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 — 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; Confederate infantry reportedly said "that damn Yankee rifle you could load on Sunday and shoot all week"
• Henry rifle — 16-round tubular magazine; .44 rimfire; privately purchased by some Union soldiers; predecessor to the Winchester

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

This article is a stub. Contributions covering specific battles, weapons, and commanders are welcome.