Throughout all of the civil war, the primary weapon of choice was the musket.
The Musket was supposedly a revolution in war weapons, although it originally
only had a range of about 100 yards. Some time before the war, they improved
the barrel of the musket, making the bullet spin, which increased the accuracy
and range of the muskets. The main side effect of using the rifle muskets was
that when they pushed the powder and bullet down the barrel, the powder would
smear against the barrel, and caused loading to be slower. Also before the war,
they made another invention that improved the musket. Normally they
would use a small round ball as their ammunition, but they developed a better
shaped bullet called the "minie" ball. The minie ball actually cleaned the gun
as it was being used, so they could use the better gun without sacrificing time.
Before the war, when they were using the "smoothbore" shortranged muskets, it
was customary to stand in tightly packed lines and shoot "volleys" of shots. When
they shot a "volley", they would all shoot at the same time. Once they had an
advantage over their opponent, they would use their bayonets to charge their
enemies and finish off the attack. After the minie ball was invented and they
could use the rifled muskets with the greater range, they had much more options
for the tactics that they could use in battle. They no longer had to be standing
as one to be strong. They combined the previous tactics with the surroundings
they had, such as trees and bushes, to get the most effective attack. They would
also dig small trenches with their bayonets to further protect themselves. Throughout
history there have been very brutal battles that were mostly thanks to the
technology of muskets. The civil war era is a very good example of this. On this
website I summarize the top battles of the civil war and explain some of the roles
that muskets played in those battles.
Below is an image of an 1855 percussion musket with a bayonet.
