Civil War Weapons

Words: 1517
Pages: 7
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Katie Hawkins
10/19/2016

The civil war had many factors that impacted the nation and the war itself, One major topic is how Weaponry and artillery affected the war and and led to success to North yet supported the south so much. There were many newly developed complex weapons used in the civil war that led to many casualties and very dangerous brute strength never seen before in combat. There were various weapons used in the The civil war from swords and knives along with a variety of firearms, including muskets, pistols, rifles, and repeating weapons. Also widely used was artillery including cannons which played a major role in the civil war. Some of the new weapon technologies used in the civil war include rifled gun barrels, …show more content…
Any weapon smaller than a cannon and carried by a soldier was known as a small arm. During the Civil War, small arms included muskets, which were smoothbore, long-barrelled shoulder arms; rifles, shoulder guns with spiral grooves cut into the inner surface of the barrel; carbines, short-barrelled rifles; and handguns, including pistols and revolvers. Like artillery, small arms also were designated by their caliber, mode of loading (breech or muzzle), and maker. The principal small arms on both sides were the .5 8 caliber Springfield musket and the .69 caliber Harpers Ferry Rifle, both muzzleloading arms that fired the deadly mini …show more content…
Relatively light and portable, the Napoleon was used as both an offensive and defensive weapon by both armies. Initially made of bronze, Napoleons were cast from iron when the South ran short of the other metal. Its maximum effective range was about 1700 yards, but it was most effective at about 250 yards or less. Firing canister, the Napoleon probably inflicted more casualties than all other artillery pieces combined. There were two distinct types of artillery units; Heavy (or Foot) Artillery, and Light (or Field) Artillery. Heavy Artillery units were responsible for seacoast, garrison and mountain artillery. During the war, there were so many extra regiments of Heavy Artillery that many of them were issued muskets instead of cannon, and served as infantry.The field artillery of the Civil War was designed to be mobile. When Union or Confederate troops marched across country, the guns moved with them. During battle, the guns were moved to assigned positions and then were switched from place to place, pulled back or sent forward as fortune demanded. The field batteries went galloping off to support an advance or repel an attack. When they withdrew, they contested the field as they went. Movement was everything. The guns
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