Ryan+Weapon+Technology

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Introduction
During the American Civil War many different weapons and tactics were used and changed because of the technological advances from before the Civil War to during the Civil War. More powerful small arms made marching towards the enemy, like in the American Revolution, almost impossible. The Minie Ball extended the firing rage of a bullet to six times the length it could be before, making close combat less common. With the first sharpshooters they could now target certain soldiers to cause physiological damage to regiments. The first machine gun was made with 600 rounds per minute it was one of the biggest inventions of the Civil War. The first grenades and landmines were also created during the Civil War although they didn’t aid the armies it did lead to development of better grenades and landmines.

Artillery
Artillery is any weapon larger then small arms, artillery is mainly cannons. They are classified by their loading method, length, weight, caliber, and more. The weight refers to the weight of each cannonball and not the weight of the cannon itself. Another classification was mortar, guns or howitzers. Mortars had shorter barrels and a higher trajectory. Guns were the opposite they had a longer barrel with a flat trajectory. Lastly, howitzers were in between mortars and guns. Cannons main use in the civil war was the inflict damage on ships or bunkers not to target people.

Napoleon
The Napoleon was a howitzer, it was muzzle loaded and was a commonly used cannon among the Union and Confederate soldiers. It was used as a defensive and offensive weapon as it was precise and could fire as far as one mile. The Napoleon's ammunition weighted twelve pounds. By the 1863 more than one third of both the Union and Confederates artillery were Napoleons with the Union owning about 1000 and the Confederates owning about 600.

Parrot
The Parrot was another commonly used cannon during the Civil War. There were two types of Parrots; the first being more common a ten pound cannon, and the twenty pound Parrot, which was one of the largest in use during the Civil War. The Parrot was use by both the Union and the Confederates.

Whitworth
This was an English cannon that wasn't as popular as the other cannons. It was the only breechloader, meaning it was loaded from the back and not the from like most other cannons. It had some mechanical difficulties because it was one of the first of its kind making it not as common as the Napoleon or Parrot. The Union never used Whitworths but the Confederates used it at a couple battles. When used the Whitworth could accurately fire one and a half miles.

Small Arms
In order for a weapon to be considered small arms it has to be a personal weapon carried by soldiers and it has to be smaller then a cannon. Most soldiers carried a musket or a rifle, a bayonet attached onto the end of the weapon and ammunition for their weapons. Some higher ranked soldiers carried pistols but it was uncommon for a regular soldier to carry one. At the beginning of the war both sides lacked the knowledge of how to fight tactically with the weapons they had. Regiments could no longer walk up to the opposing fort while they were reloading because now men could reload their weapons faster than in the American Revolution.

Enfield Rifle
The Enfield Rifle is a British Rifle that was common among the Union and Confederate armies at the beginning of the war. Both sides had few weapons when the war started and imported Enfield's so their soldiers could have a weapon to fight with.It was a muzzle-loaded weapon but because it used a mine The Enfield had a .577 caliber and the Union and Confederates used .58 caliber ammunition this was useful because the armies didn't have to get different ammunition to use this weapon.

Springfield Musket
The Springfield Musket was a muzzle loaded weapon that used a mini ball and had the firing power to kill people up to 600 yards away unlike weapons before the civil war era that could only be accurate at 100 yards. The Springfield Musket was also rifled and had static iron sights meaning you could adjust the sight to 100, 300, and 500 yards. The North made over one and a half million Springfield Muskets during the Civil War while the Confederates picked up Springfield's for dead soldiers after battles. With Springfield Muskets armies could no longer approach the enemies and bayonets became less useful.

The Minie Ball
The Minie Ball was a new type of bullet that was created in 1847 by Claude Minie. It was cone shaped with ridges and a cone shaped indent on the back side. The groves made the bullet rotate and more acurate the other bullets. It decreased the reload time of the weapon due to only needing to shove one item, withthe gunpowder and the bullet, down the nozzle of the rifle instead of both items seaperatly. The Minie Buleet traveled faster then other bullets and could fracture bones and give fatal wounds. Another great change from earlier bullet to the Minie Ball was that it was larger then the barrel leaving no gaps in the barrel and using the gun powder used to its full extent. The Union gernerals old tatics did not work against the confederates because they could no longer attack while tehconfedarates were reloading. This lead to many failed battles and many deaths until the Union changed their battle strategy.

