American Civil War

1861 – 1865

Overview

The American Civil War between the Union (North) and the Confederacy (South) was a watershed in weapons history. It was the first major war where rifled firearms were issued universally to infantry, the first to feature armored steam-powered warships in combat, the first to use repeating rifles extensively, and an early testbed for machine guns, land mines, and submarine warfare. The result of Napoleonic-era tactics meeting rifle-range killing power was unprecedented casualties.

Infantry Small Arms

Rifle Muskets

The rifle musket — a muzzle-loading percussion rifle using the Minié ball — replaced the smoothbore musket as the universal infantry arm:

• Springfield Model 1861 — The most-produced Union rifle; .58 caliber; percussion cap ignition; effective to 300+ yards; over 1 million produced
• Enfield Pattern 1853 — .577 caliber British rifle musket; imported in enormous numbers by both sides; the most common Confederate infantry arm
• Richmond Rifle Musket — Confederate-manufactured copy of the Springfield pattern
• Lorenz Rifle — Austrian import; used by both sides; caliber inconsistencies caused supply problems

Breech-Loading Rifles

Single-shot breech-loaders were issued primarily to cavalry and some infantry:

• Sharps rifle/carbine — Reliable single-shot breech-loader; .52 caliber; favored by cavalry and sharpshooters; the weapon of Berdan's Sharpshooters
• Burnside carbine — Popular cavalry carbine; distinctive tapered cartridge
• Smith carbine — Rubber cartridge; widely issued to Union cavalry

Repeating Rifles

The Civil War introduced repeating firearms to large-scale military use:

• Spencer repeating carbine/rifle (M1865 Spencer Rifle) — 7-round tubular magazine in the buttstock; .52 caliber rimfire; loaded using a Blakeslee cartridge box; Union cavalry armed with Spencers had enormous firepower advantage
• Henry rifle — 16-round tubular magazine; .44 rimfire; privately purchased by some Union soldiers; predecessor to the Winchester; Confederates reportedly called it "that damned Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week"

Artillery

The Civil War was the first war in which rifled artillery was widely used alongside smoothbore guns:

Field Artillery

• 3-inch Ordnance Rifle — Wrought iron; 3-inch bore; accurate and reliable; one of the most used Union field pieces
• 10-pounder Parrott rifle — Cast iron with wrought iron reinforcing band; less reliable than the Ordnance Rifle but widely used
• Napoleon (Model 1857) — 12-pounder smoothbore bronze gun; the most effective close-range artillery piece of the war; devastating with canister
• Whitworth rifle — British-made hexagonal-bore artillery; extremely accurate; used by the Confederacy for long-range fire

Siege Artillery

• Parrott guns — 20, 30, and 100-pounder versions; used in the siege of Petersburg and other operations
• Mortar — 13-inch mortars fired 200 lb shells in high arcs into Confederate trenches at Petersburg

Naval Weapons: The Ironclad Revolution

The Battle of Hampton Roads (March 1862) changed naval warfare permanently:

• CSS Virginia (Merrimack) — Casemate ironclad; sank two wooden Union warships effortlessly on 8 March
• USS Monitor — Turreted ironclad with two 11-inch Dahlgren guns in a rotating turret; fought Virginia to a draw on 9 March
• Dahlgren gun — The distinctive bottle-shaped naval cannon; cast iron; designed to withstand heavy charges; the standard Union naval gun

Early Machine Guns

• Gatling gun — Richard Gatling's rotating-barrel hand-cranked gun; 200+ rounds per minute; demonstrated 1861; Lincoln ordered purchase; used in limited numbers; not yet standard issue but proved the concept

Handguns

• Colt Army Model 1860 — .44 caliber percussion revolver; the most popular Union handgun; over 127,000 purchased
• Remington Model 1858 — .44 caliber; solid-frame design; popular alternative to the Colt
• LeMat revolver — Confederate-favored; 9-round cylinder over a single-shot 20-gauge shotgun barrel

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