Sir as someone who cannot afford to purchase subscriptions to documentary producing websites, I thank you with my entire heart for making such amazing content on UA-cam for free. Regards, A Military history admirir6
I agree whole heartedly. I love watching documentaries and anything history. For a couple years I had subscribed to streaming services that had history or documentaries. A couple years back my son showed me all the UA-cam channels that had everything I was looking for. The only catch is watching commercials or adds occasionally. I instantly cut off those streaming services and hooked up an Android box in the living room and Firestick's in the bedrooms. I love it, in the long run you save money each month not paying for cable or multiple streaming services.
Outstanding video! I am the proud owner of an original 1842 Springfield which was made in 1846. It is in excellent condition....not quite as nice as the one in the museum in this video, but almost. The stock shows expected minor scratches and dents from use. The barrel, lock mechanism, trigger and straps are all excellent with very little corrosion pitting. I’ve shot it on two occasions since I’ve owned it, with patch and ball and 70 grains of black powder. It still shoots beautifully (though low and to the right a bit most likely because of the light powder load). The post 1860 bayonet is absolutely perfect. It is an honor and privilege to have this beautiful piece of history hanging on my wall. I wish it could tell me its story....and the story of the men that carried it into battle.
I have a 1860s English Fowler double barrel it’s about .68” Damascus barrels I’ve shot it with 70 grains or pyrodrex. I wander the standard load for your gun? I personally believe they’ll hold much more powder than usually assumed
@@jefferyboring4410 the English Fowler sounds sweet! The standard load out for my musket is 110 grains. I am sure it could handle this full charge, but I don’t feel the need to push it. I use only black powder and would suggest that you do not use Pyrodex or any other BP substitute in these antique firearms. These powders ignite and burn differently than BP. I do not claim to be an expert on this, but after a fair amount of research that is the conclusion I came to.
Thank you very much for another quality upload! 👍 Here's a useful mini break-up of the various marches/melodies in fife and drums used in the soundtrack, for anyone interested... 09:23 - Turkey in the Straw (aka Zip Coon) 10:11 - Kilgaragh Mountain _(unsure)_ 11:01 - Year of Jubilo (aka Kingdom Coming) 13:32 - Camptown Races 14:10 - Oh! Susanna 23:01 - Wait for the wagon aka Dissolution Wagon aka Brass Mounted Army 25:54 - The Arkansas Traveler 28:26 - Pop Goes the Weasel _(unsure)_ 31:46 - My Old Kentucky Home 33:09 - Mister, Here's Your Mule _(unsure, also reminds somewhat of parts of Grafted into the Army)_ 33:53 - Stonewall Jackson's Way 34:40 - The Bonnie Blue Flag 43:44 - Turkey in the Straw (aka Zip Coon) 47:45 - When Johnny Comes Marching Home 53:49 - Riding a Raid (Bonnie Dundee melody) (a couple of others I cannot identify, unfortunately...)
The Nelson Rifle was invented and made by my Wife's Great Great Grandfather JD Nelson a blacksmith of Nelson Georgia north of Atlanta....I don't know how many still survive because not many were made....
Yes, very true !Many Confederate cavalrymen brought double-barrel shotguns from home. Both with 28" to 3o" barrels, or with 12 gauge 20" -22" barrels made as "Coach Guns", or sawed -off to carbine size and saddle rings added, for attaching to Carbine swivel rings for attaching to cavalry straps across their chests. One such regiment equipped with a plethora of revolvers and shotgun-carbines, was the 8th Texas Cavalry~ better known as "Terry's Texas Rangers" . At the Battle of Shiloh, they made a famous rear-guard charge on Yankee infantry who held fast with bayonets fixed to skewer horses and men. But the Texans were too smart, and skidded to a halt 20 yards away, and cut lose with a hurricane of withering buckshot at point-blank range ~ decimating scores of YANKEES , enabling the Confederate army to withdraw and fight another day ! And another regiment, enlisted as the 1st Texas Mounted Rifles Regt., and one of their sergeants , noting an abundance of shotgun-carbines commented, "We uns need to change our name to the 1st Texas Mounted Shotguns !" Not only cavalrymen, but I've seen many Confederate infantrymen photographed with long double-barrel scatterguns also !
@@JDMatthias Henry "repeater" rifles weren't invented until 1860. Very few were in the civil war because they were highly expensive. Winchester first "repeater rifle was in 1866. Very few Sharps rifles were in the civil war either because of high expense also. Many civil war soldiers provided their own firearms.
@@sergeantmasson3669 where do you get your information? The Sharps carbine was the most prevalent weapon used by federal cavalry throughout the war and they weren’t being purchased by the individual soldiers.
I've always thought that in the war the mechanism for the muskets was percussion, and it was the beginning of the rifled musket. However, I didn't know that in the early parts of the war, that some units still used smoothbore flintlock muskets dating back to the 1810s, or had replaced the flintlock mechanism to a percussion mechanism but still utilized a smoothbore barrel instead of a rifled barrel. Great video!!!
It makes a level of sense since many arms were privately acquired and were not strictly "regulation" at the time. Caveat to this, the 1792 Militia Acts were still in effect and any man called up for militia service must be able to provide his own equipment precisely because official procurement channels were unable to meet the excessive demand of raising large armies in such short order.
Even percussion guns with paper wrapped "cartridge" a charge and conical bullets were used and state of the art short lived Precursor to brass cartridge cases.
Smooth bore muskets were liked. Buck and ball means you get a little bit of shotgun, a little bit of 69 cal. Irish brigade only changed as loses to unit were replaced. Most combat is short range so a 600 yard range was unneeded.
Amazing how tactics change in varying types of war. Not giving faster loading loading firearms to soldiers due the idea of wasting ammunition, has gone to firearms with staggering rates of fire.
The .30/40 Krag rifle that replaced the single shot trapdoor Springfield was designed to be slower to load. The magazine wasn’t filled by a stripper clip, each round had to be loaded into the magazine individually. It also had a magazine cut off that turned it into a single shot.
@@sgtmayhem7567 Yeah the Germans did the same with the M1871/84. It had a 8 round tube magazine but they would cut that of and single shot most of the time. the magazine was only a backup for emergency firepower.
It's not about "individual soldiers wasting ammunition", that's a gross oversimplification, in 1860 if you quadrupled the Ammunition expenditure of your army, you also HAD to quadruple your supply trains transporting ammunition,, throughout the US Civil war BOTH sides despite the enormous numbers of horses, wagons & thousands of Kilometers of Railway suffered continual material shortages of every kind. You want to increase the firepower four fold........the Confederacy couldn't even supply it''s troops with shoes for Christ's sake.
🤣 I love how even in the Civil War magazine size was an issue with troops. "Well we can't give them SIX rounds in the gun, that's insane. They'd shoot all of it!" Toward the end of the war : "you got your third colt pistol reloaded yet? We have to make a push."
I was a civil war renactor for years and always prefered the remington 1858 new model army revolver. With a solid frame and a drop out cylinder it was far faster to reload with a second cylinder as many officers had a second cyloinder.
The Confederacy also had the same type of system with the Spiller & Burr ( a copy of the North's Whitney Navy .36 revolver) made in my hometown of Macon, Georgia. A top-strap with a nice long rear sight groove, and on the left side a swivel wedge that you could give a 3/4 turn which released the loading lever and cylinder pin to slide forward and drop-out the cylinder ,to pop-in a pre-loaded cylinder. Some examples in museums have a reddish tint to the brass frame, which was due to foraging parties confiscating moonshine brass and copper stills, to melt down and re-cast into frames, the copper giving a reddish tint to the brass. Many Spiller & Burr revolvers were also made with detachable shoulder stocks, to use as pistol-carbines !
No one carried extra cylinders and officers certainly weren't firing off rounds on the battlefield. Their job was to command their men. Any officer looking down the sights of a firearm, and not at his men, was not doing his job. Just because Clint Eastwood did it in "Pale Rider" it doesn't mean it was actually done during the period.
@@gmonynegro595 There's no evidence swapping cylinders was common. It's bad practice to take a single or very few instances as common practice. You're literally taught not to do that in history classes.
It is amazing to me given the difference in the amount of material of war and available manpower. That the Confederates lasted as long as they did and won as often as they did.
Very good channel, greatly enjoyed the very clear descriptions and demos, no mention of the great Burnside carbine though. Many thanks for this in any case, very well done.
