With respect to concerns about fouling and the performance of issued firearms during Civil War combat, for any who haven't already read it there is a fascinating autobiographical book available written by a combatant in the Civil War. The title of the book is
"The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865", by Leander Stillwell. Stillwell also details how they cleaned the firearms, both the first time when issued as well as after the battles, how they used strips of bacon to grease them, and addresses the matter of accuracy during Civil War battles (which were often characterized by a lot of smoke).
The book is available free as a download ebook from Amazon.com, or you can purchase a paperback version of the same book. Here is a link to the ebook:
http://www.amazon.com/Story-Common-S...nder+Stillwell
I found it a fascinating read, not merely for discussion of firearms and combat performance matters but also for the descriptions of Civil War tactics, strategy, movement, and general conduct of the war from an infantry and general historical perspective. (IOW it also discusses combat issues involving the lack of antibiotics or other medical treatments, as well as issues involving food preparation and its impact on performance.) Given that this book was written by an actual participant in the hostilities, rather than an analyst writing many decades after the end of the war, I found the entire volume to be captivating, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in combat and firearms during the Civil War.