During the American Civil War, an assortment of small arms found their way onto the battlefield. Though the muzzleloader percussion cap rifled musket was the most numerous weapon, being standard issue for the Union and Confederate armies, many other firearms, ranging from the single-shot breech-loading Sharps and Burnside rifles to the Spencer and the Henry rifles - two of the world's first repeating rifles - were issued by the hundreds of thousands, mostly by the Union. The Civil War brought many advances in firearms technology, most notably the widespread use of rifled barrels.
The impact that rifles had on combat in the Civil War is a subject of debate among historians. According to the traditional interpretation, the widespread employment of rifled firearms had a transformative effect that commanders failed to consider, resulting in terrible casualties from the continued use of outdated tactics. More recent scholarship has questioned this interpretation, arguing the impact was minimal and required no radical change in how armies fought. This debate is part of a larger discussion on whether the American Civil War is an early example of modern warfare or has more in common with Napoleonic warfare.
Background Historically, the smoothbore musket had been the primary weapon of the infantry, while the rifle was reserved for specialist units. In order for rifling to impart a spin upon a projectile, it must fit the projectile tightly, making loading and firing a rifle much slower than a musket, as most of these weapons were muzzleloaders at that time. In the decades leading up to the Civil War, several advances helped make the rifle a more practical weapon for the average soldier. The caplock replaced the flintlock, improving performance in wet weather and allowing for a slightly higher rate of fire, and the use of rifling with mechanically fitted bullets was tested by several inventors. However, it was the invention of the Minié ball which ultimately solved the problem of the slow-loading rifle. Conically shaped with a hollow base, the Minié ball was narrow enough to be easily loaded, but expanded upon firing to fit the rifling grooves. Rifled muskets quickly became the standard weapon of modern armies of the period, including the United States, while some smoothbore muskets were converted into rifles.Griffith, P. (2001). Battle Tactics of the Civil War. United Kingdom: Yale University Press. p. 73-74Coggins, J. (2012). Arms and Equipment of the Civil War. United States: Dover Publications. p. 26-27
One significant advantage the rifled musket had over the smoothbore was its effective range. Whereas a smoothbore musket like the Brown Bess could be expected to accurately hit a target at a distance of several dozen yards, rifled muskets were reasonably accurate at a distance of 500 yards.Guelzo, A. C. (2012). Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Italy: Oxford University Press, USA. p. 249-250 Historians of the war such as James M. McPherson, Edward Hagerman, and LTC Jeffrey Gudmens have argued that the increased range of the rifled musket rendered the Napoleonic tactics with which Civil War commanders continued to fight obsolete and bloody. Rifled muskets not only blunted the frontal assault by enemy infantry but also neutralized the offensive capabilities of cavalry and field artillery and thereby led to the increased usage of trench warfare.Hess, E. J. (2008). The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth. United States: University Press of Kansas. p. 1-3Hagerman, E. (1992). The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare: Ideas, Organization, and Field Command. United States: Indiana University Press. Introduction.Gudmens, J. J. (2005). Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Shiloh, 6–7 April 1862. United States: Combat Studies Institute Press. p. 18-24
More recently, historians including Paddy Griffith, Mark Grimsley, and Brent Nosworthy have challenged this interpretation. Surveying a number of battles, they found that Civil War combat still largely took place at ranges similar to or slightly better than smoothbore muskets, suggesting no revolution had taken place in the way war was conducted.Hess (2008), p. 4-7 Allen C. Guelzo argues one technical reason such short ranges persisted was the continued use of black powder. Black powder fouled the rifling in the barrel and produced thick clouds of smoke which hung about the battlefield and obscured targets.Guelzo (2012), p. 253 Another reason was that rifling also slowed the speed of the bullet, which meant a lower muzzle velocity than smoothbore muskets and a curved trajectory. In order to hit a target at distances beyond 100 yards, the firer had to carefully adjust their sights and accurately estimate the range, which could be difficult in the havoc of battle.Coggins (2012), p. 32Guelzo (2012), p. 254Hess (2008), p. 30-32 The curved trajectory of the bullet also meant there was a gap over which the bullet flew: a rifle musket sighted to a range of 500 yards would send the bullet clear over the head of a mounted cavalryman standing at a distance of 250 yards.Coggins (2012), 38-39
Training could help overcome some of these difficulties, but target practice was virtually unknown on either side of the Civil War. In the few weeks between its formation and going into battle, for example, the 24th Michigan had one recorded instance of target practice, during which three men were wounded, and one died of a heart attack.Griffith (2001), p. 86-89 The 14th Illinois once attempted target practice with a barrel set up 180 yards from the firing line, but of 160 shots fired only four actually hit it.Guelzo (2012), p. 248 A South Carolina officer estimated that only one in every 400 shots fired resulted in a hit. A lack of training contributed not only to poor accuracy but to mishandling which could render the rifle useless. At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union Army salvaged 24,000 rifles which were still loaded and found 18,000 of them had been loaded twice or more without being fired.
