Firearms

toc =__**Firearms of the Civil War**__= During the Civil War, the North and South used many different weapons. As the violence escalated new weapons were developed and put to use to gain the upper hand. From revolvers to rifles, howitzers to mortars, even the first grenades, American ingenuity led to some of the most destructive and effective killing machines the world had ever seen.

Flintlocks: Precursors to Civil War Rifles
The flintlock ignition mechanism was used for hundreds of years in all kinds of small arms, from pistols to muskets. Overall, the technique was unreliable, as the gunpowder could get wet in the pan and not ignite at all, or the pan's powder could burn but not set off the main powder charge within the barrel. This gave rise to the phrase "a flash in the pan," meaning a disappointment or failure. For a long time, however, it was the only option for firing firearms. The main goal of the mechanism was to create a spark using a flint and iron. The hammer would swing downward against the iron, or frizzen. The flint, being harder than iron, would melt small pieces of iron and release them as red-hot sparks, which, as the frizzen tilted back from the impact, would ignite the gun powder nestled in the pan. The small explosion of the powder would light up the powder in the barrel through a small opening near the pan. The main powder charge would release large amounts of gas, which would force the ball or bullet through the barrel and several hundred yards beyond. To obtain the power utilized by the hammer, a series of springs and tumblers were used. The mainspring, having the most power, pushed the tumbler with extreme force into the hammer. The tumbler was checked by the sear, which held itself in place with a small spring called the searspring. The sear latched onto the tumbler's two teeth, and would be released as the trigger was pulled. The tumbler's two teeth put the hammer in three different positions: uncocked, meaning the tumbler was not held at all and the hammer was against the frizzen; half-cocked, meaning that the sear was in the first tooth of the tumbler and the hammer was halfway back; and fully cocked, meaning that the sear was in the second tooth, and the hammer was all the way back. As the trigger was pulled, the sear would release the tumbler, which would be pushed by the mainspring into the hammer, knocking the flint into the iron and setting off the powder. The hammer would then be in the uncocked position, and the frizzen would be held forward by the frizzen spring.

The Percussion Cap
The percussion cap was a relatively new technology patented in 1807 that made the flintlock ignition mechanism obsolete. The overall configuration of the percussion cap was very similar to the flintlock's, but was more reliable in bad weather and did not cause powder burns if one got too close. During the Civil War, many flintlock firearms had their ignition systems replaced by percussion caps. As opposed to a flint, the hammer had an indentation on the front that was lined with mercuric fulminate, a highly explosive chemical that would explode if pressed or hit. The frizzen and pan were replaced with a tube called a nipple that lead into the barrel to the main powder charge. The internal workings remained the same. As the hammer hit the nipple, the mercuric fulminate exploded, and the flames lit up the powder charge to fire the ball. The firing process became much more convenient, because instead of filling the pan with powder for each shot, the soldier would just have to pull the hammer back and the gun would be ready to fire. However, the technology only lasted about fifty years after the Civil War, because of the invention of the brass cartridge.

Smooth Bored versus Rifled; The Gyroscopic Effect
Barrels of small arms were made by hammering a flat molten piece of iron around a metal rod called a mandrel and drilling out the center to form a tube. Prior to the Civil War, almost all guns were smooth bored, or drilled with smooth edges. Muskets could fire accurately at short range, but at two hundred and fifty yards, only one out of every twenty shots hit a target. This was because the ball would not spin very much in the barrel, and so it could be pushed by the wind and blown off course. During the time of the Civil War, rifled muskets started being used. A rifled musket is the same as a smooth bored musket, but with one fundamental difference: the inside of the barrel was etched with spiral grooves, causing the ball to gyrate as it traveled along the barrel. The ball would travel accurately for two hundred and fifty yards, but was still just as deadly close range. This stabilization was called the gyroscopic effect. The gyroscopic effect caused gyrating objects to have unique properties, including high stability. This was because the object, according to Newton's first law, would continue to spiral in the same direction and travel on its axis of spin. A smooth-bored projectile would not maintain its direction because it would not spin in the barrel. Rifling proved a problem for loading time, because for the ball to gyrate, it had to fit perfectly in the barrel so that it would engage all grooves. Thus, it would take a long time to force the lead orbs down a barrel. The problem was solved in 1849 by a french army officer by the name of Claude-Etienne Minie. He made a small conically-shaped lead projectile with ridges circling the base. The shot was smaller than the barrel used and dropped directly to the bottom of the barrel. The base of the Minie ball was hollow, so that when the powder ignited gases formed and expanded the shot to fit within the barrel. This allowed the loading process to proceed far more quickly.

