| Civil War artillery was well ahead of its time! Rifled cannons could fire up to 5 miles and were extremely accurate. The artillery often decimated infantry using liniar warfare tactics and cuased immense casualties. Firing double canister a cannon could act like a giant shotgun or firing percussian and shrapnel shells it could be like a giant rifle. The main artillery of both sides was the Napoleon becuase it was easy to train gun crews to use. The second most common was the Parrot rifle in either 10lbs. or 20lbs. caliber. A little less common was the 3inch ordinance. The largest gun was the 15inch mortor "Dictator" used in the siege of Petersburg. |
The Civil War brought about great change in infantry due to it's weapons. The rifle musket could fire over 1000 yards and was very accurate. By the end of the war the tight marching formation style of battle on open fields was forced to change into small units fighting in trenches and less often using hand to hand fighting. The Main Shoulder arm of the Union was the .58 caliber Springfield Rifle Musket. The Main Rifle Musket of the Confederacy was the simialr British made .577 caliber Enfield. |
| During the civil war great naval advancemants were made. Although most of both navies were traditional wooden warships both sides had ironclad warships which proved greatly succesful against their wooden counterparts. By the end of the war the confederacy had also turned out the first "real" submarine, The"Hunley". |
The Civl War also brought about great change in cavalry. The saber soon proved useless and the muzzle loading musket was also ineffective. This brought about the creation of the carbine, a multishot rifle with a 7 shot magazine and shortened barrel for easy horseback use. The Civil War was the last war in which Cavalry played a major role as a main body fighting force. |