List of weapons in the American Civil War

The American Civil War, fought between the Union and Confederate forces, took place from 1861 to 1865. During the war, a variety of weapons were used on both sides. These weapons include edged weapons such as knives, swords, and bayonets, firearms such as rifled muskets, breech loaders and repeating weapons, various artillery such as field guns and siege guns and new weapons such as the early grenade.[1]

Muzzle loaders dominated the battlefields of the Civil War, being used by both sides in hundreds of thousands. The bayonets attached to the guns were an important force multiplier during the war

The Civil War is often referred as one of the first "modern" war in history as it included the most advanced technology and innovations of warfare available at the time. Some of the advances and innovations of the Civil War included mass production of war materiel, rifling of gun barrels and the use of the Minié ball, the advent of repeating firearms and metallic cartridges, transportation railroads with armed locomotives, ironclad warships, submarines, one of the first uses of air corps for aerial reconnaissance, communication (especially the telegraph), advances in medicine and the gradual decline of tactics from previous centuries.[2]

Personal weapons

Edged weapons
Model Notes for the subject
Model 1832 foot artillery swordIssued to artillerymen. Based on the Roman gladius.
Model 1833 Dragoon SaberIssued to the US Cavalry. An engraved version was privately purchased by senior officers.
Model 1840 Light Artillery SaberIssued to mounted artillery.
Model 1840 Army Noncommissioned Officers' SwordIssued to infantry sergeants. The Marines had their own version.
Model 1840 Cavalry SaberIssued to Union cavalry
Model 1860 Light Cavalry SaberIssued to Union cavalry
M1860 CutlassIssued to naval boarding parties. Sailors also had access to axes, harpoons and grappling hooks.
Model 1850 Army Staff & Field Officers' SwordRegulation officer's sword, though in practice most officers used cavalry sabers. Southern officers sometimes carried ancestral blades from the War of 1812 or even the American Revolutionary War.
Mameluke swordCarried by Marine officers.
Bowie knifeOften carried by Confederates instead of bayonets, including the Arkansas toothpick which could be used as a sword in combat, a hatchet to chop wood, a razor and a paddle for emergency river crossings.[3]
  • Jeb Stuart with cavalry saber
  • 1832 Artillery sword
  • 1860 saber
  • A Mameluke sword
  • Regulation infantry officer's sword

In 1862 Joseph E. Brown governor of Georgia, proposed issuing pikes to the State militia to compensate for the shortage of guns. Thousands were made and issued but not known to have been used in combat.[4]

Sidearms
Model Notes
Adams RevolverA double-action only revolver and predecessor to the Beaumont–Adams.
Beaumont–AdamsImported by both the Confederacy and the Union.
Colt Army Model 1860A .44 caliber revolver made for the US Cavalry to replace the heavier Colt Dragoon Revolver. The Bessemer steel process invented in the 1850s made a lighter stronger pistol in .44 caliber possible.
Colt M1861 NavyUpdated version of the Colt .36 caliber 1851 Navy with lines similar to the Colt 1860 Army
Colt 1851 Navy RevolverColt's most popular pistol for the 1850s Civilian market in .36 caliber. The name 'Navy' came from the cylinder of the revolvers bring engraved with a scene of the victory of the Second Texas Navy at the Battle of Campeche on May 16, 1843. The preferred weapon of the Confederacy. Copies such as the Griswold & Gunnison were made all over the South.
Colt PoliceColt 1862 .36 caliber pistol originally made for the New York Metropolitan Police Department.
Colt RootThe first of Colt's revolvers to use a "creeping" loading lever mechanism.
Colt PocketA popular revolver that was never officially issued but was often bought privately.
Colt Dragoon RevolverIssued to the US Cavalry. A heavy .44 caliber pistol invented during the Mexican War and designed for killing the mounts of charging enemy troopers.[5]
Colt WalkerA .44 caliber revolver that was developed into the Colt Dragoon.
Colt PatersonThe first true revolver produced by Colt in 1836.
Moore's belt revolverA seven shot revolver firing the .32 teat-fire cartridge.
Remington Model 1858Colt's chief competitor, the Remington Repeating Arms Company, also made revolvers during the Civil War. The most common was the Remington Model 1858 New Army in .44 caliber. The .36 caliber version referred to as the Remington Model 1858 New Model Navy.
Smith & Wesson Model 1Used as an alternative to the Colt and Remington. These usually fired brass rimfire cartridges.
Smith & Wesson Model No. 2 ArmyA larger version of the Smith & Wesson Model 1 and chambered in .32 caliber rimfire.
Starr revolverA double action revolver which was briefly used in the western theater of the war, until the U.S. Ordnance Department persuaded Starr Arms Co. to create a single-action variant after the discontinuation of the Colt. The company eventually complied, and the Union acquired 25,000 of the single action revolvers for $12 each.
Savage 1861 NavyA proto double action revolver with a second trigger underneath the first. Used by the Navy and a few Army regiments.
Tranter revolverThe first model also had a proto double action with a second trigger underneath the first. But in a later model this was reduced to a single trigger that could work with both single action and double action.
Kerrs Patent RevolverA five shot back-action revolver made by the London Armoury Company was used by Confederate cavalry.
LeMat RevolverPerhaps the most well known foreign designed revolver during the Civil War. It had two barrels, a .42 caliber barrel on top and a 20 gauge shotgun barrel underneath. The creator, a French doctor living in New Orleans, Jean Alexandre LeMat, moved back to France to create more revolvers for the Confederacy. The French made revolvers, however, proved unreliable and difficult to manufacture.
Lefaucheux M1854A pinfire revolver imported from France by Union and Confederate officers.
Butterfield RevolverA transitional revolver with tape primer invented in 1855 by Jesse Butterfield of Philadelphia. Two thousand were ordered by the US Army, but production was canceled in 1862.[6]
Spiller & Burr revolverA cheaper version of the Whitney Revolver with a frame made from gunmetal (bronze) instead of iron and the steel in the cylinder was replaced with twisted iron. The muzzle was also rounded instead of having sharp edges.[7]
Walch RevolverA very rare 12 shot revolver. Fewer than 200 were made.
Elgin Cutlass pistolIssued to navy personnel but proved unpopular with the men and was quickly replaced with the M1860 Cutlass.
Volcanic PistolA lever action pistol made in 1853 chambered in .44 rimfire. Privately owned by those who could afford them.
Wesson and Leavitt Dragoon RevolverA large single-action revolver in .40 caliber.
Whitney RevolverFirst produced in 1857, this .36 caliber percussion revolver was the first to be produced with a solid frame, which meant that it was much sturdier than the traditional Colt.
  • Colt Army Model 1860
  • Colt 1851 Navy
  • Colt 1861 Navy
  • Colt Dragoon and Pocket Revolver
  • Elgin pistol
  • Five barreled Remington Elliot pepperbox revolver produced from 1860 to 1862
  • Remington Model 1858
  • S&W Model 1 Revolver
  • John Wilkes Booth's derringer
  • Beaumont–Adams
  • LeMat revolver
  • French naval pistol. A similar weapon was issued to the USN

