ForgottenWeapons
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Ask Ian: Civil War Small Arms Technology (ad-free)
🕑 Added 2022-12-29 12:00:04 +0000 UTCFrom Jan on Patreon:
"What often baffles me is the transition period of various stages of development of gun technology - in particular around the Civil War. What were the types of guns used during civil war and why weren't more modern mechanisms used, if they were available? Was it similar in wars that took place at the same time, but in other areas of world?"
The US Army was well equipped at the start of the Civil War with a pretty good, modern design: the Model 1855 rifle-musket. It was a percussion-fired gun with a rifled barrel and a Maynard tape-primer system. However, the supply of these guns was only sufficient for the basic standing army, and the guns in reserve were largely smoothbores. With huge numbers of new recruits and volunteers to arm for the Civil War, both sides had to scramble to scrounge any and all weapons they could, both domestic and bought form Europe. It took time to get new manufacturing scaled up (and in the South, this was basically never achieved). As a result, the Ordnance Department under Brigadier General Ripley focused on known, proven designs that could be efficiently manufactured in large quantity. He felt - and in retrospect I believe he was correct - that trying to develop new wonder weapons like the Henry would be a misdirection of resources.
Comments
Guido Schriewer
the ammo in storage was the thing more than once more than everything else, I assume.
John Arpin
Good video! I would also add training and doctrine as a factor in the US Civil War. We've heard about officers studying Hardee's manual at night and teaching the next day. Change the technology too much and the manuals must be rewritten; not easy to do in wartime when the professional education system at the time was miniscule.
Terry
Two minor quibbles concerning your discussion of the US Army. One is that there are Two additional problem with equipping the force with new rifle. The first is the transitioning to the new system. You have to physically replace them—and all their ammunition—which can be a logistical and readiness nightmare, and without the threat of imminent hostilities to justify it, is a very hard sell. I lived through this in the fielding of the M16A2 and it’s new ammunition. The second is what do you do with the hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of old rifles and ammunition. Storage is costly, destruction is costly and dangerous, and the days of surplusing to the public or allies is over. The second quibble is your choice of what else to do with the funding. Base infrastructure is funded separately from operations in the Army budget process. Love your stuff.
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