When the Civil War started, soldiers used muskets, line abreast, and fought in way Napoleon would find familiar. By 1864, the rate of fire increased so much, that now soldiers dug trenches. Recently invented barbed wire was used in front of trenches, creating scenes that soldiers in WW1 would find familiar., The usage of trains to transport troops and armies was studied by the Germans, who used trains very effectively for movement of troops and material. The usage of a turret on an iron-clad, non-wood, boat was a huge leap in naval technology. The Gatling gun was the first high rate of fire gun. First supplanted by the later machine gun, the Gatling gun is now the main weapon in the A-10 ground support plane. The American Civil War was possibly the most important war, when it comes to development of military technology. One could take pride that we were very smart. But, seems to me, if were smarter, we would not have had the war.
Development of submarines, grenades and torpedoes also along with treatment of wounded men. It truly was the first modern war. Sadly it was so modern the casualty rate was high.
@@kirbystarnino4199 Medical science was pretty primitive, but the development of nursing and a medical corps did occur. Although, the Crimean War was where the Red Cross got started, and modern nursing, I believe. Also, thanks for pointing out subs, etc. I neglected them.
Excellent remarks! In many respects the American Civil War marked simultaneously the twilight of the old type of firearms warfare and the dawn of the modern one... Was a historical landmark in many respects, not only for the US History but for the world. And maybe that's why so many foreigners find it maybe the most intriguing and fascinating period of US History (myself included!)
@@Freawulf It is fascinating. But, all of American History is fascinating, to me. The Pre-Colonial period, especially the first American Revolution of 1676, which failed. Then, the Somerset case, which suggests that the American Revolution was to done to PRESERVE slavery!! (How about that!!) etc etc.
@@craigkdillon Glad I found these comments, I'm sick of having arguments with people who think the Civil War isn't the first modern war because they fought in lines at the start, lol
7:54 about the alamo, the majority of the men were using the brown bess, it was a total mix of all types of muskets and pistols, flintlock and caplock you name it
Those Confederate purchasing agents pulled off some impressive shit. Damn near miraculous in some cases. Including what they had to do to actually get the shit to the Confederate states.
in the reference to the Enfield rifle they neglected to mention the English Whitworth rifle, and it's superb accuracy of the hexogaonal bored rifles. The confederates in Tennessee, were able to keep a supply train of the Union army from being able to deliver the supplies by shooting the mules. The Confereates were up in the mountain ridges and shooting at over a thousand yards! Also neglected was the LeMat revolver with a 29 gauge shot gun barrel under the .44 caliber revolver barrel. It was the favorite of Confederate Generals, J.E.B. Stuart, and P.G.T. Beauregard. It was patented in 1856, by Dr. J.A.F .Lemat of New Orlens. It was manufactured in Paris France, and Burmingham England. Also not mentioned was the populare1858 Star revolver,r which both sides highly prized. It was a double action revolver! It was manufactured in both Birmingham, and Yonkers, N.Y. .
@@rkimberly985 The total number of both of those weapons imported would not have equipped a single normal strength brigade. While both were fine weapons their availability was so limited as to make them insignificant in the course of the war.
@@johngaither3830 I agree. The strategies of the South, dealing with egos and hot heads, were not the most well thought out, before declaring war. If they had did some pre-planning, like building up their arsenals, and importing more weapons, and putting more emphasis on sinking Union ships, especially while in pot, to lessen any future Union blockades. They simply went to far too fast, without proper planning. Had they done so, they could have tied the Union in knots! If they had sat down and gauged their supplies, amount of readily available troops, and experienced commanders, and routes of Northern RRs, and planned sabotage, of these, and shipping ports of the North, things would have gone a whole lot smoother. Hitting various lines of supply with alternating raiders, and Places, RRs etc.that would confuse the Union troops. While they are out chasing after one group of raiders, the raiders could set up ambushes of the Union troops that were after them.. And if they kept up these harassment raids, The South could have been making major incursions into Union held territories. But just my fanciful imagination, since they did not plan ahead or access their current sources, and capabilities, before declaring war. And the South lost the War.. Like I said, Jefferson Davis was not much help. But lacking in numbers as they were, they still should have at least been mentioned, since they were major improvements over what was the majority of weapons used in that senseless war.
This is a great video. I really liked some of the little details like the museum curator showing the spark a flintlock makes, and the close up details of things like the Minie ball being seated and rammed home and the percussion cap being slid onto the nipple. I thought that gave a great insight into what these guns would have been like to use. I also noticed that a lot of the soldiers really looked like boys of 18 or 19. I thought that was good casting.
I read that some soldiers forget to use the cap and kept ramming bullets down thinking they had fired it. Guns recovered from battle field sone had like 2 or even 5 bullets inside.
it was probably vent fouling. I don't know what the Union & Confederate Rifle Drill involved but it probably DIDN'T involve clearing a hang fire in the middle of a battle, sure they were given a special ramrod screw attachment for removing stuck balls (bullets) but actually using one of those is more like a leisurely exercise done on a range or back in camp as per rifle cleaning. Just my 2 pfennigs worth.
I read that as well. Seems like some units weren't drilled enough for real combat and when the time came the shock was overwhelming and caused soldiers to reload and fire incorrectly.
FYI, the usual spelling was "Minie", not "Mini". That was the same as the inventor's name (Minié) just without the accent mark. Simplified Army typesets for stamping out labels didn't have accented letters. Thus the Min-yay ball became the Min-nee ball.
A while back, I read a book that said, that in the very early stages of the war, the south tended to outrange the north somewhat, because they were using hunting rifles, which were generally bigger guns meant for longer ranges than military rifles. I wonder if that was true.
For years I carried a Model 1795 Springfield Armory musket into battle, it was the rifle represented on my CIB (Combat Infantryman's Badge). SSG. U.S. Army (Medically Retired) Infantry / Sniper / SOF Intel (SOT-A), multiple tours
I'm surprised the Smith & Wesson #2 revolver wasn't mentioned. Granted it was never an "officially" issued revolver (despite its nickname of "Old Army"), but there was an entire unit of volunteer cavalry from Kentucky that was armed with these guns, and their rimfire cartridges made them more reliable and faster to load than the cap-and-ball revolvers. And they were very popular with individual soldiers, as well.
In every war bean counters were the soldier's real enemy. Cheaper guns, ammunition, clothes and food could determine the outcome. But they still expected you to do your job and even give your life.
minie ball had a plug in the base to help it expand another guy named Burton improved on it by removing the plug an thinning down the wall of the bullet slightly . this made it quicker and cheaper to make but the name Minie stuck with the bullet
Error at 57:55 mark: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was not yet a Brigadier General at the time of his legendary defense of Little Round Top; he was still a Lieutenant Colonel.
Sorry to burst your bubble but the modern company called Springfield Armory has zero ties to the original Springfield Armory. They simply took the name knowing that the average American will do zero research and buy from them using the name of a previous legendary company.
Dr. Samuel Guthrie, the guy that invented percussion caps and chloroform, lived right down the street from where I grew up. He was a surgeon in the war of 1812. His old brick house is still there and has a historical landmark sign in front of it.
@@brucemorrison2132 On Confederate domestic war industry, "...on balance the degree of industrialization achieved by the Confederate South was phenomenal. The Confederates sustained themselves industrially better than they did agriculturally and far better than they had any reason to expect in 1861. Symbolically, in April 1865, when Lee's tired army marched and fought its way to Appomattox, the men exhausted their supply of food before they ran out of ammunition. In fact when Lee surrendered, the remnant Army of Northern Virigina had a sufficient average of seventy-five rounds of ammunition per man and adequate shells" (The Confederate Nation, Emory Thomas)
You should read up on the world’s finest war. The Pig War. 1859, San Juan Island in territory yet to be determined as to what country it belonged to. Picket was there….
I have had the fun of shooting a reproduction Colt Navy Revolver and it took me about 5 minutes to reload it. But I was at a table with everything prepared and laid out. I can not see doing it hurriedly in the field and under fire. Its an impressive feat for anyone who managed it. Especially in poor light. Putting on caps and pinching them so they don't fall off is a job in itself. I hunt deer with a muzzleloader and my cap has fallen off more than once. Thankfully I noticed before I had the chance to fire. And its tough to fish out one cap out from a tin without knocking 10 more out, and then get it on the nipple with cold hands.... and this is sitting still without explosions, bullets flying by and people screaming around me. What a crazy, brutal, terrifying way to engage in combat. I am not surprised Civil War battlefields are haunted. Thats a lot of extreme human emotion that occurred in one place. Its insane.... a single MG42 spits out the same amount of lead in a minute that an entire company of trained troops managed with muskets.
