ACW question (1 Viewer)

[Rob]

Here's a question for my expert friends here on the forum. Was there a huge disparity in weaponry between the two sides?. I understand of course that in numbers the North had the edge, but were their weapons as such the same. And also did both sides have very similar artillery?

Thanks in advance guys

Rob

 

[Terp152]

Here's a question for my expert friends here on the forum. Was there a huge disparity in weaponry between the two sides?. I understand of course that in numbers the North had the edge, but were their weapons as such the same. And also did both sides have very similar artillery?

Thanks in advance guys

Rob

Hello Bob, Confedrate artillery batteries, at least in ANV, were usually four guns and of mixed types. This led to difficulites in supplying ammunition. I never understood why they did not standardize the guns into one type for each battery. The Federal batteries were normally 6 guns and of one type. Only the North manufactured the 10lb Parrott rifle. Of course the Confederates captured enough of these to supply their armies. Chris

 

[BlakeWR85]

Hey Rob, good question. If I may offer my limited knowledge, and give you a basic answer, then others can give more details later

From what I've learned, there was not much difference in weaponry of the two armies. Both sides made use of the 1855 Springfield rifle, a .58 cal. musket, and the 1842 Springfield smoothbore musket, .69 cal. But when the war broke out, American arsenals didn't have enough guns to be distributed to the large number of troop demand. So the 1853 Enfield, .577 cal., imported from Britain became widely used on both sides North and South to fill out the ranks.

The North made an improvement on the 1855 rifle, which was the 1861 Springfield, .58 cal., which became the number one gun to be used by the Union; even Southern troops used it too. Second to this gun was the Enfield. For the North, the 1855 rifle and 1842 smoothbore, along with the Austrian Lorenz rifle, .54 cal., and other contract 1861 Springfields, and later editions of the 1861 Springfield, all these were not in wide use. As I said, somebody else may chime in exacts.

For the South, of course the '53 Enfield was widely used, as well as the Richmond rifle, .58 cal., which paralleled its Northern counterpart, the Springfield. But the main difference was that the Confederates still made use of the 1842 Springfield smoothbore. There are some accounts of some poorly supplied Confederate troops at the battle of Shiloh who used shotguns, and flintlock muskets.

 

[Terp152]

Rob (sorry to call you Bob earlier :redface2, by mid-1864 Union cavalry was being armed with repeater carbines. This naturally made for a disparity of fire power, especially in Sheridan's force. Wilder's Brigade in US Army of the Tennessee was armed with repeating rifles and became known as the Lightning Brigade. Chris

 

[Fusilier]

Rob (sorry to call you Bob earlier :redface2, by mid-1864 Union cavalry was being armed with repeater carbines. This naturally made for a disparity of fire power, especially in Sheridan's force. Wilder's Brigade in US Army of the Tennessee was armed with repeating rifles and became known as the Lightning Brigade. Chris

Not to derail the conversation from Rob's original question, but I had one about the repeating rifles/carbines. I seem to remember reading about the Confederates referring to one of the repeating rifles as the one 'the Yankees load on Sunday and shoot all week' or something to that effect (sorry if I butchered the quote). Was it the Spencer or Henry, or something else entirely?

Noah

 

[Rob]

Thanks very much for your answers guys, really good to read the info you've supplied, I think there may be an osprey book on ACW weaponry which may give me a basic grounding in it. (No problem with the Bob Chris :smile2

Rob

 

[trooper]

In terms of infantry weapons the majority on both sides were armed with single shot rifled muskets, mainly Springfields and Enfields although some other foreign types were imported. In the Union several regiments were armed with metallic cartridge breech loading repeating weapons mainly Henry rifles. At least one regiment had Colt's revolving rifles. For the cavalry although both sides had some breech loaders the North had the advantage with the Sharps carbine which was reloaded by means of a magazine type tube. As far as pistols were concerned both sides were on a par with Colt's or Colt copies being predominant. Trooper

 

[Scott]

Not to derail the conversation from Rob's original question, but I had one about the repeating rifles/carbines. I seem to remember reading about the Confederates referring to one of the repeating rifles as the one 'the Yankees load on Sunday and shoot all week' or something to that effect (sorry if I butchered the quote). Was it the Spencer or Henry, or something else entirely?

Noah

I'm pretty sure that it was the Henry. I've seen some reproductions in action at a few Civil War reenactments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_rifle

 

[Combat]

Don't forget the superiority of the Union navy. Effectively blockading the South. That played an important role in the outcome.

 

[Fusilier]

I'm pretty sure that it was the Henry. I've seen some reproductions in action at a few Civil War reenactments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_rifle

Thank you sir. A Henry rifle would have been quite an advantage to those who could afford to buy one!

Noah

 

[lancer]

There were also the Spencer rifle and carbines that have been mentioned. These had a tubular magazine in the butt stock that made rapid fire practical, though not as fast as the Henry. The Sharps, which was mentioned earlier, was a single shot weapon, a breech loader that had to be reloaded after each round. Even so, the Sharps was much faster to reload, as a breech loader, than the standard muzzle loading rifled muskets of the day. -- Al

 

[Scott]

There were also the Spencer rifle and carbines that have been mentioned. These had a tubular magazine in the butt stock that made rapid fire practical, though not as fast as the Henry. The Sharps, which was mentioned earlier, was a single shot weapon, a breech loader that had to be reloaded after each round. Even so, the Sharps was much faster to reload, as a breech loader, than the standard muzzle loading rifled muskets of the day. -- Al

I've seen one reenactor use a Henry like "machine gun" . Sure is expensive for the blanks.

 

[Captain]

To answer the initial question, yes both sides used pretty much the same weaponry. The Spencer was the carbine that you could load on Sunday and fire it all week. It had a 7 shot tubular magazine that opened from the butt and there was also the longer musket version of the weapon and I loved mine. As far as the artillery goes, The State of Virginia bought the first 10 Parrotts produced. They were the first Parrots used in the war and were used by Confederate troops at the battle of Big Bethel and I loved mine. At the time the war the broke out all batteries were mixed guns. The Federal Governments first attempt at standardizing batteries was to start producing the model 1857 light 12-pdr gun (the Napoleon). At the time the war broke out there was only 5 in service. by wars end there were roughly 1200. The Federal army did a much better job of standardizing their batteries but the southern army did make attempts. They also liked to have smoothbores that were much more effective at close range with anti-personel rounds mixed with their longer ranged rifles. The south was at a disadvantage in rifled guns but imported many from England namely the Whitworth and the Blakely. Horse Artillery units in the south loved the lighter long range English rifles but they had tremendous recoils due to their lighter weight and often times they broke their carriages.

 

[Scott]

It is notable that much captured Union weaponry (and gear) went into Confederate use. Union and Confederate weapons purchases both went to Great Britain. Both sides used variations of French tactics, not exactly Napoleonic but "Napoleon III-ic".