American Weapons In The Civil War Essay

Advancement of Weaponry throughout the Civil War The American Civil War allowed american weaponry to advance from slow and insufficient to fast and useful. The Civil War is often referred to as the first ¨modern¨ war in history, and this is characterized by American weaponry. Early weapons used in the Revolutionary War were self muzzle-reloading weapons which were slow and insufficient. While the ¨modern¨ weapons used in the Civil war were Springfield rifle to Colt revolver to 12-pound howitzer, there was a great advancement of weapons from flintlocks to bolt-action rifles. Civil War weapons evolved ever since the last American War, with the addition to cartridges onto firearms which allow someone to reload faster and then shoot again.
They even used different calibers, according to merriam-dictionary a caliber is “the diameter of a bore of a gun usually expressed in hundredths or thousandths of an inch and typically written as a decimal fraction ex. .32 caliber.” Different bullets used in the civil war, some included the .58 or .69 Minie Ball, the .577 caliber Enfield, the .58 Gardner, the .52 caliber Sharps, etc. One of the most popular was the Minie Ball, which was used by both Union and Confederacy during the civil war. The Minie ball was “Cylindrical in shape, with a conical point and a hollow base containing an iron plug, the Minié bullet was smaller than the diameter of a rifle barrel, and could be easily loaded, even when the rifle became dirty” (Minié Ball, History).
This bullet was able to damage and severely damage the enemy since the bullet expanded by the time it was launched from the barrel of the weapon so that the bullet could use the grooves in the barrel and spin to make the shot deadly accurate. The effective range of the minie ball was about 200-250 yards. The Minie ball was believed to be the cause of 90% of all casualties (History, Minie