The Williams Type 2 was supposed to be a replacement for the Burton improved miníe bullet. It shot "cleaner", because the zinc disc created a gas seal much sooner than the Burtons, and therefore allowed more rounds to be fired without cleaning, and more accurately than the Burton. The reason they were unpopular, was because they were much harder to unload from picket duty than the Burtons, because if the Williams bullets were rammed home according to drill, they were already expanded. InRange TV did an excellent video on this topic. ua-cam.com/video/wUhAxfeTrUk/v-deo.html
Looking at casualty rates during the Napoleonic Wars and comparing them with the American Civil War, the casualty rates were about the same. The rifle is objectively more accurate than the smoothbore, but was that accuracy truly a difference maker to the average soldier during combat? Probably not as much as myth has made it out to be.
@@shotgunsteve93 How many of those Napoleonic casualties were from famine or lack of medical knowledge. You will never convince me tactics hadn't been outdated by the weapons. At the start probably not but, by the end absolutely. The main reason The Great War was fought in trenches dates back to Robert E Lee holding off superior forces longer than any before. He changed tactics and fought from fortified defensive positions. A tactic made obsolete by mechanized armor. My original comment is based on engagements like Burnsides Bridge and Gettysburg. In both a few held off many simply because the distance and accuracy offered by the rifle.
I mean, they defiantly increases the rate of development in America however in Europe most of the developments made were already in service. But this was great video
I used to shoot a P53 regularly at my gun club in the UK, a wonderfully accurate and extremely powerful rifle, if you can get one with a Tower Armory stamp.
I like all the reenactor footage that I recognize from the old Sierra Interactive games Robert E. Lee: Civil War General, and Grant Lee Sherman: Civil War Generals II.
The South may have suffered for lack of shoes, but not arms; the U.S. Army keep it well supplied with throw downs. To this day, the UCMJ contains a specific prohibition against soldiers "casting away" their weapons. Of course doing so allows one to run faster.
@@rslover65 Sure does. The Southerners may have started out carrying flintlock shotguns, but by the war's end the few that were left were all carrying U.S. made Springfields.
Grant had three rebel armies throw down their weapons, I believe the word was surrender. Whereas the great leader bobby lee captured the army of...oh wait...it's here somewhere....I'm still looking....
The big problem with the flintlock system was the fact that it wasn't waterproof that's where the percussion cap system has it beat you could ask a percussion cap in water and every which way and it would still shoot you try that with a flintlock you're going to get your powder wet and it's not going to fire then you have a really big club to hit people with
Your initial presenter is not well schooled. The hammer was not called a hammer until percussion firearms were prevalent. The striking face that the flint impacted is called the frizzen. Also, he skipped the model 1803, which was the first American battle rifle that was used in Lewis and Clark expedition.
Pepperbox pistols don't get enough recognition. Even if a lot of these soldiers didn't have a long arm, lots of people had the Allen and thurber pepperbox. It's was relatively cheap even in its day and was carried by thousands of soldiers
They did in all wars until WW2 although on the Western Front in WW1 there were more deaths from battle, notably artillery fire, than disease but this didn't apply to some of the other fronts, notably Africa
@Dav1Gv I would not have wanted to fight in the war back then, I really wouldn't want to fight in a war today I'm a Gulf War veteran but I didn't see horrible combat or anyting! Those conditions back then would be appalling...
@@jerrydonquixote5927 There's an account by the wife of the caretaker of the Cemetery at Getthysburg about seeing operations with the arms and legs just loaded into carts until they were full and then they were driven off and dumped and, of course, if the surgeon actually washed his scalpel and saw in a bucket of water mixed with the blood of the others he had operated on you were one of the lucky ones. Not anyone's fault, of course, they didn't know about infection then. Surprisingly about 50% survived. For that matter in WW1 the medics didn't anticipate the wounded would be infected by bacteria from manured soil, hence the problem of gas gangrene. Many years ago I was a very undistinguished subaltern in the TA, I'm very glad that the Cold War didn't turn hot.
This was quite interesting. Nevertheless, I'm a little bit disappointed about not learning about the Whitworth rifle, the deadly weapon of the Dixie sharpshooters.
Lee was Army not Marines, the Marines didn't become the US Shock Troops until the 20th century. Most American made rifles made by the Armories of the US of the 18th and 19th centuries (long arms dating back to the Arquebus of the 13th century whether or not they were rifled) were based on British made rifles including the Brown Bess and the Enfield Rifled Musket Pattern 1857. Firearms not mentioned were the 1855 revolving rifle, Pepperbox Pistols, the Gatling, Agar Coffee Mill and the various cannons and volley guns
Black powder is a lot of fun. Shooting replicas. My fav is the 44 Rogers & Spencer revolver. Reliable, does not crust up like the Colt and is good for 50 yards. The short barrel brass Colt 1849 self disassembles after a few shots Good for 2-3 drums then locks up and that's with clean burning Swiss powder. My cap Cal 54 Pennsylvania rifle is a good shooter up to 150 yards. It's best at 80 yards or less. All shoot brutally effective big rounds. Ball and Mini.
Many soldiers were forget that and shoot rammers to the rebels... LOL! I have met muskets at the Serbian museum from the wars of the independence 1878/78. It was the conscript army and it hasn't such problems...
Never forget, the south was right and fought for freedom and independence from tyranny and tried to save the constitution. To this day we still suffer the effects of the authoritarian north winning. Everything America suffers today, the south predicted. It's no coincidence the freest and best states to live in today are former CSA states.
@@thejayman1886 that's not the south. That's the cops fault. Most who I would bet my life on are transplants. Those parents however were fully willing to infiltrate the premises. Can't say i know much about what Uvalde is like, but not all cities anymore in Southern states are "southern" anymore unfortunately.
@@TheHeroRobertELee saying that texas isn't part of the southern states is like saying that alaska is not an american state because it is attatched to canada.
@@TheHeroRobertELee anyways, the big problem I see is the dependence on technology. 40 years ago we were free thinking individuals who knew how to stand up for ourselves. Now that we have technology to do everything for us, we are all mindless, spineless, close minded cowards.
@@thejayman1886 you're straw manning me. I never said Texas isn't southern. Of course it is. Its very southern. But not all cities are "southern". For instance, where I live in Florida every house in the county has rebel flags in their yard. But drive to Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, etc and they're nothing but yank transplants and yuppies and supremely democrat.
Many US citizens may not like it but in fact the most powerful politician involved even at a distaff level in the US civil war was probably Prince Albert who did his best to prevent the British empire at the time at the height of it's power and allied(for once with the French empire)and which with a fraction of it's power had ended the transoceanic slave trade in less than a decade from taking part militarily in the war
Excellent documentary well done 👍🏼. I like shooting black powder myself. 1861 caliber 58 is a dam good hunting rifle. The deer 🦌 go right down I don’t think they suffer not long anyway.
@ Julius Dream. I have an 1861 two band Enfield .58 cal reproduction imported by Lyman so long ago they don’t even have documentation on it. It was used when my Dad bought it, given to me when he bought a T/C Hawkins kit, and I’ve killed WELL over two dozen deer in the last 40yrs with it. In my youth, I could bark squirrels with it & kill them without a mark. I’d pay big $$$ for a new barrel...mine is very pitted...and that ramrod has worn the lands out. First two shots in 1-12” at 100yds. IF you can load a 3rd round, it is MOA of paper plate. I cherish it,
Something to keep in mind is that the generals believed that they, and only them, were responsible for any victory. As long as everyone on both sides have the same slow firing equipment, then no one can say that you won due to better guns. All focus on the narcissists. Everyone wants to be Napoleon.
