Civil War Weaponry

Light machine guns and sub-machine guns were invented during World War I as small arms, but the larger machine guns were modernized as well. Flame throwers were used as an offensive attack against trench warfare.[ix],[x]

The Union army, unlike the Confederates, had multiple companies that provided simple, yet devastating weapons. One of these weapons was the .52 caliber breech-loading Billinghurst-Requa battery; it was produced only 50 times. This weapon consisted of 25 rifled barrels side by side that, when primed, were set off by a lanyard to inflict massive damage over a small range of territory.7

The small arms that the army did have were often defective and gunpowder was scarce. The standard musket used by the militia was inefficient in terms of fighting on the larger scale battle fields. Not only were the bullets completely inaccurate at 300 yards but they were also no longer lethal at that distance. Additionally, the rifles the militia used were their own and not available to the Continental Army as a whole. Therefore, the Continental Army began using the “Brown Bess”, the musket with bayonet attachment that the British Army used. They became available as the Patriots would capture British troops and were also shipped in from European manufacturers. Although it was highly inaccurate and was very time consuming in terms of reloading, considering it was used in mass in the linear formation of the ranks and file of the standing armies, it was highly effective in terms of the volleying of the rounds. At fifty yards, the “Brown Bess” would have an eighteen inch variance. However, in linear formations, this variance could be overcome and injury could still be imposed as soldiers were closely filed together. The musket weighed approximately 13 pounds and released a large amount of smoke after it was fired. Therefore, the linear tactics had to be employed to allow for repeated volleys, firing rank by rank, and thus unleashing more damage at approximately nine rounds per volley. Furthermore, the “Brown Bess” had the capability of attaching bayonets, which were also necessary on the battlefield. The bayonet was inserted down the barrel of the musket, which was imperative for close quarter hand to hand combat when time did not allow to reload the musket and the enemy was too close. Linear tactics also allowed Washington’s use of artillery, although it was limited. Washington utilized light, mobile cannons and field artillery to push back the

It weighed 1 oz. and had a ½ inch circumference. It was designed to be shot out of a .58 and .69 caliber bullet. It has a coned head with 3 ridges in the middle of the bullet leading to a flat back at the end. The minie ball caused about 100,000 deaths during the Civil War. It was first used by General George B. McClellan. The North produced 2 billion of them for the Civil War. Because of the minie ball’s deadly accuracy and power, the American death rate skyrocketed in the 1800s. When the minie ball was created it caused the Civil War to be considered the first “modern war”. This was mainly because the war was fought with old strategies and new weapons. When the minie ball hit a soldier it would shatter or splinter their

The U.S. civil war was the most bloody conflict that the U.S. had ever been involved in. It brought over 1,100,000 casualties from both sides, with over ninety percent of these casualties resulting from small- arms fire (Howey “Weaponry, the Rifle-Musket and the Minié ball”). The Minié Ball has been widely attributed to a majority of these cases. The Ball was a bullet developed by Claude-Étienne Minié and Henri-Gustave Delvigne in 1849 after the two French officers decided to improve on a currently existing design (HistoryNet “Minié Ball”). The pair also designed a rifle, a gun containing a barrel with grooves running in a corkscrew fashion along the length of the barrel. These grooves caught the bullet as it traveled down the barrel and spun it, greatly increasing the velocity and accuracy of the bullet as it left the barrel. Compared to the earlier musket balls, which bounced around in the barrel and exited at an unpredictable angle, it was much more accurate. When the bullet arrived in the United States, James Burton at the arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, simplified the bullet into the .58 calibre widely used in the Civil War (Leonard “The Bullet That Changed History”). The ball, made of soft lead, featured a conical shape and a hollow center. This allowed it to expand to fit the barrel when shot out of the gun and easily engage the rifling, making it more aerodynamic and capable of flying at

During the time of the Civil war, Pistols, and other basic handheld, guns were very popular, for a soldier to have. It was known for its capability of hitting a target from a short distance. Before people started changing the way weapons were, a small handheld pistol gun, that held one bullet, was considered, “the best” before, innovations, were performed. infantry soldiers would use muskets with one bullet at a time, shooting as far as 250 yards. However, if exact persistent location for the bullet to hit is needed, 80 yards would be the furthest distance to shoot from. If a soldier had a pistol as his main weapon, commanders, and generals, taught them different war tactics on getting closer, to your target to be within the 80 yards, with a pistol.