Pistols and Revolvers
As early as the 1550's, pistols were created for close combat. The early models were capable of firing one shot at a time using a firing system similar to flintlocks, except that the frizzen would spin to provide greater friction against the flint. This was called the wheel lock. The loading process took so long for one shot that some officers would bring to battle multiple pistols in their jackets and boots, so that they could easily have several shots at the ready. A small wheel lock pistol called a derringer was used in the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865. In 1836, a young sailor by the name of Samuel Colt decided to solve the age-old problem of semi-automatic weapons. In his free time on his ship, he experimented with different techniques, and eventually created a small pistol with a revolving drum, with each of the six portions containing a ball and powder. The loading process took an extremely long time, but a soldier could have five shots ready from one pistol. The pistol was a called the Colt. As the trigger was pulled, a tumbler would push on a tooth in the drum, causing it to spin enough for a drum partition to face down the rifled barrel. At the same time, the tumbler would release the hammer, which would come forward and strike the percussion cap, firing the lead ball. As opposed to having the mercuric fulminate on the hammer, the chemical was placed at the drum. For the next shot, the soldier would still have to pull the hammer back by hand before pulling the trigger again. If the mercuric fulminate had been at the hammer, it could burn the finger of the shooter. Later models would have a spring holding the hammer forward, and the tumbler would push the hammer back and then release it, making the hammer's spring push it back into place against a percussion cap. Modern revolvers do not have gunpowder and a ball, but instead have a metal cartridge with powder inside, and a bullet attached at the front. As a needle strikes the base, the powder ignites, firing the bullet. The empty cartridge is released by pushing out the hinged drum and dropping them out the back. (To see an animation of how a modern revolver works, click here. The animation is about halfway down the page; click the trigger to play it.)

Small Arms Used in the Civil War
Throughout the Civil War, many weapons were used by combatants by both the North and South. Foremost among the small arms used was the Springfield Model 1861 percussion rifle-musket manufactured in Springfield, Massachusetts. The rifle was made specifically for the Minie ball, with a rifled barrel. It is estimated that over one million Model 1861's were manufactured during the war. The gun featured a percussion cap ignition mechanism and a rifled barrel for accuracy. To fire the weapon, a soldier would pour the main powder charge down the muzzle (the end of the gun where the lead ball exited) and then force the ball, wrapped in cloth, down with a ram rod to push it to the bottom. The next step was to set the hammer at full cock, aim, and pull the trigger. Although most weapons used were Springfield models, many European rifles were brought across the Atlantic. The British Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle-musket, a .577 caliber rifle, was used most. The Confederate Army alone smuggled hundreds of thousands of Enfield rifles through the Union blockade. The Union and Confederate forces both used .58 caliber shots, and the Enfield, being so similar, was compatible with American muskets. The Spencer repeating carbine was used by the military in 1863 and had a revolutionary design. The weapon used brass cartridges and contained a seven-slot magazine. As the trigger was pulled, the hammer would hit the cartridge and ignite the powder, firing the bullet but leaving the cartridge in place. The trigger guard would then be lowered and the cartridge would fall out. As the trigger guard was raised up again, another cartridge would fall into place facing down the barrel. The system enabled soldiers to fire up to twenty-eight shots per minute and when the magazine was empty, soldiers could just place a new cartridge in the magazine and be ready for the next shot. The army was concerned that the new weapon would waste ammunition and did not issue the Spencer to any soldiers. In 1863, however, President Lincoln test-shot the rifle and approved of it. The army immediately bought almost one hundred thousand Spencer rifles for the war effort. Many officers and cavalrymen used pistols. Hundreds of thousands Colt revolvers were used in the Civil War and the first Colt Dragoon revolver was used by General George McClellan. The majority of revolvers contained .44 caliber bullets and a six-slot drum. The Remington New Model army revolver was the second most used revolver after the Colt, and was also .44 caliber and had a six-slot drum. The Civil War boasted the predecessor of the modern hand grenade. William F. Ketchum, a Union inventor from New York, was the creator of the explosive device. The Ketchum patent hand grenade was a canister of powder on a wooden rod, stabilized with wooden wings. The grenade would be "thrown like a dart" (Smithsonian Institute) and, on impact, the percussion cap inside would ignite and the grenade would explode, dispersing shrapnel.