The majority of the northern generals were non veterans, and politically appointed.. Whic was obvious during the first battles. The Union troops were slaughtered due to stupidiy and untrained fancy pants appointees! The south on the other hand had veterans from the war with Mexico. The south had far superior generals, and officers, in tactics, and quick thinking. They just lacked the resources,material, and manpower. J.E.B. Stuart was absolutely the best general in that war. He was amazing in tactics, and quick thinking in tight situations. Unfortunately for the South, he was shot by his own troops, in the dark, as they were being infiltrated by northern soldiers, and were on edge at any movement, and when General Stuart was returning from the ront lines he encountered guards who shot him. It was determined that it was indeed his own troops that shot him, as the doctors removed a round ball, from a smooth bore musket. At that time most of the Union troops were using rifled rifles and minnie balls. (Minet designed bullet) I think it was General Stuart who said the battle is won by the one that gets there the "Firstus, with the mostus!"
@@rkimberly985 initial success aside, the same skills from the Mexican war didn’t help to adjust to the strategic situation- that the south would have overall been better off staying defensive instead of hoping the yanks would keep giving or leaving them easy enough to kill targets in dynamic battles. In fact, ironically the stupid non vet Union commanders in their incompetence gave the rebs a bad sense of superiority that got them destroyed when Sherman and grant came through. I have doubts about how good overall communication was and the south was too romantically set on “start a big war, win through individual state initiative rather than a coordinated whole” but I’m not sure how much missteps was victory syndrome, the inability or unwillingness to change tactics in response to strategic realities, inability or unwillingness to sacrifice personal autonomy for a greater change of victory, or inability to compromise and do any of the above over the confederate states with lacking overall transport infrastructure.
i still find it funny how they had the lever action rifle during the civil war, yet the military refused to use it but was still very popular in the civilian market
@@samcolt1079 they refused to use it simply because it was expensive, but there were some battalions and companies that fund raised the money to arm themselfs with it. But not many actually did that
32:21 the residents of harper’s ferry chose their wallets over the Union, just for the rebels to steal all their stuff and send it to Richmond. And since Confederate currency at the time was I.O.U. paper notes you know they weren’t compensated 😂
You did not discuss the model of 1841 Harpers Ferry rifle musket. It’s better known as the Mississippi rival as Jefferson Davis (later became confederate president) lead the first Mississippi Regiment during the Mexican American war, and they were outfitted with those rifles. Each rifle cost $16 a unit. at the time, they were considered a very high class firearm because of the materials used. There was quite a bit of brass used. The stock contains a patch box. It is a two banded rifle meaning it has two barrel bands. Some were made with a bayonet lug that would accommodate a sword bayonet, However some were not these were usually the navy rifles, but not always. It saw use by southern regimens, and even some by northern regiments. The barrels are either blued steel, or just traditional steel, you will see both. And are typically in 54 caliber, however, I have seen examples that have been bored out to 58 caliber. Modern reproductions of these rifles are scarce, will not exactly scarce just not as prevalent as in fields. They will run you anywhere from $12-$1500. I’ve seen in originals are anywhere from $2000-$3500 from what I have seen.
Hell I can load my cap n ball revolvers in just a couple minutes. They were issued pre loaded and lubed combustable cartridges. Just ram the six cartridges and cap the nipples....easy or just carry an additionally loaded cylinder.
It boggles my mind that the Confederacy didn’t equip their army with Prussian Dreyse “needle guns”. The Dreyse had been around since 1848 and had a firing rate of 10-12 rounds per minute. It made every muzzleloading weapon obsolete, it would have made up for the South’s far less available manpower and made their initial victories even more crushing. The needle guns paper cartridges could be easily produced by hand and cost far less metallic cartridges.
The Dreyse and the Kammerlader were mass produced prior to the Civil war, however the Germans and Norwegians despised slavery so much they both refused to do business with the confederacy.
That would mean prussia beeing in support of the south. They did lean far more torwarts the union though. They would also not export the Dreyse outside of german lands. Then there is the fact that a gun does not win a war if the men using it are just a better armed mob. That goes for both sides of the conflict offcourse.
@@hannesromhild8532 "They would also not export the Dreyse outside of german lands. " IIRC it was only used in Prussia and the Prussian army did not have any interest to export it. A few guns were stolen in 1848 during the revolution, therefore, the principle was most likely known in France and Austria.
They were also much more complicated and require frequent changes of parts especially the “needle” and since the south was under blockade and their supply lines a mess mired in corruption and incompetence seems unlikely that they could have been maintained for any amount of time
OK BIG QUESTION HERE JUST CURIOSITY-WHY DOES IT SEEM UNION SOLDIERS HAD MORE ACCESS TO PISTOLS THAN CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS??? Can someone please answer this - please??
1:44, I remember a history professor @Horton Watkins High School, Ladue MO, told her students that many Union soldiers had lost their thumbs, because of the faulty hammers on the pistol revolvers that they had been given!
I always wondered if there ever was an instance that the agents searching for weapons to buy in europe for the union and confederacy met overseas while wanting to buy weapons from the same company.
If only, the US Army was open about the idea of mass producing Pauly's patent of the Monkey-tail breechloader rifle m1812, as Springfield's standard issue rifle, if not because of Gen. Ripley's stinginess and stubborness.
Sir as someone who cannot afford to purchase subscriptions to documentary producing websites, I thank you with my entire heart for making such amazing content on UA-cam for free.
Regards,
A Military history admirir6
I agree whole heartedly. I love watching documentaries and anything history. For a couple years I had subscribed to streaming services that had history or documentaries. A couple years back my son showed me all the UA-cam channels that had everything I was looking for. The only catch is watching commercials or adds occasionally. I instantly cut off those streaming services and hooked up an Android box in the living room and Firestick's in the bedrooms. I love it, in the long run you save money each month not paying for cable or multiple streaming services.
Knowledge is not for the rich alone
Wish I can go back in time to Industrialize and Secularize the Bronze Age. No more Slavery.
@@christiandauz3742 Sadly slavery still exist today in many countries
@@robertskinner6487 Africa rn probably “he talking bout y’all Spain”👀
Major John Mead Gould was my great great grandfather. He kept a diary throughout his adult life. Thank you for mentioning him.
Outstanding video! I am the proud owner of an original 1842 Springfield which was made in 1846. It is in excellent condition....not quite as nice as the one in the museum in this video, but almost. The stock shows expected minor scratches and dents from use. The barrel, lock mechanism, trigger and straps are all excellent with very little corrosion pitting. I’ve shot it on two occasions since I’ve owned it, with patch and ball and 70 grains of black powder. It still shoots beautifully (though low and to the right a bit most likely because of the light powder load). The post 1860 bayonet is absolutely perfect.
It is an honor and privilege to have this beautiful piece of history hanging on my wall. I wish it could tell me its story....and the story of the men that carried it into battle.
I have a 1860s English Fowler double barrel it’s about .68” Damascus barrels I’ve shot it with 70 grains or pyrodrex. I wander the standard load for your gun? I personally believe they’ll hold much more powder than usually assumed
@@jefferyboring4410 the English Fowler sounds sweet! The standard load out for my musket is 110 grains. I am sure it could handle this full charge, but I don’t feel the need to push it. I use only black powder and would suggest that you do not use Pyrodex or any other BP substitute in these antique firearms. These powders ignite and burn differently than BP. I do not claim to be an expert on this, but after a fair amount of research that is the conclusion I came to.
@TheAirplaneDriver, if you have no heirs who share your passion, make sure it ends up with a suitable collector or a museum.
@@melodymakermark Point well taken 👍🏻
I am so incredibly jealous. How cool man. Good on you
Thank you very much for another quality upload! 👍
Here's a useful mini break-up of the various marches/melodies in fife and drums used in the soundtrack, for anyone interested...
09:23 - Turkey in the Straw (aka Zip Coon)
10:11 - Kilgaragh Mountain _(unsure)_
11:01 - Year of Jubilo (aka Kingdom Coming)
13:32 - Camptown Races
14:10 - Oh! Susanna
23:01 - Wait for the wagon aka Dissolution Wagon aka Brass Mounted Army
25:54 - The Arkansas Traveler
28:26 - Pop Goes the Weasel _(unsure)_
31:46 - My Old Kentucky Home
33:09 - Mister, Here's Your Mule _(unsure, also reminds somewhat of parts of Grafted into the Army)_
33:53 - Stonewall Jackson's Way
34:40 - The Bonnie Blue Flag
43:44 - Turkey in the Straw (aka Zip Coon)
47:45 - When Johnny Comes Marching Home
53:49 - Riding a Raid (Bonnie Dundee melody)
(a couple of others I cannot identify, unfortunately...)
