Civil War Military Technology
What changes were made to the weapons used in the civil war?
Innovations to the traditional Musket.
A musket is a smooth bored weapon that the inside of the barrel is smooth and a small ball of lead is used as the projectile. During the Civil War a new weapon was invented to make the Musket obsolete. The Rifle was born, The Rifle was made into two different forms. a Regular Rifle and a Carbine. The technology that made the musket obsolete was the spirals inside the barrel called rifling. Rifling gave the projectile a spinning motion and made the accuracy and range of these weapons alot better. The Carbine was used by Calvary most of the time because it was a considerably amount shorter than the regular version. That made it easier to handle while riding a horse. The Regular rifle was longer and the barrel being longer gave it a little more range and accuracy.
The Minie Ball
The minie ball was a lead projectile made to replace the traditional lead ball used before. The minie ball had a pointed head and a hollowed bottom with grooves for the rifling to catch on to. The minie ball was heavy and when it made impact with the human body it usually crushed any bone in the way. The shape of the projectile made it far more accurate and allowed it to fly farther.
Pictures of the Weapons Used
Minie Ball
Used in the new rifles.
Gatling Gun
Hand Cranked machine gun used to demolish enemy lines.
Napoleon Field Gun
Small cannon used in close quarters