Slavery: The Role Of Weapons In The Civil War

From the birth of the United States, the country was always divided into two regions, North and South. The North benefited from industry, machines, factories, and even a bit of farming in the Midwest, while the South benefited from one thing. Slaves. Slaves were first brought from Africa as indentured servants, but once the demand of labor increased, they were changed into slaves, meaning they would never earn their freedom. The debate of slavery had always been a topic in politics, however it began growing with the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Soon in 1860, the country was divided into two seperate countries, the United States of America (North) and the Confederate States of America (South). However, the question still remains, what exactly caused the Civil War?

In 1861, a Civil War broke out in the United States when the South declared their independence from the Union. There is a great amount of reasons that people can argue how the Civil War was started. However, what most people don’t understand, is that most of the events leading up to the Civil War were related to slavery. Slavery was the core of the North and South’s conflict, which led to a very vicious feud.

The howitzer was originally designed with a short barrel and large caliber resulting in the charge to be smaller so as not to add too much stress to the round inside. This meant that the howitzer was primarily a short range weapon system. The estimated ranges of the artillery pieces are as follows, the cannon fired with a maximum range of 2,000 yards and an effective range of 1,000 yards. The mortar fired at a maximum range of 1,400 yards with an effective range of 750 yards and the howitzer fired at a maximum range of 1,300 yards and an effective range of 750 yards.

One of the main causes of the Civil War was the argument over slavery. Though slavery was not the only reason why the civil war happened it is still considered as one of the main reason that led to the fighting between the North and South. Slavery was an important thing not only because of the cruel or religious reasons, but just from the fact that it’s

One of the biggest reason that caused the civil war, was due to slavery. The Northern side and the Southern side were divided because of slavery. The South had the most slaves, and wanted to maintain them because they depended on them. In document two from Civil War DBQ, it shows the percentage of slavery between the North and South. In the document it says that the South had eighty eight percent of slaves. The reason why the South wanted to keep their slaves was that they were useful and beneficial for their economy. Without having slaves their economy would go down.

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

If asking an average person on what started the Civil War, one would probably answer with slavery. However, there were several other reasons for why the Civil War took place. The South wanted to succeed mainly for the same reason the Colonies succeeded from British Powers. The South wanted their independence. The South wanted to escape the tariffs that were being placed on them by Andrew Jackson, just as the British were putting tariffs on the colonies. The tariffs created a very hostile atmosphere that was pushing the states’ decisions to secede from the Union. These tariffs would reduce the amount of money the South could take in, because foreign countries could not afford to buy much cotton because lack of their exported income from the tariffs. Vice President, John Calhoun proposed that the states have the right to nullify a federal law that not only can protect the welfare of the states but it also violated the Constitution. Once Calhoun proposed this nullification, to the South it became clear that the North could wield power that could damage the South’s economy. The South believed that they were fighting against a tyrannical government that the North were subjugating and enslaving them. The South really disliked the high taxes, which isn’t it one of the main reasons that our previous generations fought against in the Revolutionary

A few years of development and a patent later, the minie` ball was ready for combat. In the 1850's, James H. Burton, a master of arms, made a few alterations such as slightly lengthening the bullet and thinning the walls of the hollow base. These alterations made the minie` ball much easier and cheaper to mass-produce; this is what was used by the blue and gray's out on the battlefields.

The “cap and ball” had two barrels, which held nine .40 caliber rounds on the upper barrel, and a .63 caliber on the lower barrel, and came with the option of either an eighteen or twenty gauge shot barrel. One model was even fitted with a full length barrel (Pikes 27-30). This greatly aided the northern victory due to the enormous power it possessed over the confederate’s figure eight’s.

Before they use rifle the soldiers were using old smooth-bore muskets. The problem with muskets was that they were rely hard to shoot with because the bullets were round ball that didn't shoot straight and had a short range. On the other hand the rifle had new types of bullets that looks pretty much like nowadays bullets. In addition to new bullets the rifle also had a new barrel that had grove in it to grip the ammunition and shoot at longer distance. during the civil war many other weapons like land mines and naval mines or even the gatling gun (the first machine gun) were created, but they weren't rely used during the civil war.

The civil war was mainly sparked by tensions between the north and the south. Both sides rarely agreed on topics and could never make a compromise. Slavery was a big reason for the start of the civil war, but the causes don’t end there. Although some may say that political or economic reasons started the civil war between the north and the south, political reasons were the real cause. This is because of important decisions made by the government, and the south seceding.

To start with, The Civil War lasted from 1861 until 1865 and became the deadliest war in United States’s history. This war was one composed of an enormous amount of battles fought all over the United States. The majority of the battles were fought in the Confederate States in the South. The most famous battles of the Civil War were the battles of Antietam, Vicksburg, Bull Run and Gettysburg. All the battles of the Civil war caused roughly 620,000 soldiers to die and 644,000 soldiers have died in all other conflicts of the nation. Therefore, the Civil War is by far the deadliest war in U.S. history.

The M-203 grenade launcher was a muzzle-loaded grenade that fit under the barrel of assault rifles such as the M-16. The 40mm grenade was used to provide additional fire support in a gunfight. The high explosive had a range of 400m and a blast radius of 5m.

The ball was then fired out of the cannon to get a rough estimate on the distance that it would travel.

The history of cannonballs is truly fascinating. A cannon ball is a missile, usually round and made of iron or steel, designed to be fired from a cannon. During the 19th century, cannons were larger, more destructive, more accurate, and could fire at a longer range especially in the western areas. The mass of a cannon ball depends on the material it was made of and the size of the ball. The mass of the cannonball can range from 1 kilogram to 300 kilograms depending on the era it was in and what it was used for.