The Nelson Rifle was invented and made by my Wife's Great Great Grandfather JD Nelson a blacksmith of Nelson Georgia north of Atlanta....I don't know how many still survive because not many were made....
Yea right lol..
Yeah and mine wax Abraham Lincoln himself
America has ingenious people.
Prove it
@@brianstabile165 his last descendent died in the 1980s…
I came across an recruiting ad for one of the Texas cavalry units that told them to bring double barreled shotguns
Most Texan cavalry units preferred shotguns than anything else besides pistols
That makes sense unless you have a Henry or Spencer Carbine
Yes, very true !Many Confederate cavalrymen brought double-barrel shotguns from home. Both with 28" to 3o" barrels, or with 12 gauge 20" -22" barrels made as "Coach Guns", or sawed -off to carbine size and saddle rings added, for attaching to Carbine swivel rings for attaching to cavalry straps across their chests. One such regiment equipped with a plethora of revolvers and shotgun-carbines, was the 8th Texas Cavalry~ better known as "Terry's Texas Rangers" . At the Battle of Shiloh, they made a famous rear-guard charge on Yankee infantry who held fast with bayonets fixed to skewer horses and men. But the Texans were too smart, and skidded to a halt 20 yards away, and cut lose with a hurricane of withering buckshot at point-blank range ~ decimating scores of YANKEES , enabling the Confederate army to withdraw and fight another day ! And another regiment, enlisted as the 1st Texas Mounted Rifles Regt., and one of their sergeants , noting an abundance of shotgun-carbines commented, "We uns need to change our name to the 1st Texas Mounted Shotguns !" Not only cavalrymen, but I've seen many Confederate infantrymen photographed with long double-barrel scatterguns also !
@@JDMatthias Henry "repeater" rifles weren't invented until 1860. Very few were in the civil war because they were highly expensive. Winchester first "repeater rifle was in 1866. Very few Sharps rifles were in the civil war either because of high expense also. Many civil war soldiers provided their own firearms.
@@sergeantmasson3669 where do you get your information? The Sharps carbine was the most prevalent weapon used by federal cavalry throughout the war and they weren’t being purchased by the individual soldiers.
I am about a quarter into this documentary. I want to say this documentary is amazing! One of the best ever! Thank you 🙏
Glad you enjoyed it!
I've always thought that in the war the mechanism for the muskets was percussion, and it was the beginning of the rifled musket. However, I didn't know that in the early parts of the war, that some units still used smoothbore flintlock muskets dating back to the 1810s, or had replaced the flintlock mechanism to a percussion mechanism but still utilized a smoothbore barrel instead of a rifled barrel. Great video!!!
It makes a level of sense since many arms were privately acquired and were not strictly "regulation" at the time. Caveat to this, the 1792 Militia Acts were still in effect and any man called up for militia service must be able to provide his own equipment precisely because official procurement channels were unable to meet the excessive demand of raising large armies in such short order.
Yep. Very much a case of what ever you have or can modify, use it.
Even percussion guns with paper wrapped "cartridge" a charge and conical bullets were used and state of the art short lived Precursor to brass cartridge cases.
Smooth bore muskets were liked. Buck and ball means you get a little bit of shotgun, a little bit of 69 cal. Irish brigade only changed as loses to unit were replaced. Most combat is short range so a 600 yard range was unneeded.
@@tomfennesy9105 though the casualties got worse with the improved accuracy even if by accident.
Amazing how tactics change in varying types of war. Not giving faster loading loading firearms to soldiers due the idea of wasting ammunition, has gone to firearms with staggering rates of fire.
Far more reasons then that against the repeaters.
That same logic was used when the us military moved from full auto M16s to three round burst.
The .30/40 Krag rifle that replaced the single shot trapdoor Springfield was designed to be slower to load. The magazine wasn’t filled by a stripper clip, each round had to be loaded into the magazine individually. It also had a magazine cut off that turned it into a single shot.
@@sgtmayhem7567 Yeah the Germans did the same with the M1871/84. It had a 8 round tube magazine but they would cut that of and single shot most of the time. the magazine was only a backup for emergency firepower.
It's not about "individual soldiers wasting ammunition", that's a gross oversimplification, in 1860 if you quadrupled the Ammunition expenditure of your army, you also HAD to quadruple your supply trains transporting ammunition,, throughout the US Civil war BOTH sides despite the enormous numbers of horses, wagons & thousands of Kilometers of Railway suffered continual material shortages of every kind.
You want to increase the firepower four fold........the Confederacy couldn't even supply it''s troops with shoes for Christ's sake.
🤣 I love how even in the Civil War magazine size was an issue with troops. "Well we can't give them SIX rounds in the gun, that's insane. They'd shoot all of it!"
Toward the end of the war : "you got your third colt pistol reloaded yet? We have to make a push."
I was a civil war renactor for years and always prefered the remington 1858 new model army revolver. With a solid frame and a drop out cylinder it was far faster to reload with a second cylinder as many officers had a second cyloinder.
The Confederacy also had the same type of system with the Spiller & Burr ( a copy of the North's Whitney Navy .36 revolver) made in my hometown of Macon, Georgia. A top-strap with a nice long rear sight groove, and on the left side a swivel wedge that you could give a 3/4 turn which released the loading lever and cylinder pin to slide forward and drop-out the cylinder ,to pop-in a pre-loaded cylinder. Some examples in museums have a reddish tint to the brass frame, which was due to foraging parties confiscating moonshine brass and copper stills, to melt down and re-cast into frames, the copper giving a reddish tint to the brass. Many Spiller & Burr revolvers were also made with detachable shoulder stocks, to use as pistol-carbines !
No one carried extra cylinders and officers certainly weren't firing off rounds on the battlefield. Their job was to command their men. Any officer looking down the sights of a firearm, and not at his men, was not doing his job. Just because Clint Eastwood did it in "Pale Rider" it doesn't mean it was actually done during the period.
@@shotgunsteve93 And you would know because your were there?
@@gmonynegro595 There's no evidence swapping cylinders was common. It's bad practice to take a single or very few instances as common practice. You're literally taught not to do that in history classes.
And.... it's just a sexy gun. Let's be honest.
It is amazing to me given the difference in the amount of material of war and available manpower. That the Confederates lasted as long as they did and won as often as they did.
And they nearly won it all on a number of occasions.
Very good channel, greatly enjoyed the very clear descriptions and demos, no mention of the great Burnside carbine though.
Many thanks for this in any case, very well done.
When the Civil War started, soldiers used muskets, line abreast, and fought in way Napoleon would find familiar.
By 1864, the rate of fire increased so much, that now soldiers dug trenches.
Recently invented barbed wire was used in front of trenches, creating scenes that soldiers in WW1 would find familiar.,
The usage of trains to transport troops and armies was studied by the Germans, who used trains very effectively for movement of troops and material.
The usage of a turret on an iron-clad, non-wood, boat was a huge leap in naval technology.
The Gatling gun was the first high rate of fire gun. First supplanted by the later machine gun, the Gatling gun is now the main weapon in the A-10 ground support plane.
The American Civil War was possibly the most important war, when it comes to development of military technology.
One could take pride that we were very smart.
But, seems to me, if were smarter, we would not have had the war.
Development of submarines, grenades and torpedoes also along with treatment of wounded men. It truly was the first modern war. Sadly it was so modern the casualty rate was high.
@@kirbystarnino4199 Medical science was pretty primitive, but the development of nursing and a medical corps did occur. Although, the Crimean War was where the Red Cross got started, and modern nursing, I believe.
Also, thanks for pointing out subs, etc. I neglected them.
Excellent remarks! In many respects the American Civil War marked simultaneously the twilight of the old type of firearms warfare and the dawn of the modern one... Was a historical landmark in many respects, not only for the US History but for the world. And maybe that's why so many foreigners find it maybe the most intriguing and fascinating period of US History (myself included!)
@@Freawulf It is fascinating. But, all of American History is fascinating, to me.
The Pre-Colonial period, especially the first American Revolution of 1676, which failed.
Then, the Somerset case, which suggests that the American Revolution was to done to PRESERVE slavery!! (How about that!!)
etc etc.
@@craigkdillon Glad I found these comments, I'm sick of having arguments with people who think the Civil War isn't the first modern war because they fought in lines at the start, lol
7:54 about the alamo, the majority of the men were using the brown bess, it was a total mix of all types of muskets and pistols, flintlock and caplock you name it
Nicely done.