Breechloading and repeating rifles promised significant improvements over muzzleloading rifles, particularly repeaters as they allowed a far greater rate of fire than was possible with single-shot rifles. There were nevertheless drawbacks to these weapons, as early breechloaders leaked gas at the breech and repeaters were technically complex and required metallic cartridges which could be unreliable.Griffith (2001), p. 75Coggins (2012), p. 28 Cost was also an issue: in an era where a soldier earned $10–13 a month and a rifled musket might cost $10–20 to manufacture, a repeating rifle might cost $37–65 to manufacture.Griffith (2001), p. 81 Making the ammunition was also expensive, as each metallic cartridge could cost $2. Nevertheless, the Federal government did eventually purchase thousands of these weapons, and thousands more were purchased by Union soldiers using their own money. The Confederates made attempts to acquire these weapons, but they lacked the technological ability to reproduce them or their ammunition.Guelzo (2012), p. 251
When the American Civil War broke out in April 1861, neither the North (about 360,000 small arms) nor the South (about 240,000) had enough weapons to fight a major war. Stockpiles of rifles and handguns carried by individual soldiers were limited. As the war escalated, those arms stockpiles were quickly diminished. To combat the arms shortage, the Union and Confederacy both imported large quantities of rifles from Europe, with each side buying whatever it could get. The relatively poor South only bought 50,000 by August 1862, while the North bought 726,000. Accordingly, during the first two years of the war, soldiers from both sides used a wide variety of rifles, including many that were over 50 years old and were considered obsolete. At the same time, Northern rifle and gun manufacturers such as Sharps, Colt, Remington, and the Springfield Armory quickly increased their production of rifles; Springfield alone increased its annual output from 20,000 to 200,000. The North was thus able to supply its own small arms needs, while the South had to continue to rely on foreign sources, eventually purchasing 580,000 rifles. A number of Tryon contract conversions from flintlock muskets were originally produced in the 1840s and were still issued to troops in the early years of the Civil War, such as Texas regiment and South Carolina Militia. https://collegehillarsenal.com/Extremely-Rare-Tryon-Made-South-Carolina-Militia-Contract-Riflehttps://historicalarms.com/civil-war-long-arms-rifles-muskets-carbines-appraiser-for-sale/republic-of-texas-musket-for-sale.html
Modified ammunition types An alternative type of rifle ammunition which saw use during the Civil War was the exploding bullet. One of the few standard-issue exploding bullets was designed by Samuel Gardiner Jr. for the Union Army. These Gardiner rounds were similar to the Minié ball but filled with fulminate and a time fuse set to detonate one to three seconds after firing. Their primary use was anti-materiel such as setting fire to vehicles and ammunition, since their fragmentary properties were deemed at best to cause unnecessarily cruel wounds. After initial testing in the fall of 1862, the Union ordered 100,000 of these bullets and issued them to units in the field (such as the 2nd New Hampshire), although by the end of the war, 75,000 rounds were still in storage. The Confederates attempted to claim the moral high ground by arguing they never stooped to using exploding bullets, however the Richmond Arsenal manufactured at least 100,000 exploding bullets and examples of Confederates using exploding bullets can be found during the Battle of Glendale and the Siege of Vicksburg.Hess (2008), p. 77-79
One ammunition type which could be mistaken for an exploding bullet was the Williams cleaner bullet. Such bullets were included in each packet of regular ammunition and designed to clear any residue out of the barrel when fired. When in flight, however, the cleaning components gave the impression of being exploding bullets. Due to complaints that they damaged the barrels of the rifle, the US Army discontinued their use in September 1864.
The use of more exotic types of ammunition during the Civil War is harder to confirm. According to US Army records, up to 200,000 fragmentation bullets were ordered from Ira W. Shaler, although there is no evidence they were actually issued to troops. Both sides accused the other of using poisoned bullets, and while neither government authorized their use and manufacture, it is possible that individuals modified their bullets in this way.
List of rifles Springfield Rifle The Springfield Model 1861 was considered the standard rifle musket of the Civil War. Like other Springfield rifles, it was first produced at the Springfield Armory, but to meet war demands, twenty arms manufacturers were contracted to increase production. At 56 inches long and weighing nine pounds, the Model 1861 was a single-shot, muzzleloading rifle that used the percussion cap mechanism to fire a .58 caliber Minié ball. It was capable of firing three rounds a minute at an effective range of 500 yards but could be deadly at longer ranges. A rugged design that was simple to construct, the Model 1861 and its derivatives (including the Springfield Model 1863) were the most common rifles in the war, with Northern arsenals producing over a million examples.Axelrod, A. (2017). Armies South, Armies North. United States: Lyons Press. p. 109-110Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Army. (2001). United Kingdom: Greenwood Press. p. 401