Infantry Tactics & Weapons Of The American Civil War
http://www.politicnow.com/articles/1534/1/Infantry-Tactics--Weapons-Of-The-American-Civil-War/Page1.html
Mathieu Courchesne
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Published on 06/18/2010
The smoothbore musket, a weapon of limited range and accuracy that saw service during the American Civil War, it was later on superseded by the Musket which became chief weapon of the American civil war. Firing lines then were more than 500 yards apart and the weapons lacked enough velocity to inflict significant injury, in response to this ammo limitation, attacking troops had to be massed elbow by elbow and attempt an assault, if they were sufficient in number and ran fast enough, then the defensive line couldn't do them much damage.
Infantry Tactics & Weapons Of The American Civil War
The smoothbore musket, a weapon of limited range and accuracy that saw service during the American Civil War, it was later on superseded by the Musket which became chief weapon of the American civil war. Firing lines then were more than 500 yards apart and the weapons lacked enough velocity to inflict significant injury, in response to this ammo limitation, attacking troops had to be massed elbow by elbow and attempt an assault, if they were sufficient in number and ran fast enough, then the defensive line couldn't do them much damage.
The Musket
In close quarter fighting, the use of bayonets and the advantage of numbers usually settled things. The Civil War musket was rifled, something that made it formidable. It was muzzle loader type of gun with improved accuracy and range. This weapon made a big difference on how troop fought.
The effectiveness of this weapon meant that an advancing enemy line could be brought under fire at half a mile distance, this meant that the Napoleonic style massed charge was no longer viable. In the battle fields when a defensive line occupied field entrenchments; these the troops had learnt to dig as part of boot camp training, a face on assault was impossible. Most of the civil war casualties were the result of soldiers employing smoothbore tactics even though they fought with rifles. Generals took a long time to accept that a new approach was badly needed.
The Civil War cannon
Much the same development was taking place in the artillery, although the full effect was not yet evident. The Civil War cannon, almost without exception, was a muzzle-loader, but the rifled gun was coming into service. It could reach farther and hit harder than the smoothbore, and for counter battery fire it was highly effective-a rifled battery could hit a battery of smoothbores without being hit in return, and the new 3-inch iron rifles, firing a 10-pound conical shot, had a flat trajectory and immense Penetrating power.
But the old smoothbore-a brass gun of 4.62-inch caliber, firing a 12-pound spherical shot-remained popular to the end of the war; in the wooded, hilly country where so many Civil War battles were fought, its range of slightly less than a mile was about all that was needed, and for close-range work against infantry the smoothbore was better than the rifle.
For such work the artillerists fired canisters tin can full of iron balls, with a propellant at one end and a wooden disk at the other-and the can disintegrated when the gun was fired, letting the iron balls be sprayed all over the landscape.
In effect, the cannon became a huge sawed-off shotgun, and at ranges of 250 yards or less it was in the highest degree murderous. This weapon saw combat to the final years of the war.
The Musket
In close quarter fighting, the use of bayonets and the advantage of numbers usually settled things. The Civil War musket was rifled, something that made it formidable. It was muzzle loader type of gun with improved accuracy and range. This weapon made a big difference on how troop fought.
The effectiveness of this weapon meant that an advancing enemy line could be brought under fire at half a mile distance, this meant that the Napoleonic style massed charge was no longer viable. In the battle fields when a defensive line occupied field entrenchments; these the troops had learnt to dig as part of boot camp training, a face on assault was impossible. Most of the civil war casualties were the result of soldiers employing smoothbore tactics even though they fought with rifles. Generals took a long time to accept that a new approach was badly needed.
The Civil War cannon
Much the same development was taking place in the artillery, although the full effect was not yet evident. The Civil War cannon, almost without exception, was a muzzle-loader, but the rifled gun was coming into service. It could reach farther and hit harder than the smoothbore, and for counter battery fire it was highly effective-a rifled battery could hit a battery of smoothbores without being hit in return, and the new 3-inch iron rifles, firing a 10-pound conical shot, had a flat trajectory and immense Penetrating power.
But the old smoothbore-a brass gun of 4.62-inch caliber, firing a 12-pound spherical shot-remained popular to the end of the war; in the wooded, hilly country where so many Civil War battles were fought, its range of slightly less than a mile was about all that was needed, and for close-range work against infantry the smoothbore was better than the rifle.
For such work the artillerists fired canisters tin can full of iron balls, with a propellant at one end and a wooden disk at the other-and the can disintegrated when the gun was fired, letting the iron balls be sprayed all over the landscape.
In effect, the cannon became a huge sawed-off shotgun, and at ranges of 250 yards or less it was in the highest degree murderous. This weapon saw combat to the final years of the war.