Arms technology bloomed!
As with small arms, Naval warfare was transformed by the civil war.
Well done..
Those Confederate purchasing agents pulled off some impressive shit. Damn near miraculous in some cases. Including what they had to do to actually get the shit to the Confederate states.
Wow. This was professional, informative and entertaining!!! Thank you.
But somewhat biased !
in the reference to the Enfield rifle they neglected to mention the English Whitworth rifle, and it's superb accuracy of the hexogaonal bored rifles. The confederates in Tennessee, were able to keep a supply train of the Union army from being able to deliver the supplies by shooting the mules. The Confereates were up in the mountain ridges and shooting at over a thousand yards! Also neglected was the LeMat revolver with a 29 gauge shot gun barrel under the .44 caliber revolver barrel. It was the favorite of Confederate Generals, J.E.B. Stuart, and P.G.T. Beauregard. It was patented in 1856, by Dr. J.A.F .Lemat of New Orlens. It was manufactured in Paris France, and Burmingham England. Also not mentioned was the populare1858 Star revolver,r which both sides highly prized. It was a double action revolver! It was manufactured in both Birmingham, and Yonkers, N.Y. .
Actually the LeMatt was 42 caliber with 20 gauge shotgun under the pistol barrel.
@@denisdegamon8224 You are correct. My misprint of the gauge being 29, was meant to be 20. Just one key over.
@@rkimberly985 The total number of both of those weapons imported would not have equipped a single normal strength brigade. While both were fine weapons their availability was so limited as to make them insignificant in the course of the war.
@@johngaither3830 I agree. The strategies of the South, dealing with egos and hot heads, were not the most well thought out, before declaring war. If they had did some pre-planning, like building up their arsenals, and importing more weapons, and putting more emphasis on sinking Union ships, especially while in pot, to lessen any future Union blockades. They simply went to far too fast, without proper planning. Had they done so, they could have tied the Union in knots! If they had sat down and gauged their supplies, amount of readily available troops, and experienced commanders, and routes of Northern RRs, and planned sabotage, of these, and shipping ports of the North, things would have gone a whole lot smoother. Hitting various lines of supply with alternating raiders, and Places, RRs etc.that would confuse the Union troops. While they are out chasing after one group of raiders, the raiders could set up ambushes of the Union troops that were after them.. And if they kept up these harassment raids, The South could have been making major incursions into Union held territories. But just my fanciful imagination, since they did not plan ahead or access their current sources, and capabilities, before declaring war. And the South lost the War.. Like I said, Jefferson Davis was not much help. But lacking in numbers as they were, they still should have at least been mentioned, since they were major improvements over what was the majority of weapons used in that senseless war.
This is a great video. I really liked some of the little details like the museum curator showing the spark a flintlock makes, and the close up details of things like the Minie ball being seated and rammed home and the percussion cap being slid onto the nipple. I thought that gave a great insight into what these guns would have been like to use.
I also noticed that a lot of the soldiers really looked like boys of 18 or 19. I thought that was good casting.
I read that some soldiers forget to use the cap and kept ramming bullets down thinking they had fired it. Guns recovered from battle field sone had like 2 or even 5 bullets inside.
it was probably vent fouling.
I don't know what the Union & Confederate Rifle Drill involved but it probably DIDN'T involve clearing a hang fire in the middle of a battle, sure they were given a special ramrod screw attachment for removing stuck balls (bullets) but actually using one of those is more like a leisurely exercise done on a range or back in camp as per rifle cleaning.
Just my 2 pfennigs worth.
@@panzermacher I don’t know but experts say If they had fired then it would have likely blown the barrel up in their face.
I read that as well. Seems like some units weren't drilled enough for real combat and when the time came the shock was overwhelming and caused soldiers to reload and fire incorrectly.
FYI, the usual spelling was "Minie", not "Mini". That was the same as the inventor's name (Minié) just without the accent mark. Simplified Army typesets for stamping out labels didn't have accented letters. Thus the Min-yay ball became the Min-nee ball.
A while back, I read a book that said, that in the very early stages of the war, the south tended to outrange the north somewhat, because they were using hunting rifles, which were generally bigger guns meant for longer ranges than military rifles. I wonder if that was true.
For years I carried a Model 1795 Springfield Armory musket into battle, it was the rifle represented on my CIB (Combat Infantryman's Badge).
SSG. U.S. Army (Medically Retired) Infantry / Sniper / SOF Intel (SOT-A), multiple tours
Thank you for your service
I'm surprised the Smith & Wesson #2 revolver wasn't mentioned. Granted it was never an "officially" issued revolver (despite its nickname of "Old Army"), but there was an entire unit of volunteer cavalry from Kentucky that was armed with these guns, and their rimfire cartridges made them more reliable and faster to load than the cap-and-ball revolvers. And they were very popular with individual soldiers, as well.
And actually a weak firearm , as it fired scrawny .32 rim fire cartridges, not a real "combat" load. More of a pimp's and a "fallen angel's" pop-gun !
@@brucemorrison2132 a .32 will kill you just as good as anything else.
@@diehard2705 not nearly as well as a 36 or 44 revolver. It really isn't a military effective combat revolver as the previous mentioned calibers.
@@denisdegamon8224 you’re the kind of person that thinks we need to ditch 556 and go back to 7.62 nato aren’t you
@@diehard2705 I mean the army is switching to 6.8mm
In every war bean counters were the soldier's real enemy. Cheaper guns, ammunition, clothes and food could determine the outcome. But they still expected you to do your job and even give your life.
minie ball had a plug in the base to help it expand another guy named Burton improved on it by removing the plug an thinning down the wall of the bullet slightly . this made it quicker and cheaper to make but the name Minie stuck with the bullet
Error at 57:55 mark: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was not yet a Brigadier General at the time of his legendary defense of Little Round Top; he was still a Lieutenant Colonel.
It’s crazy just how old Springfield Armory is going from making flintlocks to AR-15s
Sorry to burst your bubble but the modern company called Springfield Armory has zero ties to the original Springfield Armory. They simply took the name knowing that the average American will do zero research and buy from them using the name of a previous legendary company.
My favorite quote
" God made man, Samuel Colt made them equal"
Dr. Samuel Guthrie, the guy that invented percussion caps and chloroform, lived right down the street from where I grew up. He was a surgeon in the war of 1812. His old brick house is still there and has a historical landmark sign in front of it.
The first casualty of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was, ironically, a black freeman.
My wife from Chicago just heard the war referred to as the war of northern aggression for the first time. Priceless.
Good stuff quality documentaries
But hardly any credit to Confederate arms manufacturing at all .
@@brucemorrison2132 On Confederate domestic war industry, "...on balance the degree of industrialization achieved by the Confederate South was phenomenal. The Confederates sustained themselves industrially better than they did agriculturally and far better than they had any reason to expect in 1861. Symbolically, in April 1865, when Lee's tired army marched and fought its way to Appomattox, the men exhausted their supply of food before they ran out of ammunition. In fact when Lee surrendered, the remnant Army of Northern Virigina had a sufficient average of seventy-five rounds of ammunition per man and adequate shells" (The Confederate Nation, Emory Thomas)
Yankee Solder : A man named Jefferson Davis
Me: Uh Oh.
LMAO !
You should read up on the world’s finest war. The Pig War. 1859, San Juan Island in territory yet to be determined as to what country it belonged to. Picket was there….
I have had the fun of shooting a reproduction Colt Navy Revolver and it took me about 5 minutes to reload it.
But I was at a table with everything prepared and laid out.
I can not see doing it hurriedly in the field and under fire. Its an impressive feat for anyone who managed it. Especially in poor light. Putting on caps and pinching them so they don't fall off is a job in itself.
I hunt deer with a muzzleloader and my cap has fallen off more than once. Thankfully I noticed before I had the chance to fire. And its tough to fish out one cap out from a tin without knocking 10 more out, and then get it on the nipple with cold hands.... and this is sitting still without explosions, bullets flying by and people screaming around me.
What a crazy, brutal, terrifying way to engage in combat. I am not surprised Civil War battlefields are haunted. Thats a lot of extreme human emotion that occurred in one place.
Its insane.... a single MG42 spits out the same amount of lead in a minute that an entire company of trained troops managed with muskets.
Dont go off half cocked, and dont be just a flash in the pan.
