Here was a new enemy – the Moro Juramentado. Armed with a sword known as the Kris or a hacking knife called the Barong, they were a formidable enemy. They were unlike any other enemy the Americans had encountered. Having used a special herbal drug that made them impervious to pain and with their bodies bound up like a giant tourniquet so that they would not easily bleed out, they would charge and attack until they were dead. The Moro Juramentado never retreated or surrendered. The Americans, following the European trend toward smaller caliber weapons brought their .30 caliber Springfield rifles and their .38 caliber revolvers. They soon learned that the stopping power of the .38 was not sufficient to stop a Juramentado.
The army needed a more powerful weapon. The army decided against the European trend toward smaller caliber pistols and decided upon a larger caliber pistol with more stopping power for close encounters. Here is the story behind the Browning/Colt 45.
From the beginning of the American Civil War and into the 20th Century the United States Army supplied its troops with several different caliber and manufactures of revolvers. Most of the Army's revolvers were manufactured by the Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company. While it appears that Colt had a monopoly on revolvers, the Army would also purchase revolvers from other manufactures including Smith and Wesson.
At the beginning of the American Civil War many different rifles, muskets and pistols were used. Eventually the North settled on the Colt Army Model 1860, in .44 caliber for the Army and the Colt Navy Model 1861 in .36 caliber for the Navy. The South preferred the Colt 1851 Navy Revolver in .36 caliber.