Small revolvers, derringers and pepper-box pocket pistols like the teat-fire cartridge Colt Baby Dragoon were often carried by enlisted men as a backup weapon for close quarters fighting. Single shot caplock pistols copied from the prewar French models were issued to the US Navy. These had brass barrels to prevent corrosion. Some Confederate cavalry units were equipped with single shot caplock or even flintlock pistols early in the war. Some pistols were of the military make and had been issued to the US Army but were obsolete by the time of the Civil War due to the introduction of revolvers.[5]

Rifles
Main article: Rifles in the American Civil War
Model Notes
Springfield Model 1861The Springfield Model 1861 was the most widely used rifle of the civil war.
Springfield Model 1863A slightly modified version of the Model 1861.
Pattern 1853 EnfieldThe Enfield 1853 rifled musket was used by both the North and the South in the American Civil War, and was the second most widely used infantry weapon in the war. Obsolete Brunswick rifles and caplock conversions of the Brown Bess were also imported by the Confederacy.
Pattern 1861 Enfield Musketoon.
Lorenz RifleThis Austrian gun was the third most common musket and was imported by both sides. It fired the same .58 caliber Minie ball as the Enfield and Springfield.
M1841 Mississippi RifleA 2 band rifle with sword bayonet which was issued to Confederate NCOs.
Springfield Model 1812A very unreliable rifle that was not used very often.
Springfield Model 1816Some of these old flintlocks were converted to the percussion system.
Springfield Model 1847 Musketoon.
Springfield Model 1855The Springfield Model 1855 used both the Minie ball and the Maynard Tape Primer system.
Fayetteville rifleA Confederate copy of the Springfield rifle.
Richmond RifleConfederate copy of the Springfield Model 1855, without Maynard Tape Primer.
Whitworth rifleMainly imported by the Confederacy as a weapon for sharpshooters.
Sharps rifleThe Sharps rifle was a falling block rifle used during and after the American Civil War. The carbine version was very popular with the cavalry of both the Union and Confederate armies and was issued in much larger numbers than the full length rifle.
Frank Wesson rifleThe Frank Wesson rifle was a breech loading, metallic rimfire cartridge carbine used during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. The carbine was used by US Cavalry, typically purchased by state governments or individuals.
Colt revolving rifleThe Colt revolving rifle was an early repeater that was not favored by the troops because it tended to discharge all of its cartridges at the same time.
Sharps & Hankins CarbineCarbines manufactured for the navy that was made with a protective leather barrel cover.
Volcanic CarbineThe Volcanic Carbine used the same system as the Volcanic Pistol but with the exception of having a stock, a larger lever loop and a longer barrel/magazine. The carbine was never issued but was bought privately.
Joslyn rifleThe Joslyn rifle was made in both percussion and rimfire configuration.
M1817 Common rifleMany of these old flintlock muskets were converted to the percussion system and some of the barrels where even rifled to accept the minié ball. The quality of these conversions varies from manufacturer.
Maynard carbine.
Merrill carbine.
Jenks Mule ear CarbineAll of these carbines were manufactured for the Navy and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service.
Burnside carbineA breech loader invented by Ambrose Burnside and issued to the US Cavalry.
Tarpley carbineA Southern breech loader which was not widely produced due to mechanical flaws.
Smith carbinePatented by Gilbert Smith in 1857.
Henry rifleThe Civil War precursor to the Winchester Rifle based on early lever-action rifles made by New Haven Arms Company Co. These highly prized weapons were privately purchased by those who could afford them.
Spencer repeating rifleThe Spencer repeating rifle was a manually operated lever action, repeating rifle fed from a tube magazine with cartridges. It was adopted by the Union army, especially by the cavalry, during the American Civil War, but did not replace the standard issue muzzle loading rifled muskets in use at the time. The Spencer carbine was a shorter and lighter version of the Spencer repeating rifle.
M1819 Hall rifleA single shot breech loader invented in 1811. A few were used by the Confederacy.
Gallager carbineA single shot breech loading rifle with 17,782 sold to the US Army.
  • Springfield Model 1861
  • Lead Minie bullets for the Enfield and Springfield including (4) a Williams cleaner bullet
  • 2 band Enfield Musketoon
  • Pattern 1853 Enfield
  • Sharps Carbine
  • Colt Revolving Rifle
  • Burnside Carbine
  • Henry Rifle
  • Spencer repeating rifle

