Technological Innovations During the Civil War

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

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:

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

Long-Range Weapons and the minie Bullet helped increase the defense of the Union allowing them to kill from a further distance. The accuracy was also increased by the new weapons. As one historian quoted about the mine bullet“When used in the rifled musket it spun faster, traveled further and was five times more accurate than any single-man weapon.” This was a huge increase from recent guns that could only reach up to 300 feet. 90% of the injuries made in this war was made by the mine

     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).

In the early 1900s there was not very much technology behind weaponry and transportation to help the soldiers fight. A typical soldier would have been issued a standard rifle called the Krag Jorgensen M1896 Carbine.

When the constitution was written the most advanced gun only shot one bolt at a time, and took 30 seconds to reload (Murphy). Now in the 21th century guns have “high-capacity magazines were used in at least 50% of the 62 mass shootings between 1982 and 2012. When high-capacity magazines were used in mass shootings, the death rate rose 63% and the injury rate rose 156%. David H. Chipman...stated that a high-capacity magazine ‘turns a killer into a killing machine.’ Some gang members use high-capacity magazines, such as 30 rounds or even 90 rounds, to compensate for lack of accuracy and maximize the chance to harm” (“Background of the Issue - Gun

The Civil War was the United States versus United States. It was the one of the best times when it came to weapon advanstments. Most of the weapons used took about thrity seconds, at the fastest, to reload a Springfield Model 1861. Having a fast reload time was very important. Being caught without ammo was not a good thing. Most men had bayonets on their rifles to stab the oncoming attackers. Even with a bayonet you were running a real risk getting so close to the enemy. With factors inclueding reload spead, typical range and weight. Including all of those factors the Colt 1855 revolving rifle is the best rifle during the civil

With two determined armies in the midst of a civil war, the development of weaponry is extremely important. This importance can be seen in the American Civil War. Before the American Civil War, muskets dominated the battlefield. These weapons were inaccurate and had a low firing rate. Unusual weapons were sometimes used, but were still uncommon. Other weapons showed great usefulness, and eventually began to replace older weapons. Among these were the Minié (Minie) ball and the Spencer repeating rifle.

At the beginning of the Civil War, the Regular Army Soldiers were generally armed with primarily the 1842 Springfield, a .69 caliber smoothbore musket, and with whatever weaponry that was purchased by state authorities. This included other various types and calibers of domestic and foreign smoothbore guns and the longer rifled muskets. In 1861, a shortage of rifles on both sides forced the Northern and Southern governments purchase weapons from European nations. Also widely used was artillery including cannons. Some of the new weapon technologies used in the civil war include rifled gun barrels, the Minie ball and repeating rifles. (Parker 2005-20016)

The repeating rifle was a new type of weapon had a greater range and was more accurate than the muskett. Tese were unable to be used in war until the 1850s because the bullet and the barle were so close in size. In 1848, the Minié bullet was invented. They could be loaded faster and they were more accurate. Because stopping to reload was dangerous, in 1863 Repeating rifles were invented. The most famous, the Spencer carbine, could fire seven shots in 30 seconds. Hydrogen passenger balloons were used to spy on confederate camps by the union. Ironclads were also used by the union to patrol the coast and keep ships from going in or out. The Confederates counteracted this by inventing their own weapon, the submarine. The first one, The USS Hunley sank the Housatonic in 1864.

Not only are gunpowder powered infantry weapons more deadly than medieval infantry weapons, but gunpowder powered artillery is more lethal than

For Centuries before Gun Powder was developed War was fought Hand to Hand. Where you know full-heartedly that you were going to take the life of another human being. In the book Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789, Blaise de Montluc, a French noblemen that was taken prisoner in the Battle of Pavia in 1525 said, “and that so many brave and valiant men had never died by the hands of those…who would not dare to look in the face of those which they had laid dead with their wretched bullets”.

Unfortunately, the South had a large disadvantage in this area. The Confederacy was dependent on stolen weapons to fight in the war (Morgan). Although the South advanced in agriculture, this did not assist them in producing a high quality and quantity of weaponry and artillery.

Weapons have been used dating back further than the that of the Civil War. Our weaponry has