Artillery
Apart from small, hand-held guns, many large artillery weapons were used to attack and defend in the Civil War. In forts, guns and what were called Columbiads were used to defend, and guns and mortars used to attack. On the battlefield, six artillery pieces were grouped in what was called a battery, including four guns and two howitzers. In a battery, the guns would have a payload of six- or twelve-pound shot, with their companion howitzers bearing shot twice as heavy. Mortars were used to attack personnel from long range. Guns, also known as cannons, could fire solid shot. Solid shot were cannonballs with packs of powder for their main charge that could rip through ranks of soldiers or damage walls of buildings or forts. They had a long range and were heavy and cumbersome to move, and fired their long barrels nearly parallel to the ground. Howitzers had a shorter range, but could fire either solid shot, shrapnel, or case shot. Case shot were thin hollow shells of metal with small lead balls inside and were mostly used as an anti-personnel weapon. Howitzers were also lighter and more maneuverable, and shot with their shorter barrels at a higher angle than that of a gun. Mortars fired at extremely high angles so that their shot would come from above the target and fragment in midair, causing a large amount of damage against soldiers because of the shrapnel. The gun most used by both sides was the bronze Model 1857, also known as the Napoleon gun/howitzer. It was a cross between a howitzer and a gun, because it was at a medium weight and could fire shot or shells, and had a shorter barrel than a conventional gun. The Napoleon could fire accurately at 1600 yards even though it was smooth bored, because the shot traveled in a predictable arc. It was used as a field gun, fighting against armies rather than forts. The Confederates, when bronze became scarce in the South, began to replace their bronze guns with iron. The most popular howitzer was called the Model 1841, which shot at a relatively high angle, and could fire twelve-pound shot to 1000 yards with only one pound of powder. Most howitzers were smooth bored, but many were rifled when the war began to increase their accuracy. The Coehorn mortar was one of the more common mortars. It fired twenty-four-pound shot that fragmented in large pieces to kill soldiers. It caused many soldiers to build shelters in the side of hills to escape the mortar's payload. Columbiads were not used much before or after the Civil War, and were large heavy iron artillery, designed to defend sea coasts in forts. When they were first created in the early nineteenth century, they were considered obsolete, as they fractured easily. In 1861, however, Thomas Rodman used a new way of casting the barrel with a collar at the muzzle. They were used until after the Civil War, when new, smaller, and more efficient guns began to be turned out. They became known as "Rodman" guns because of the way Thomas Rodman salvaged the old weapon. The Rodman guns could fire a shot larger than two hundred pounds up to 1800 yards.

Comparison of Various Artillery Weapons

 * ** Type of Artillery ** || ** Weight of Shot (lb) ** || ** Diameter of Barrel (in) ** || ** Metal of Barrel ** || ** Side in the Civil War ** ||
 * Field Gun || 6 and 12 || N/A || Bronze || Union ||
 * Siege/Garrison Gun || 12, 18, and 24 || N/A || Iron || Union ||
 * Seacoast Defense Gun || 32, 42, and 64 || N/A || Iron || Union ||
 * Field Howitzer || 12, 24, and 32 || N/A || Bronze || Union ||
 * Siege/Garrison Howitzer || 24 || 8 || Iron || Union ||
 * Seacoast Defense Howitzer || N/A || 8 and 10 || Iron || Union ||
 * Field Mortar || N/A || 8 and 10 || Iron || Union ||
 * Siege/Garrison Mortar || N/A || 8 and 10 || Iron || Union ||
 * Seacoast Defense Mortar || N/A || 10 and 13 || Iron || Union ||
 * Field Gun || 6 and 12 || N/A || Iron || Confederate ||
 * Siege/Garrison Gun || N/A || N/A || N/A || Confederate ||
 * Seacoast Defense Gun || N/A || N/A || N/A || Confederate ||
 * Field Howitzer || 12 and 24 || N/A || Iron || Confederate ||
 * Siege/Garrison Howitzer || N/A || 8 || Iron || Confederate ||
 * Seacoast Defense Howitzer || N/A || N/A || N/A || Confederate ||
 * Field Mortar || N/A || 8 and 10 || Iron || Confederate ||
 * Siege/Garrison Mortar || N/A || 8 and 10 || Iron || Confederate ||
 * Seacoast Defense Mortar || N/A || 10 and 13 || Iron || Confederate ||

Information
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"Civil War Collections." //Civil War-Smithsonian//. Smithsonian Institute. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. 

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Meltzer, Milton, and Sergio Martinez. __Weapons & Warfare: from the Stone Age to the Space Age__. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1996. Print.

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Images
Brain, Marshall. __The Flintlock.__ //HowStuffWorks.com//. 01 Apr. 2000. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. .

Brain, Marshall. __The Back of the Flintlock.__ //HowStuffWorks.com//. 01 Apr. 2000. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. .

Cumpston, Mike. __Minie Balls__. //Wikimedia Commons//. US Wikipedia, Mar. 2008. Web. 4 May 2010. .

__Ketchum's Patent Hand Grenades__. //Civil War-Smithsonian//. Smithsonian Institute. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. .

Chart Information from:
Melton, Jack W., and Lawrence Pawl. "Basic Facts Concerning Artillery." //The Civil War Artillery Projectile and Cannon Home Page//. 1994. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. . Bertie Ancona History 86 May 7, 2010