Early in the war the Confederates used civilian firearms including shotguns and hunting rifles like the Kentucky or Hawken due to the shortage of military weapons. The British officer Arthur Fremantle observed that revolvers and shotguns (especially double barreled models) were the favored weapons of Confederate cavalry and mounted infantry during his 1863 visit to the South.[8]

Grenades

The American Civil War belligerents did have crude hand grenades equipped with a plunger that would detonate upon impact. The Union relied on experimental Ketchum Grenades with a wooden tail to ensure the nose would strike the target and start the fuse. The Confederacy used spherical hand grenades that weighed about six pounds sometimes with a paper fuse. They also used Rains and Adams grenades which were similar to the Ketchum in appearance and firing mechanism.[9]

Rapid fire weapons

Similar weapons of the Union included the .58 caliber Ager machine gun also known as "coffee mill gun" which was similar to the Claxton machine gun. Like the Gatling I and II machine gun, the cartridges of Ager's invention were fed by a hand crank with a hopper on top and had a steel guard, and this is why some people believe that President Lincoln called it "the coffee grinder gun". Other infantry support weapons included the Billinghurst Requa Battery volley gun which had eight banks of cartridge chambers that were rotated into alignment behind the row of 25 barrels.[10]

Chief of Ordnance, General James Wolfe Ripley was against issuing repeating rifles and rapid fire weapons to the Union army as he believed it would waste ammunition. Nevertheless, several generals, including General Benjamin Butler and General Winfield Scott Hancock, purchased Gatling machine guns that were the logical outgrowth of the trends portrayed in the Ager machine gun and the Ripley machine gun.[11]

The Confederacy used the single barrel hand cranked Williams machine gun that was similar to the single barrel hand cranked Gorgas machine gun and the Vandenberg volley gun that was similar to the French De Reffye mitrailleuse and the Belgian Montigny mitrailleuse.[12]

Artillery

Special weapons

Carriages

Trains

Ships

Submarines

Aircraft

Air balloons

Airships

See also

References
  1. Archived 2013-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Technology in the Civil War". Hackman-adams.com. Archived from the original on 2012-12-19. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
  3. "Introduction to Arkansas". Retrieved 2007-06-19.
  4. "Georgia Governor Joseph Brown Addresses the Mechanics". Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  5. Ricketts, H, Firearms (London, 1964)
  6. "NRA Museums". www.nramuseum.org.
  7. "Dixie Gun Works Spiller & Burr .36 Caliber Revolver". Guns of the Old West. No. Summer 2014. May 16, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  8. Fremantle, Lieut.-Col Sir Arthur James (1864). Three Months in the Southern States: April–June 1863. Mobile, Alabama: S.H. Goetzel. pp. 36, 39.
  9. Battle of 1st Bull Run Retrieved 3 May 2007
  10. Rapid fire guns of the Civil WarArchived 2008-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
  11. William B. Edwards, "Civil War Guns", Thomas Pubns (October 1997)
  12. Chinn, "The machine gun: Part II manually operated machine guns".

Bibliography
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