Different Types Of Cannons Used During The Civil War

Weapon number one is The Musket Rifle, the primary weapon for the Union and Confederate soldiers for fighting in battlefields fair in this deadly war. The rifle barrel now has a curved cylinder inside so the bullet will have more accuracy and better range. (www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/civilwar )

“At the time of our entry into World War I America was ill prepared for large scale warfare with large movements of whole Armies. The U.S. Army was not prepared with its Artillery and had no heavy artillery guns to speak of” (Hartwell, 2017). During World War I, the Coast Artillery Corps was subject to rapid changes and unit realignments. This signified the beginning of a seamless transition to what would eventually give birth to Air Defense Artillery. The French and British had provided the United States Army with its initial Artillery weapons resulting in no American Artillery brought to the front. Production quickly started on American versions of their foreign Artillery counterparts currently used in action. The American 8

Rifling was lining inside the barrel of the gun which made the bullet go much farther and faster. Rifling made the bullet not move in the barrel of the gun. With muskets, the soldier had to push the bullet into the barrel of the musket, taking a large amount of time because the musket and the ammunition was the just about the same size. While with the minie ball fit easily into the gun because the diameter of the bullet was smaller than the barrel. Some of these guns also had different technology. The Spencer Rifle had a very quick reload, and was very dangerous in war. There were also repeating rifles, these could shoot multiple bullets in a row. This was an upgrade of the Spencer Rifle and the musket because it was the first gun to be able to shoot more than one bullet in a row. Most of the repeating rifles that were used in the Civil War could shoot up to seven bullets, making it not just a skill of who could reload faster, but who had a better shot. The Union in the north had repeating rifles, while the Confederates in the south did not have them. This is because the North was much more industrialized than the South, so the North could make many more guns than the South. Ships were also used in the attack at some points, but sips were mostly used for transporting cargo and blockading the

In August of 1861, William F. Ketchum patented the Ketchum Hand Grenade. Shortly after, in the years of 1863 and 1864, the grenade was implemented in the American Civil War.

The civil war had many new technologies arise that made it unique compared to the wars of the past. One of these technological improvements was the introduction of the Ironclad warship. This technology was introduced during the showdown between the Monitor and the Merrimac . These two Ironclad warships fought to a stalemate , but this struggle forever changed how ships would be designed. Another technology that had not existed in previous wars in american history was the reconnaissance balloon it allowed the union to gather information and send it through telegraph to the various commanders. The civil war brought the first submarine, The CSS Hunley. The Hunley successfully sank the Union ship Housatonic, but unfortunately the Hunley itself was damaged. The submarine would eventually prove to be important for all armies in the wars to come.

Following the Civil War, a second industrial revolution in America brought many changes to the nation’s agriculture sector. The new technologies that were created transformed how farmers worked and the way in which the sector functioned. Agriculture expanded and became more industrial. Meanwhile government policies, or lack of them for a while, and hard economic conditions put difficult strains on farmers and their occupation. These changes in technology, economic conditions, and government policy from 1865 to 1900 transformed and improved agriculture while leaving farmers in hardship.

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 Union soldiers were more likely to carry the U.S. Model 1861 Springfield Rifle-Musket than any other weapon. These guns were not the easiest or most convenient weapons even if they were the most common. The Model 1861 was a .58 caliber gun, was 58.5 inches long, and weighed in at a heavy 9.25 pounds. This rifle was nicknamed "The Widow Maker." This nickname was made with great thanks to the minie` bullet which was an integral part of this rifle-musket. The combination of the rifle-musket and the minie` bullet forever changed the face of warfare; thus because for the first time ever, men could aim at a distant target, and have a decent chance of hitting it. This luxury allowed the gun-bearers to hide in a safe place, yet still be able to knock down their target. Colonel George Hanger, an American Revolution officer, wrote in 1814:

One of the biggest needs for soldiers during the ruthless Civil War was weaponry. Both Union and Confederate soldiers needed large amounts of firearms, knives, and swords. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad transported both the materials to create these weapons (copper, steel, etc.) and the finished weapons themselves. Weapons were also considered when it came to guerilla warfare. Armed civilians or uncertified men who wanted to exchange blows in war would scour the earth for anything that brought pain. They used military style tactics

During the battle of Chelsea Creek, muskets, were the most common weapons used during the war muzzle-loading flintlock. They also used, cannons, swords, bayonet, & pistols. Brown Bess, Bayonet, long rifles, and Charleville muskets, were weapons commonly used by American colonists. Ferguson rifle, Pattern 1776 infantry rifle, & Brown Bess Musket, were weapons used by the British colonists.

The Union blockaded the Confederacy soon after the war began in order to make it harder for them to trade. Many different “small-arms” or rifles and pistols were used during the war by both sides. The Union favored the Springfield rifle throughout the war and mass produced it because of its ability to be accurate and its range. In response the Confederacy manufactured the Fayetteville rifle based on the Springfield rifle. Since the Confederacy only produced about three percent of all weapons early on it nearly impossible for them to compete with the Union.

     Riffles were another major contribution to the war, as far as weapons were concerned. The union forces had One of the most popular riffles was the Model 1861 Springfield Musket. The Springfield Musket weighed 9.25 pounds, had a twenty-one inch socket bayonet, and fired a .58 caliber mine ball traveling 950 feet per second. Riffled Muskets, which were also known as Enfields, were the second most popular riffles in the war. These Enfields, had a bore diameter of .557 inches, and weighed nine pounds three ounces. They were accurate at 800 yards, and could travel up to 1,100 yards without any difficulty. During the course of the war, 400,000 Enfields were sold to the Union troops, whereas a mere 20,000 were purchased by the confederate army. Although this weapons wasn’t as popular as the Springfield, the Enfield still packed a powerful punch at 1,100 yards (Ripley 43).

The American Civil War was a war over the secession of the Confederacy. The Confederate States of America were formed after 11 slave states declared their secession due to the election of an Anti-Slavery republican as president. The remaining 25 states formed the Union. Weapons such as the Gatling Gun, repeating rifle, which gave soldier the ability to fire multiple rounds without reloading, railroads and telegraphs, which played large factors in means of transportation of information as well as supplies, and the “minie ball”, a new type of ammunition, which caused immense and mortal wounds on the battlefield, were being developed, all aided the Union in

The Gatling gun was my first thought for this week’s post as I have a special interest in it. The issue I had was I saw little impact on the Civil War. I have saw in a few articles that 12 of them were bought by General Benjamin F. Butler and two were used at Petersburg in 1864 against the Confederate attacks. From what I can find they work quite well, but saw very little use in battle and normal performed poorly. While they seem to have had little impact on the civil War they do show the way industry was changing the way wars are fought.

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).