😆
The Williams Type 2 was supposed to be a replacement for the Burton improved miníe bullet. It shot "cleaner", because the zinc disc created a gas seal much sooner than the Burtons, and therefore allowed more rounds to be fired without cleaning, and more accurately than the Burton. The reason they were unpopular, was because they were much harder to unload from picket duty than the Burtons, because if the Williams bullets were rammed home according to drill, they were already expanded. InRange TV did an excellent video on this topic.
ua-cam.com/video/wUhAxfeTrUk/v-deo.html
Thank you for sharing! Karl's channel is an absolute treasure
The rifle is the main reason for the high casualty rate. Tactics were outdated by the technology
Looking at casualty rates during the Napoleonic Wars and comparing them with the American Civil War, the casualty rates were about the same. The rifle is objectively more accurate than the smoothbore, but was that accuracy truly a difference maker to the average soldier during combat? Probably not as much as myth has made it out to be.
@@shotgunsteve93 How many of those Napoleonic casualties were from famine or lack of medical knowledge. You will never convince me tactics hadn't been outdated by the weapons. At the start probably not but, by the end absolutely. The main reason The Great War was fought in trenches dates back to Robert E Lee holding off superior forces longer than any before. He changed tactics and fought from fortified defensive positions. A tactic made obsolete by mechanized armor. My original comment is based on engagements like Burnsides Bridge and Gettysburg. In both a few held off many simply because the distance and accuracy offered by the rifle.
I mean, they defiantly increases the rate of development in America however in Europe most of the developments made were already in service. But this was great video
I used to shoot a P53 regularly at my gun club in the UK, a wonderfully accurate and extremely powerful rifle, if you can get one with a Tower Armory stamp.
A very good and detailed presentation.
I like all the reenactor footage that I recognize from the old Sierra Interactive games Robert E. Lee: Civil War General, and Grant Lee Sherman: Civil War Generals II.
The South may have suffered for lack of shoes, but not arms; the U.S. Army keep it well supplied with throw downs. To this day, the UCMJ contains a specific prohibition against soldiers "casting away" their weapons. Of course doing so allows one to run faster.
Missionary Ridge had thousands.
Considering how often Yankee conscripts turn and ran during the first 2 years, no surprise.
History shows who threw down the most arms.
@@rslover65 Sure does. The Southerners may have started out carrying flintlock shotguns, but by the war's end the few that were left were all carrying U.S. made Springfields.
Grant had three rebel armies throw down their weapons, I believe the word was surrender. Whereas the great leader bobby lee captured the army of...oh wait...it's here somewhere....I'm still looking....
Ngl that missisipi rifle looks beautiful with that bronze metal in some of the parts.
Edit:Brass
The big problem with the flintlock system was the fact that it wasn't waterproof that's where the percussion cap system has it beat you could ask a percussion cap in water and every which way and it would still shoot you try that with a flintlock you're going to get your powder wet and it's not going to fire then you have a really big club to hit people with
Your initial presenter is not well schooled. The hammer was not called a hammer until percussion firearms were prevalent. The striking face that the flint impacted is called the frizzen. Also, he skipped the model 1803, which was the first American battle rifle that was used in Lewis and Clark expedition.
Pepperbox pistols don't get enough recognition. Even if a lot of these soldiers didn't have a long arm, lots of people had the Allen and thurber pepperbox. It's was relatively cheap even in its day and was carried by thousands of soldiers
Excellent vid!
Love the action starting @ 37:54
What an American centric title
You dumb
As Corb Lund said, "a sabre keen and a saddle carbine and an army remington"
1848 sharps was a awsom rifle
Teach your children about the Civil War.
Civil War is very fascinating damn those are some harsh conditions they fought in! More men died of disease than bullets or socket bayonets!
They did in all wars until WW2 although on the Western Front in WW1 there were more deaths from battle, notably artillery fire, than disease but this didn't apply to some of the other fronts, notably Africa
@Dav1Gv I would not have wanted to fight in the war back then, I really wouldn't want to fight in a war today I'm a Gulf War veteran but I didn't see horrible combat or anyting! Those conditions back then would be appalling...
@@jerrydonquixote5927 There's an account by the wife of the caretaker of the Cemetery at Getthysburg about seeing operations with the arms and legs just loaded into carts until they were full and then they were driven off and dumped and, of course, if the surgeon actually washed his scalpel and saw in a bucket of water mixed with the blood of the others he had operated on you were one of the lucky ones. Not anyone's fault, of course, they didn't know about infection then. Surprisingly about 50% survived. For that matter in WW1 the medics didn't anticipate the wounded would be infected by bacteria from manured soil, hence the problem of gas gangrene. Many years ago I was a very undistinguished subaltern in the TA, I'm very glad that the Cold War didn't turn hot.
@@Dav1Gv that's horrible unfathomable!
This was quite interesting. Nevertheless, I'm a little bit disappointed about not learning about the Whitworth rifle, the deadly weapon of the Dixie sharpshooters.
Lee was Army not Marines, the Marines didn't become the US Shock Troops until the 20th century. Most American made rifles made by the Armories of the US of the 18th and 19th centuries (long arms dating back to the Arquebus of the 13th century whether or not they were rifled) were based on British made rifles including the Brown Bess and the Enfield Rifled Musket Pattern 1857. Firearms not mentioned were the 1855 revolving rifle, Pepperbox Pistols, the Gatling, Agar Coffee Mill and the various cannons and volley guns
The Springfield Armory has been making weapons since 1794.
And the marines had first been deployed against the Barbary pirates during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson
Black powder is a lot of fun. Shooting replicas. My fav is the 44 Rogers & Spencer revolver. Reliable, does not crust up like the Colt and is good for 50 yards.
The short barrel brass Colt 1849 self disassembles after a few shots Good for 2-3 drums then locks up and that's with clean burning Swiss powder. My cap Cal 54 Pennsylvania rifle is a good shooter up to 150 yards. It's best at 80 yards or less. All shoot brutally effective big rounds. Ball and Mini.
Imagine 20 years later maxim will invent his machine gun
Many soldiers were forget that and shoot rammers to the rebels... LOL!
I have met muskets at the Serbian museum from the wars of the independence 1878/78. It was the conscript army and it hasn't such problems...
Never forget, the south was right and fought for freedom and independence from tyranny and tried to save the constitution. To this day we still suffer the effects of the authoritarian north winning.
Everything America suffers today, the south predicted. It's no coincidence the freest and best states to live in today are former CSA states.
Except for uvald. They let those kids get slaughteted like pigs and didn't do sh*t.
@@thejayman1886 that's not the south. That's the cops fault. Most who I would bet my life on are transplants. Those parents however were fully willing to infiltrate the premises.
Can't say i know much about what Uvalde is like, but not all cities anymore in Southern states are "southern" anymore unfortunately.
@@TheHeroRobertELee saying that texas isn't part of the southern states is like saying that alaska is not an american state because it is attatched to canada.
@@TheHeroRobertELee anyways, the big problem I see is the dependence on technology. 40 years ago we were free thinking individuals who knew how to stand up for ourselves. Now that we have technology to do everything for us, we are all mindless, spineless, close minded cowards.
@@thejayman1886 you're straw manning me. I never said Texas isn't southern. Of course it is. Its very southern. But not all cities are "southern". For instance, where I live in Florida every house in the county has rebel flags in their yard. But drive to Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, etc and they're nothing but yank transplants and yuppies and supremely democrat.
Really good attention to chronology - every weapon is a smoothbore musket - suddenly we are using Minie Balls, yet rifling has not been mentioned ...
Fr 😂🤣😂
Many US citizens may not like it but in fact the most powerful politician involved even at a distaff level in the US civil war was probably Prince Albert who did his best to prevent the British empire at the time at the height of it's power and allied(for once with the French empire)and which with a fraction of it's power had ended the transoceanic slave trade in less than a decade from taking part militarily in the war
Very well presented, ty
Thank you my King for the Vdeo. 🐍
This is well produced. Kudos.
And as the adverts, if you don't get paid, why would you do it?
Excellent documentary well done 👍🏼. I like shooting black powder myself. 1861 caliber 58 is a dam good hunting rifle. The deer 🦌 go right down I don’t think they suffer not long anyway.
