Weapons

 The Model 1861 Springfield Rifle (Springfield for short) was the most popular weapon of the Civil War. Its superior range to its counterparts and, more likely, the fact that it was the most produced weapon of the time, with hundreds of thousands being made by the North throughout the War, made it immensely popular. As Greg Noonan writes in his article, “9 Key Weapons of the American Civil War,” it was “The mainstay of the US Army, produced in Springfield, Massachusetts, and via federal government contract to various manufacturers across the northern states, the Springfield rifle-musket was the pre-eminent firearm of its day.” The Confederate Army used the weapon, but unlike the Union, the Confederacy had minimal weapon production capabilities. Most of their weapons, including the Springfield, came from either illegal markets, overseas, or looting the battlefield. This weapon is credited with more kills than any other weapon of the entire Civil War (Noonan). 

The Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle was a British-made rifle that held a close second to the Springfield regarding availability and popularity. As many as 900,000 Patterns were imported to the U.S. during the War. Although many would argue that at the standard range of combat during the War, both the Pattern and the Springfield were nearly indistinguishable, the Pattern was statistically inferior to the Springfield concerning range. Nevertheless, the Pattern was a critical weapon in the Confederate Army as the Confederacy relied heavily on imported firearms to supply their war effort making the Pattern a staple in their ranks. As Noonan writes, “The second most commonly used rifle musket of the war, the .58 calibre British-made 1853 Enfield was a high-quality rifle firing the French designed Minie ball (conical bullet with a hollow base) and was used in the hundreds of thousands by both US and Confederate armies. An estimated 900,000 1853 Enfield rifle-muskets were imported for both sides via private contractors and blockade runners” (Noonan). This goes to show how important the weapon was to both the North and the South but also the importance of foreign import to the Confederate Army. Because they had little ability to produce weapons, they relied heavily on foreign nations, specifically Britain, to produce their weapons (Noonan).

The Whitworth P1857 Rifle was the best rifle of the Civil War. The unique shape of the inner barrel formed a hexagon shape. The design of this barrel was meant to reduce the friction between the barrel and the bullet while simultaneously increasing both range and accuracy, which it succeeded in doing. The bullet fired from the Whitworth also took on this hexagonal shape that helped contribute to the overall reduced friction of the setup. This weapon was made famous by Confederate snipers who utilized the weapon’s range and precision against Union forces. Certain kills were reported at more than 1000 yards with this weapon during the war, thus making this weapon the farthest shooting rifle of the Civil War. As is stated in the article “Whitworth Rifle,” “At just over a mile, the Whitworth rifle’s group was almost twelve feet, this may not seem extremely accurate...In which case, being able to consistently hit a twelve-foot target would at least cause great disorder, if it did not prove deadly.” For this reason, among others, the rifle was given to the elite squadrons of Confederate snipers who used them in order to take out Union officers from long-range positions without being detected. 

Arguably one of the most important weapons of the Civil War was the Model 1861 Colt Navy Revolver. This six-shot revolver is an iconic impression of the Civil War Era cavalry and was utilized on both sides with devastating effects. The pistol was a “percussion cap revolver designed by Samuel Colt in the late 1840s, the Colt Navy fired a round .36 calibre ball” and became well known as “its ruggedness and durability made it a popular weapon even after the Civil War, especially for any man on horseback” (Noonan). This was the choice weapon of Confederate Cavalry members who, in essence, put this weapon on the map. Before its use by the Confederate cavalry, the Navy was used by officers and sailors as a status symbol and for extremely close-quarters fighting, but this all changed at the onset of the Civil War. While in the North, cavalry units were still being equipped with sabers and swords, in the South, men like John Singleton Mosby utilized the speed and firepower of the Navy revolver to tear apart Union Cavalry. The Navy proved so effective that it was the sole gun that Mosby and his Rangers used (absent the occasional rifle or carbine). The Union Cavalry was slow to fully utilize these weapons until 1864 when they finally realized that the superiority of the Confederate Cavalry was primarily the result of the Navy revolver. Furthermore, the Navy ended the era of swords in warfare and replaced it with fast-paced modern combat emphasizing speed and mobility over fear and appearances (Noonan).

The Model 1862 Light Cavalry Sabre (M1862 for short) was largely obsolete by the onset of the Civil War. Nevertheless, it played a significant role in the War as a matter of absurdity. Despite its useless application in the era of rifled barrels and long-range artillery, many officers still utilized the M1862 as a primary weapon. In the North, many officers still believed there was a place for the sword in cavalry charges. Consequently, the Confederate Cavalry dominated Northern horsemen until the end of the War, thanks to their attitude towards the speedy and reliable Navy pistol. In the South, the M1862 was more or less a status symbol that officers like Mosby would wear as part of dress uniform and customary Southern tradition. Nevertheless, the sword and saber would become obsolete when put against the new technology and tactics of the Civil War. However, as Noonan depicts, “Later in the war, Confederate troopers increasingly relied on their sabres and sawn-off shotguns as suitable cavalry carbines became increasingly hard to come by.” This was, however, only when the situation was dire for the Confederacy and after all their resources had been well exhausted (Noonan). The Civil War was one of the last major wars in which the sword would play a significant role.

It is only possible to discuss the weaponry and tactics of the Civil War by first discussing the Minie Ball. This smaller bullet was explicitly designed for rifled barrels. Before the Minie Ball, loading a rifle was tedious compared to a musket as the rifled grooves along the inside of the barrel made it difficult to force the bullet down as opposed to the musket, which had a smooth bore that the bullet could more easily fit down. The Minie ball fixed this by reducing its size and changing its shape to fit the rifling better, allowing it to be forced down the barrel of a rifle with much more speed. Once fired, the Minie Ball would spin, creating a more true trajectory, and on impact, the bullet would expand, causing tremendous damage compared to a simple lead ball (Shoop). These alone made the rifle-Minie Ball combo more desirable than the standard musket and ball, not to mention the almost doubled range that the Minie Ball provided to soldiers. The effective range went from a maximum of about 100 yards to 200 or 300, with specific soldiers hitting targets from over 1,000 yards away (Hamlin). “By 1861 arsenals had standardized a muzzleloading shoulder arm with a rifled barrel known as a ‘rifle musket.’ Four feet…nine pounds… .58 caliber bore it fired by means of percussion cap” (Mahon). With this new range, tactics had to invariably change with them; however, this did not happen at first. But eventually, there was a shift from the traditional line infantry frontal charges and calvary assaults of the Napoleonic War Era to a new, faster-paced warfare that created squadron-style fighting (Shoop). The primary reason for this change was the new form of fighting that officers like Lee, Stuart, and Mosby brought to the table.