[4V50 Gary]

III. Breechloading Firearms

Another pre-Civil War development is the breech loader. Breech loaders made prior to the American Civil War featured complicated mechanisms that were either too delicate for field service or, because of extensive hand fitting by a skilled craftsman, too cost prohibitive for mass production. Furthermore, many of these early flintlock breechloaders suffered from gas leakage - minimally distractive and potentially dangerous. What made breechloaders feasible was the Industrial Revolution with its advancements in machining technology. Closer tolerances could be machined rather than left to the eye of a craftsman. This meant that breechloaders that eliminated the gas leakage problem was finally practical and could be massed produced during the Civil War, the Union fielded several breechloaders including the Burnsides, Maynard, Jenkins and the Sharps rifle. It goes without saying that the breech loader’s higher rate of fire was somewhat offset by increased ammunition consumption and greater demands on the logistics system. This was the major objection to their adoption by Union Ordnance Chief Ripley. As demonstrated by Sharpshooter Wyman White who was armed with a Sharps breechloader, it was a disadvantage that was outweighed by its advantages:

“As we went into the woods, I saw a small redoubt built of logs with a good blanket of earth in front and was thrown up either for the rebel officers or surgeons. It was quite a distance to the rear of their main line and between the two was a rise of ground, so that neither one could be seen from the other. From where I was at the summit of the rise, it looked to me a good protection from the rebel bullets which were strongly in evidence.

“I ran down to it, putting myself in considerable advance of the skirmish line. I was watching for smoke or a Rebel, when I discovered a mound of earth some little ways out in front of me. I noticed something that looked like a rifle sticking up the other side of the earth. I soon discovered that the rifle moved and I sent a bullet at the rifle. It struck the earth just at the top, very close to the rifle barrel. The effects of the shot stirred up a commotion. I saw the second rifle and I knew there were two rebels in the hole and I thought they were about to run away. I then gave them, or their earth protection, another bullet. There was more commotion and I was puzzled and somewhat doubtful what to do. Finally, I put several bullets into their bank of earth, so they thought there must be several Yankees on to them, thanks to my breech loading rifle.

“They did not dare to run or fire for they saw that I could hit them sure if I got sight of them. After I had given them several shots in quick succession, they made signs that they wanted to surrender. Then I called to them to come in and judge my surprise when five big Rebels came out of the den, one after the other.”

IV. The Metallic cartridge becomes popular

The final development that had profound tactical implications during the Civil War was the development of the metallic cartridge. In its infancy during the 1840's, the metallic cartridge made repeating rifles practical for the first time. Initially early breechloading cartridge weapons were single shot firearms capable of a higher sustained rate of fire than a muzzleloader. However, designers were not about to rest upon their laurels and one in particular saw potential for magazine fed, rapid firing firearms. The first modern repeater, the lever action, so called because it was operated by the downward thrust of the lever to eject the spent shell and to chamber a fresh cartridge, was invented in time for the war. The lever action rifle not only gave a higher rate of fire over the single shot breech loaders, but were also quick to reload. Another advantage of the metallic cartridge was that it was self-contained and waterproof. Unlike the soldiers armed with muzzleloaders that used fragile paper cartridges, soldiers with metallic cartridge firearms could ford a stream with out having to be so careful about wetting their cartridges. Col. Wilder of the First Brigade of Mounted Infantry: “[T]he men in my command carry 100 rounds of ammunition in their saddle bags, and in two instances went into a fight immediately after swimming their horses across streams twelve feet deep and it is very rare that a single cartridge fails to fire.”

The repeater rifle was also responsible for a new assault tactic - walking fire. We learn of it from Spencer armed infantryman. “‘Now, by God,’ said Kilpatrick, ‘let us see what they can do here with that peculiar gun of theirs that they cling to so tightly.’ We were ordered to take the hill. We had a hard job on our hands, and it would take some effective work, so we dismounted, as we could do double the execution dismounted. We left our horses and wheeled into line without losing a minute’s time. Before we had our line scarcely formed the rebels opened on us from the hill. We gave one long continued yell and started on a run up the hill, pumping one continuous roll of musketry on to the barricade, raining the leaden balls on to those rails like hail stones on a roof. No rebel dared raise his head to shoot again and we were in perfect safety. The rebels saw at a glance that they only had a minute to decide between surrender or leg bail, and they choose the latter and ran down the south slope of the hill faster than we could up the north slope... Kilpatrick was ever after as warm a friend to the Spencer as any man that carried one” Prior to this demonstration, Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick wanted his men to exchange their Spencers for a single shot carbine and a sabre.

Despite its obvious advantage, rimfire ammunition was not without its hazards. “One of Robinson’s men had taken all the tins from his cartridge box and filled it with loose Spencer ammunition. A shot struck it and exploded enough shells to tear open all the stitching between the outer leathern face and sides, and the outside hung dangling down from the waist belt. The man’s answer to an inquiry what had happened, was, ‘Ammunition wagon blowed up, sir.’ No one was seriously hurt in this affair.”