@ Julius Dream. I have an 1861 two band Enfield .58 cal reproduction imported by Lyman so long ago they don’t even have documentation on it. It was used when my Dad bought it, given to me when he bought a T/C Hawkins kit, and I’ve killed WELL over two dozen deer in the last 40yrs with it. In my youth, I could bark squirrels with it & kill them without a mark. I’d pay big $$$ for a new barrel...mine is very pitted...and that ramrod has worn the lands out. First two shots in 1-12” at 100yds. IF you can load a 3rd round, it is MOA of paper plate. I cherish it,
Meant to write 1” to 1-1/2” at 100yds...
6:29 hence the saying “just a flash in the pan” and “don’t go off half cocked “
Amazing content!
69 caliber....nice
That's a favorite caliber of mine lolz
Some of those Civil War guns had giant calibers. Imagine getting hit at close range by a .69 soft lead round... Jeebus...
You only had one shot so you had to put your opponent down , no double tapping....
Nice tie, Mr. Ruff.
But, could you form one sentence without ...Ah... in it ?
Something to keep in mind is that the generals believed that they, and only them, were responsible for any victory. As long as everyone on both sides have the same slow firing equipment, then no one can say that you won due to better guns. All focus on the narcissists. Everyone wants to be Napoleon.
Along with “God wills it”
Yup wish I could travel in time and make them look as stupid as they were
The majority of the northern generals were non veterans, and politically appointed.. Whic was obvious during the first battles. The Union troops were slaughtered due to stupidiy and untrained fancy pants appointees! The south on the other hand had veterans from the war with Mexico. The south had far superior generals, and officers, in tactics, and quick thinking. They just lacked the resources,material, and manpower. J.E.B. Stuart was absolutely the best general in that war. He was amazing in tactics, and quick thinking in tight situations. Unfortunately for the South, he was shot by his own troops, in the dark, as they were being infiltrated by northern soldiers, and were on edge at any movement, and when General Stuart was returning from the ront lines he encountered guards who shot him. It was determined that it was indeed his own troops that shot him, as the doctors removed a round ball, from a smooth bore musket. At that time most of the Union troops were using rifled rifles and minnie balls. (Minet designed bullet) I think it was General Stuart who said the battle is won by the one that gets there the "Firstus, with the mostus!"
@@rkimberly985 initial success aside, the same skills from the Mexican war didn’t help to adjust to the strategic situation- that the south would have overall been better off staying defensive instead of hoping the yanks would keep giving or leaving them easy enough to kill targets in dynamic battles. In fact, ironically the stupid non vet Union commanders in their incompetence gave the rebs a bad sense of superiority that got them destroyed when Sherman and grant came through. I have doubts about how good overall communication was and the south was too romantically set on “start a big war, win through individual state initiative rather than a coordinated whole” but I’m not sure how much missteps was victory syndrome, the inability or unwillingness to change tactics in response to strategic realities, inability or unwillingness to sacrifice personal autonomy for a greater change of victory, or inability to compromise and do any of the above over the confederate states with lacking overall transport infrastructure.
@@rkimberly985 Winfield Scott, Ulysses Grant, William Sherman, and George Meade in their graves right now: 😐
Content greatly appreciated. On par with any program l have seen, superior to most.
The only différance between then and now is that it's not how many guns you can buy but how many you sell
i still find it funny how they had the lever action rifle during the civil war, yet the military refused to use it but was still very popular in the civilian market
They just couldnt make enough of them to make it work. They were not cheap to make.
@@samcolt1079 they refused to use it simply because it was expensive, but there were some battalions and companies that fund raised the money to arm themselfs with it. But not many actually did that
Great Documentary
32:21 the residents of harper’s ferry chose their wallets over the Union, just for the rebels to steal all their stuff and send it to Richmond. And since Confederate currency at the time was I.O.U. paper notes you know they weren’t compensated 😂
Imagine time travelling to the civil war with a mg42 lol
god the old muskets are beautiful..
_I love Guns, they don't pick sides they just are and the winning side normaly has the better ones_
They dont kill anyone. It takes a person to shoot them to kill someone
lol “Jefferson Davis Starship”
I kid!! Ikid!!!
very cool and informattive
Nice to know that the reason the military didn’t want soldiers to have weapons that fire rapidly was simply because they were expensive…
Great show!! Thank you// Lars
You did not discuss the model of 1841 Harpers Ferry rifle musket. It’s better known as the Mississippi rival as Jefferson Davis (later became confederate president) lead the first Mississippi Regiment during the Mexican American war, and they were outfitted with those rifles. Each rifle cost $16 a unit. at the time, they were considered a very high class firearm because of the materials used. There was quite a bit of brass used. The stock contains a patch box. It is a two banded rifle meaning it has two barrel bands. Some were made with a bayonet lug that would accommodate a sword bayonet, However some were not these were usually the navy rifles, but not always. It saw use by southern regimens, and even some by northern regiments. The barrels are either blued steel, or just traditional steel, you will see both. And are typically in 54 caliber, however, I have seen examples that have been bored out to 58 caliber.
Modern reproductions of these rifles are scarce, will not exactly scarce just not as prevalent as in fields. They will run you anywhere from $12-$1500. I’ve seen in originals are anywhere from $2000-$3500 from what I have seen.
He talked about that very rifle for several minutes.
2:35 lol thats longstreet.
10 minutes to load a colt navy revolver? Is it a one armed blind man doing it?
Hell I can load my cap n ball revolvers in just a couple minutes.
They were issued pre loaded and lubed combustable cartridges. Just ram the six cartridges and cap the nipples....easy or just carry an additionally loaded cylinder.
Yea I was pretty suprised by that I can load my colt navy in just a few minutes its not hard especially after you do it a couple times
THE HELL WITH A colt GO WITH THE 1858 REM !!!!!
It boggles my mind that the Confederacy didn’t equip their army with Prussian Dreyse “needle guns”. The Dreyse had been around since 1848 and had a firing rate of 10-12 rounds per minute. It made every muzzleloading weapon obsolete, it would have made up for the South’s far less available manpower and made their initial victories even more crushing. The needle guns paper cartridges could be easily produced by hand and cost far less metallic cartridges.
The Dreyse and the Kammerlader were mass produced prior to the Civil war, however the Germans and Norwegians despised slavery so much they both refused to do business with the confederacy.
That would mean prussia beeing in support of the south. They did lean far more torwarts the union though. They would also not export the Dreyse outside of german lands. Then there is the fact that a gun does not win a war if the men using it are just a better armed mob. That goes for both sides of the conflict offcourse.
@@hannesromhild8532 the it boggles me the north didn’t use the dreysen.its basically a single shot mauser
@@hannesromhild8532 "They would also not export the Dreyse outside of german lands. "
IIRC it was only used in Prussia and the Prussian army did not have any interest to export it. A few guns were stolen in 1848 during the revolution, therefore, the principle was most likely known in France and Austria.
They were also much more complicated and require frequent changes of parts especially the “needle” and since the south was under blockade and their supply lines a mess mired in corruption and incompetence seems unlikely that they could have been maintained for any amount of time
OK BIG QUESTION HERE JUST CURIOSITY-WHY DOES IT SEEM UNION SOLDIERS HAD MORE ACCESS TO PISTOLS THAN CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS??? Can someone please answer this - please??
I didn't get to finish the video, but did y'all mention the U.S. SPRINGFIELD Model 1863?
Enjoyed
The civil war did not lead to advances in gun tech. Every bit of it was designed before the war. What the war did was get them built in large numbers.
WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM SON ? READ SOMETHING
2:25 Okay, yeah. Stonewall Jackson was briefly a colonel, but I have a hunch that's not what the person who made that was thinking about.
My great great grandpa Captain Henry Newton Lee served in the Company "A" 10th Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Infantry during the civil war... Union...
1:44, I remember a history professor @Horton Watkins High School, Ladue MO, told her students that many Union soldiers had lost their thumbs, because of the faulty hammers on the pistol revolvers that they had been given!
I've never heard of that, ever... how?
Very good I thought that thr Remimgton new model revolvers might have got a mention though.
I always wondered if there ever was an instance that the agents searching for weapons to buy in europe for the union and confederacy met overseas while wanting to buy weapons from the same company.
If only, the US Army was open about the idea of mass producing Pauly's patent of the Monkey-tail breechloader rifle m1812, as Springfield's standard issue rifle, if not because of Gen. Ripley's stinginess and stubborness.
Maybe a video like this but for cannons?
Great idea! +1
I'm watching this for school...