Sharpshooters
The Union recruited and trained soldiers to become expert marksmen in mid-1861. In order to be qualified to be an expert marksmen and join a Sharpshooter Regiment you had to hit a ten inch circle ten times in a row from two hundred meters. The first and second regiment of sharpshooters were deployed to the Eastern battlefront. In 1864 the two regiment were joined to form one regiment. They were later split up to be part of a normal regiments for special deployment. The confederates had also trained sharpshooters but their work was not as documented at the Union sharpshooters. The sharpshooters helped in many battles including Gettysburg and Vicksburg.

Gatling Gun
media type="youtube" key="miU5NbcTRLw" height="349" width="425" align="right" The Gatling Gun was never purchased by the Union or the Confederates. The Confederates tried to make their own version that could fire 120 rounds per second but because their was only one barrel it overheated and could not fire up to its full potential. Dr. Richard Gatling created the first gatling gun, which had six barrels so it wouldn't over heat and was power by a crank. This weapon could fire up to 600 rounds per second. Dr. Gatling tried to sell his invention to the Union army but they weren't convinced that it would be useful. Benjamin Butler a general for the Union army believed that the gatling gun would be a useful weapon and bought twelve at 1000 dollars a piece. The twelve gatling guns turned out to be a useful purchase and aided the Union in the siege of Petersburg.

Coal Torpedo
The coal torpedo is not actually a torpedo. It was used by the confederates in an attempt to sink the Union's steamboats. The coal torpedo looked and felt like a piece of coal, but was filled with gunpowder. It was placed in with other coal that the Union would use to power their steamboats. When the coal burned in the boiler it would explode and break the boiler disabling the ship. Coal torpedos hardly ever sunk ships only temporarily disabled the ships.

Land Mine
The first version of land mines were used by the confederates in 1861. They set out small balls in the water that when they hit a boat they would explode. By the end of the war mines had sunken twenty-nine ships and damaged fourteen. In 1862 while the confederates were retreating from a Union attack the men were ordered by Brigadier-General Gabriel Rains to set up shells that would explode when stepped on or by being pulled by a tripwire. Many generals said that mines were an unfair way to fight wars and the should not be used in war.

Hand Grenade
Hand grenades were just being developed during the Civil War and would often not explode until being thrown back and forth between sides. The Union made hand grenades shaped like darts, they had a nose that was hallowed out and filled with gunpowder and fins on the back for stability in flight. This was called the Katcham Grenade and was suppose to explode when the nose got pushed in to the gunpowder in impact. The confederates copied the Unions ideas for grenades and made replicas of the Union grenades. They also used a grenade that was just a ball with a paper fuse that they would light and throw into Union bunkers.

Sharps Single Shot Percussion Carbine
Christian Sharps (1811-1872) Originator of a line of military and sporting riffles and handguns. The design of this gun in conjunction with a breechblock mounted plate allowed for a moderatley effective gas seal. The pellet mechanism of this model allowed for the mechanism to be disengaged. With a supply of pellet primers held in reserve, ordinary percussion caps could be used.

Springfield Rifle-Musket
The Model 1861 was the standard rifle-musket used throughout the war. A single-shot, muzzle-loading gun detonated with a percussion cap, originally made by the Springfield Armory, but due to the need for more firearms, the U.S. government contracted with twenty private contractors. It is estimated approximately one million Model 1861-type muskets were manufactured during the war. These changes lowered its manufacturing costs and time.

Adam's Self Cocking, Five Shot Revolver
This weapons fires a large .50 caliber, which was at the time considerable firing power. The weapons had a long barrel giving greater firing accuracy, and was created by Robert Adams. The case of the handgun holds a double bullet mould and a metal oil bottle. The other tool is a punch for cutting circular wads to go into the chambers to hold the powder in place.