Designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860, the original Henry was a sixteen-shot .44 caliber rimfire breech-loading lever-action rifle. It was introduced in the early 1860s and produced through 1866 in the United States by the New Haven Arms Company. The Henry was adopted in small quantities by the Union in the Civil War, favored for its greater firepower than the standard-issue carbine. Many later found their way West, notably in the hands of a few of the Sioux and Cheyenne in their obliteration of Custer's U.S. Cavalry troops in June 1876.