The cannons were of tougher construction and had precise accuracy at a greater range. One cannon was able to kill ten men simultaneously, and cannon shells exploded on impact. Confederates only had muskets, making it difficult to fight back, due to short-range capability of muskets. The Army of Northern Virginia eventually moved to a half waypoint of Union lines, close enough for Union to fire smooth Napoleonic style cannon. This artillery was most popular during Civil War, capable of firing four types of ammunition. (Scott & Scott,

Norton's original version was just a cylindrical bullet with a hollow base on one end.(historynet.com) After the original invention of Norton there were various other type of minie balls that were created to improve on the previous versions. The first improvement came from a man named William Greener a man from London who in 1836 created a more oval shaped bullet with a flat bottom.(Historynet.com) In 1849 two French army captains, Claude-E'Tienne Minie and Henri-Gustave Delvigne, created the more well know shape of the minie ball made from soft led with four rings that would work with the rifled that had a riffled barrel that they made.(Historynet.com) The name for the Minie ball comes from one of the creators of the official minie ball Claude-E'tienne Minie. Lastly before its use in the civil war James Burton adapted it with a hollow base for easier use in mass production and less cost. The impact the previous versions of the minie ball had on wars prior to the Civil shows how much influence the design has. It went through many steps to become its final product during the civil war, the design was improved so much that it become one of the reasons so many people ended up being killed instead of being just injured. The design let the rifle be loaded much faster, shoot farther, and be more deadly.

They were not as structured or dependable as the Union’s balloons, but they were still very successful in battle. The Confederate balloons were used in Richmond during the Seven Days Campaign. 3

During the American Civil War (1861), Richard J. Gatling invented a firearm weapon that aided with loading, reliability, and the firing of sustained bursts. Born and raised in Hertford County, North Carolina Gatling grew up to be a physician and became involved in many organizations such as the Order of American Knights. The Gatling gun is a machine gun composed of multiple barrels that rotates around a central axis that has the ability of firing at a rapid speed. Before his invention, he followed the path of an inventor and soon after he devoted himself to the perfection of firearms. After his invention of the machine gun he then founded the Gatling Gun Company.

Many weapons helped the Union win the Civil War, but a very important group of weapons was called the bladed weapons. The Union came up with the idea of bladed weaponry, however the Confederate thought that was a useful idea to have bladed weapons, so this is why most of the confederate bladed weaponry looks like the Unions bladed weaponry. There were many bladed weapons of the Civil war such as Model 1832 foot artillery sword, Model dragoon saber model, 1840 light artillery saber,1840 non commissioned officer sword,Model 1840 cavalry saber, 1860 light cavalry saber,M1860 cutlass,and the Bayonet.

Gatlings invention of the Gatling Gun originally came from the very same basic idea of the wheat drill that he invented back in l839 when trying to help his father’s farm, which struggled back then, to be more efficient with its time, and money.(Moss). Another invention, however not his own, that lead to the design and concept of the Gatling Gun was the Revolver, a pistol with a spinning barrel that held the bullets. Gatling, wanting to make money took the opportunity and went for it. It wasn’t until after inventing the mechanized seed planting rig that he invented the Gatling Gun (Cavendish). At first things kicked off slow and did not become successful, but as the war grew and people were looking for more innovative ways to fight, the Gatling gun caught a lot of people's attention. With some improvements the gun was soon very popular and in mass production on

When the American Civil War of 1861-1865 began, the Union Army classified its artillery into three types, depending on the gun's weight and intended use. Field artillery were light pieces that often traveled with the armies. Siege and garrison artillery were heavy pieces that could be used either in attacking or defending fortified places. Seacoast artillery were the heaviest pieces and were intended to be used in permanent fortifications along the seaboard. Regardless of type, however, continuous changes of war caused artillery types to be interchanged often, and it was also common to view a Confederate battery of all different pieces. Because of the size and weight of the guns, many categorized or classified artillery as either heavy

When the American Civil War exploded. Gatling started to focus on creating a fire gun. He knew this would change the style of attacking the enemy and reduce the number of dead soldiers

In total, there were over 370 Union Army artillery units at Gettysburg during the battle on November 19th, 1863 (Newton, 2005). This gave the Union Army a stout advantage over the Confederate Army, who only had about 280 artillery unit’s available (Newton, 2005). Of the different pieces used, the 12 pound smooth bore Napoleon was the most common. With a range of 1,300 yards, this artillery piece was used for direct fire on enemy troops and advancing artillery (Newton, 2005). In most cases, the Napoleon used a canister shot, which consisted of one round and one charge (Newton, 2005).When massing artillery fires on enemy artillery, it was common for artillery sections to use a double canister, a canister with two rounds and one charge (Newton, 2005). This was done to increase the chance of critical damage to enemy pieces. Often times when engaging enemy artillery directly, Union artillery would focus the battery on one enemy piece at a time, using the double canister (Newton, 2005).