Essay On Civil War Weapons

Rifles For Watie:

Weapons of the Civil War

Many weapons were used during the Civil War. Some definitely saw more use than others, and some may have been forgotten. The most popular weapon used in the Civil War was most likely the Spencer Repeating Rifle. The Spencer Repeating Rifle replaced the much less effective musket. A less popular weapon, for example, were landmines, and were deemed as barbarous and banned for use.

The less popular, maybe even “unusual” weapons, vary greatly in use and efficiency. On the not-so efficient side, lay the hand grenades. You might think that grenades were too advanced in technology for the Civil War, but Civil War soldiers were actually known for making jury-rigged explosives by using an assortment

of fuses and gunpowder. The Ketchum grenade was the most popular model, used by mainly the Union, although they were easily countered by being caught with a blanket and thrown back. Also on the unethical side were the mines. The landmines were mainly used by the Confederacy, but were denounced as barbarous and were met with a brief ban. Underwater mines, however, were used by both the Union and the Confederacy and were used to mine harbours and rivers of the opposing side. Rocket launchers made few appearances in the Civil War battlefield. The Hale patent rocket launcher launched 10-inch long spin stabilized rockets up to 2,000 yards. Although too inaccurate to use on the battlefield, rocket launchers were used mainly in the U.S. navy. Machine guns were devastating on the Civil War battlefield. The Gatling gun is a six-barreled piece that could fire 350 rounds per minute. Although the U.S. never order the Gatling gun in bulk, Union General Benjamin Butler purchased several of these guns secretly. Even though they aren’t weapons, the Calcium floodlights were used to blind their enemies and illuminate the target for the artillery. Also not a weapon were the Hot Air Balloons which allowed the generals to get an overhead view of the battlefield.
Christopher Miner Spence was an inventor of many things. A textile spool labeling machine, an automatic lathe turret, and an early pump shotgun. But none of these inventions had a greater impact on our U.S. history than the Spencer Repeating Rifle. Spencer Repeating Rifles really established Christopher Spence’s name as an inventor. With a lever action repeater and a rotating block that fed rimfire cartridges into the tubular magazine. The Spencer Repeating Rifle was produced in around 1860-1869 and was manufactured by three different manufacturers. Also know as “The Seven Shot Wonder”, the rifle was able to shoot seven times before having to be reloaded. The rifle was able to shoot up to around 1,000 yards, and was proven to be much more of an efficient weapon than the muskets. The manufacturing of the Spencer Repeating Rifle changed the way the Civil War was fought. Now, troops far away from the field had to be wary as well due to the excellent range of the rifle. Troops even dug elaborate trenches and built more fortifications to protect themselves from any stray minie bullets.
The musket was thought to be the best of the best at it’s time.

That was until the rifles came along. Rifles are much more accurate, and have quadruple the efficient range of a musket (muskets could shoot up to 250 yards while rifles could shoot up to a whopping 1,000 yards). Muskets could hold one musket-ball and would take sometimes four minutes to reload, if you were good. Although they could shoot up to 250 yards, muskets were really only accurate up to 80 yards. Due to the small range of muskets, armies had always fought relatively close to each other. Musket balls were roughly the same diameter as the barrel, which wasn’t good. Sometimes the ball would get stuck in the barrel, and often times soldiers had to use a mallet to pound the bullet down. That was, until Claude Minie invented the cone shaped lead bullet. The minie bullet. The minie bullet was smaller in diameter and therefore could slide down the barrel without the assistance of a mallet. The minie bullet was also much more accurate. Due to the shape of the bullet, the tip of it would slice through the air instead of pushing through like the musket balls used to. Since the minie bullets were much more efficient of an ammunition, infantries had to change the way they fought or else they would all be destined for death each

battle.
The Civil War was a dreadful time of war, with the most amount of casualties of any war America has been involved in. The reason for these casualties were the great weapons. The Spencer Repeating Rifle was the best at it’s time, and quickly replaced the musket. But what replaced the rifle? Even deadlier weapons.