The topic of firearms of the American Civil War is one which has facinateted me for the past 25 years or so. This was a period of transition from hand built, single shot weapons to mass produced, interchangeable part, repeating firearms. While this article won’t have much bearing on grand tactical games like “Fire & Fury”, it might have some usefulness in a skirmish game such as “Brother Vs. Brother”. It is also meant to be a rough overview as the number of different types and models of firearms has filled many volumes of books. Smoothbores At the beginning of the war, there were over 500,000 long arms of various types in Federal arsenals. Of that number, approximately 400,000 were smoothbores. The two most common were the American build Model 1816/22 and Model 1841. The 1816/22 was a .69 caliber flintlock while the 1841 had a percussion ignition, or “cap and ball”. In the mid-1850s, the government began a program to refit existing Model 1816/22 muskets to percussion fire, but this project was not finish by the beginning of the war. Particularly in the Western theater, there were regiments armed completely with flintlocks used as late as the 1862 Battle of Shiloh. In addition to these two models, there were also supplies of imported smoothbores from European manufacturers. At the beginning of the conflict, government agents from both sides flocked to Europe to procure badly needed weapons. .75 caliber India Pattern British Brown Bess muskets and the .69 caliber French Charleville both saw action as well as a number of other manufacturers from counties such as Saxony and Austria. This was a golden opportunity for them to dump loads of obsolete weapons of dubious quality from their own arsenals! The obvious disadvantages of the smoothbore were both range and accuracy. They were designed for the shoulder to shoulder linier tactics of European style warfare of massed volleys. Accuracy was between fifty and a hundred yards, and fairly useless beyond that. The main advantage of the smoothbore was the ability to fire what was known as “Buck & Ball”. To belabor the obvious, the ammunition consisted of the .69 caliber round ball and two or more pieces of buckshot. At close range, this was a devastating combination. The Irish Brigade caused bloody carnage at Antietam Creek with this round. Rifled Muskets By the late 1830s, the benefits of a rifled barrel and smaller caliber bullet were becoming apparent to the worlds military thinkers. At this point, rifles firing patched round balls had been around for a number of years, but had gained no widespread acceptance as a military weapon. However, the introduction of Captain Claude-Etienne Minie’s expanding conical bullet in a rifled barrel caused the armies of the world to rethink their practicality. The first U.S. effort was the Model 1842 “Mississippi” Rifled Musket. This was basically a re-barreled Model 1841, changed from .69 to .54 caliber. While the accuracy was greatly increased, so was the recoil. Not popular with those who used it, it was still produced in great quantities and were plentiful at the beginning of the war. This was also the first U.S. produced long arm to have completely interchangeable parts. The next step was the Model 1855. In order to reduce the recoil, the bullet size was increased to .58 caliber which was to become the standard U.S. rifle caliber through out the war. Slightly heavier than the Model 1842, it used a Maynard priming system which consisted of a doored chamber in the lock plate which held a roll of paper percussion caps similar to those used in a child’s cap gun. This rifle was produced in fewer numbers than the 1842, but was standard issue to the pre-war U.S. regular army. The last muzzle loaded rifle to be produced by the U.S. government was the Model 1861/63 “Springfield” Rifle. This was a Model 1855 without the Maynard priming system which had proved to be very unreliable (particularly in the rain). Over 1,000,000 were produced by a number of contractors in the North as well as in the South by both the Richmond and Fayetteville Arsenals. After 1863, it was the dominant rifle in both armies. As with smoothbore firearms, a large number of rifled muskets were also imported from Europe. The most common by far was the British P1853 which found it’s way into both North and South. Chambered for the .577 caliber, it had a tendency to foul when loaded with .58 caliber ammunition. Still, it was considered a more accurate weapon than the Springfield when loaded with the proper sized bullet. Firearms were also imported from Belgium, Prussia, and Austria in great quantities. The advantages the rifle musket had over the older smoothbore were obviously range and accuracy. Wild, but possible claims of 1,500 yard shots were common, but long range leaf sights were limited to 500 yards on the Springfield and 700 on the P1853 Enfield. Now where does all of this fit in to the war gaming table? As listed above, there were literally millions of guns used through out the conflict. It was not uncommon for a regiment, or even company, to be issued with different types and manufacturer’s firearms. Imagine the logistical nightmare, not only for ammunition, but also repair parts. Early war doctrine for both sides was for the center companies to be armed with the older smoothbores while elite companies would have the scarcer rifled musket. My imagination runs wild with the various scenarios that are possible. In the next installment, we’ll look at breech loading rifles and carbines, as well as repeaters. Back to Dispatch January 2004 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com