Military Technology of the Civil War

The Civil War is known as the deadliest and bloodiest war of the 19th and 18th century. The reason being is that there were so many new ways of killing more people and finding a more efficient and resourceful way of doing it.

The biggest change in the war was the way the rifle took on so many changes. The rifle before the war that was most commonly used was the 1795 Springfield Arsenal musket, it was a smooth bore muzzle loader.

The Springfield rifle before the Civil War was a heavy weapon that was highly inaccurate to distances of more than 75- 100 yards. The main reason for the Rifle's inaccuracy was the fact that the barrel of the rifle didn't have rifling. Rifling is grooves in the barrel of a firearm that makes the bullet spin and stabilizing it in flight making distance greater and far more accurate.

The first rifle to introduce rifling to the gun barrel was the Springfield Model 1861. The Springfield used a percussion cap firing mechanism.(which was far more reliable than the old flintlock firing mechanism) It fired a .58 caliber projectile called the Minie ball. The Minie ball was a bullet that had a flat bottom and was slightly smaller than the barrel of the gun so once the gun fired the bottom expanded causing the bullet to spin.

The Henry Rifle was prized for its ability to take 15 rounds and put them down range at around one round every 2- 3 seconds. It was invented in the late 1850's by Tyler Henry. It fired a 200 grain bullet at around 1,100 feet per second, and weighed only around 8 pounds.

A Henry during the Civil War had to be purchased with ones own money for around 50.00 dollars. The ammo for the gun had to also be bought by the solider.

It was said that the Henry could be loaded on Saturday and shoo thro...

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...he confederates to line there harbors to prevent enemy invasion. Most notably in Charleston Harbor and along the Stono and Roanake river. There were twelve ships sent to capture Fort Branch in North Carolina and of those 12 ships only 5 of them returned. Fifty eight vessels were sunk during the Civil War by torpedoes and those ships ranged from ironclads to small flagships.

These are some of the many military technologies that helped decide the course of the Civil War.

Works Cited

http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/carbinesetc.htm

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/rifle-history.htm

http://www.civilwarhome.com/torpedoes.htm

http://www.wideopenwest.com/~jenkins/ironclads/ironintr.htm

http://www.henryrepeating.com/

http://www.historynet.com/grenade-the-little-known-weapon-of-the-civil-war.htm