History Of Bayonet

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 )

During the Revolutionary War, the Artillery assets that were available were a combination of cannons, mortars and howitzers. There were two types of cannons used at this time. The Field Guns, which were lightweight and easier to move, and the Siege Guns, which were much heavier and less mobile. The cannons utilized

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

Few weapons were used only in the Union, as many were used by both or both tried their hand at them. One popular Union weapon was the Hale patent rocket launcher. The hale patent rocket launcher was a large metal tube

They made the Battle Axe by a knot in a root or branch with a convenient to make a good battle axe. also would put frog poison on the darts and put them in the blowgun. Stone weapons, tomahawks and battle hammers were made from rocks of the correct overall shape by sharpening one edge and grinding a binding groove around the stone using other, harder stones.

The Union forces also produced many long range artillery weapons. Unlike the Confederates, who used Howitzers; the Union Army used mortars. The short-squat mortar, as it was called, was originally used by the Ottoman's in 1453. The mortars operated by the Union were primarily used to hurl shells over walls or into large concentrations of enemy soldiers. In addition to lobbing bombs over walls, the mortars were also extremely effective in dismantling naval forces. The mortars could be shot from miles inland, therefore Confederate naval forces never saw the bombs coming. The mortar weighed 17,120 pounds and could fire a 220 pound bomb 4,325 yards. There were smaller versions of these mortars (the 300 lb Coehorn mortar with a 5.8 inch bore that hurled an 18 pound shell), but they saw very little activity on the battlefield.8

General John Burgoyne commanded 4,000 English regulars and 3,000 German Mercenaries. The British force possessed 52 cannon to ensure they could defeat American fortified positions. The American forces led by General Horatio Gates were comprised of 6,500 Continentals and 1,500 Militia. This number grew as time went on. By the end of the Campaign, the local Militia grew to 14,000 troops. The American forces rifleman utilized the Kentucky rifle that had a slower rate of fire then the commonly used smoothbore musket, however it was capable of very accurate, aimed shots at great range. (Furneaux, 1971)

The lower class also known as the foot soldiers had a variety of weapons that they were trained to use. Some of these weapons are known as the polearms, billhooks, halberd, quarterstaff, baton, battle axe, caltrop, spear, maces, poleaxe, and warhammer. Polearms which

     Whereas the Model 1861 and the Colt Army Model 1860 were the premier weapons used on the battlefront, bladed weapons were still in use with deadly force. The most widely used of these weapons was the sword, but only cavalry used this

Another result of technological progression was the matchlock, which would shoot with ignition of a lit match. "The introduction of firearms into the Elizabethan Weapons Arsenal saw the end of castle warfare and the building of the magnificent Medieval castles"(Alchin 1). With the invention of lethal, quick cannons came the decline of forts for defense as soldiers prepared for battle. Cannons were made of bronze and iron, in many different sizes, and they fired stone or iron, to be used on land or

All firearms larger than small arms are known as artillery or cannon. Although there were dozens of different types of cannon used during the Civil War, they all fell into one of two categories: smoothbore or rifled cannon. They were further designated by the weight of their projectile (12-pounder, 24-pounder, 32-pounder, etc.), the caliber or size of their bore diameter (3-inch, 8-inch, 10-inch), method of loading (breech or muzzle), and often their inventor or the factory in which they were made (i.e. Dahlgren, Napoleon, Rodman, Parrott, Whitworth). A further distinction involved the path of their trajectories: guns had a flat

     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 musket rifle was now made with grooves inside the barrel. These grooves allowed the bullet to spin more when the gun was fired. The spinning motion made the gun far more accurate. This technological advancement played a huge part in the colonist success during the war. As well as this, the new rifle are part of the reason there is such advanced weaponry in the army today.

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).

Each roman soldier was fitted with similar equipment, the primary weapon of each was their Gladius they also had a Pugio for their spare weapon. Depending on the era they would have had 6 plumbata’s clipped to the inside of their shield or Pilum on their back for throwing.