paper for letters. Dice, cards, maybe even a checkers set, etc. Any small things to make life easier.
Soldiers carried all sorts of personal stuff to make life easier. Some was issued, much was not. The U.S. soldiers were generally better equipped than the Confederates, especially later in the war.
The average infantry soldier would not carry a side arm. They weren't issued to the common soldier and those few who purchased or acquired one often discarded them to save weight on the march. Remember they marched a lot more than they fought. Don't be fooled by studio portraits of soldiers posing with pistols. Those were often studio provided props.
They might have a large knife (in addition the bayonet). Small pocket knives were common. Swords were issued or purchased by officers and some NCO's. Revolvers would be issued (or purchased) by officers and some NCO's, especially in units like artillery where rifles were too cumbersome.
Really, there are TONS of sites on the web with this kind of info. Everything from historical sites to excerpts of books to reenactor sites talking about what the typical soldier of that type of unit carried. 20 minutes with Google should turn up all sorts of info. You can narrow it more specifically by type of unit, time period, Union or Confederate and the background of your character. (Literate or not, income/class status, etc)