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Gatling gun: Arguably the most successful Civil War machine gun, the Gatling gun could sustain 150 rounds a minute thanks to its rotating barrel design. Although Chief of Ordnance James Wolfe Ripley was against its adoption, that did not stop individual generals like Benjamin Butler from purchasing them for their own use.
During the American Civil War, an assortment of small arms found their way onto the battlefield.Though the muzzleloader percussion cap rifled musket was the most numerous weapon, being standard issue for the Union and Confederate armies, many other firearms, ranging from the single-shot breech-loading Sharps and Burnside rifles to the Spencer and the Henry rifles - two of the world's first ...
over 3032 made in 1819, Many converted to percussion Cap for Civil War C. Chapman Nashville, Tennessee.54 caliber percussion muzzle-loading carbines Less than 100 Cameron & Company Charleston, South Carolina: Rifles Also "Cameron, Taylor, & Johnson" Churchill & Sons Columbiana, Alabama: Artillery Columbus Columbus, Georgia
Nine-pounders were universally gone well before the Mexican War, and only scant references exist to any Civil War use of the weapons. The 12-pounder field gun appeared in a series of models mirroring the 6-pounder, but in far less numbers. At least one Federal battery, the 13th Indiana, took the 12-pounder field gun into service early in the war.
It could also fire canister shot and common shell. Shortly before the war broke out, the U.S. Army adopted a plan to convert M1841 6-pounder field guns from smoothbore to rifled artillery. Rifling the existing 6-pounders would both improve the gun's accuracy and increase the weight of the shell (by elongating the round).
In spite of this, few of the carbines were immediately ordered by the government, but this changed with the outbreak of the Civil War, when over 55,000 were ordered for use by Union cavalrymen. [3] This made it the third most popular carbine of the Civil War; only the Sharps carbine and the Spencer carbine were more widely used. [ 4 ]
The Machine Gun, Volume 1, George M. Chinn, Bureau of Ordnance, United States Navy, 1951, No ISBN. "The Long Arm of Lee" by Wise. "Confederate Cannon Foundries" by Gunter and Daniel. "Ironmaker to the Confederacy" by Dew. "Civil War Collector's Encyclopedia" by Francis A. Lord (contains photo of gun from West Point Museum)
One of the best-known early rapid-fire firearms, the Gatling gun saw occasional use by the U.S. forces during the American Civil War, which was the first time it was employed in combat. It was later used in numerous military conflicts, including the Boshin War , the Anglo-Zulu War , and the assault on San Juan Hill during the Spanish–American ...