Weapons In The Civil War Essay

The Civil War was the deadliest war for the United States. Over 600,000 soldiers were killed between the two sides. The Confederacy and the Union were the two sides who were fighting, mostly over slavery. Each side had different strategies about fighting, therefor their military style was different. Both sides used different weapons and had different fighting tactics. Weapon advancement had a huge impact the war and its outcome. Weapons and strategies used during the Civil War lead to massive casualties and overall had a major impact on the war. Out of all the weapons, the rifle was the most important and most used. In the beginning of the war most soldiers used muskets, but as the war carried on there was a transition between muskets to rifles. Rifles were a huge improvement from the old and inaccurate muskets. Muskets took a long time to

Some were very deadly while others were very ineffective. One of these ineffective weapons was the Gatling gun. It was created in 1862 and was essentially the first machine gun ever made, however it was rarely used during the Civil War. “ The gun required large amounts of ammunition which the Union saw as being wasteful” (“How Did Civil War Technology Create Modern War?”). It was created by Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling in hopes that the weapon would be so destructive that it would end the Civil War quickly. His plan did not work and the war carried on. Another weapon that was ineffective was the “torpedo” or landmines. These were used by the Confederacy to try to delay the Union from advancing. It did some damage but overall wasn’t a major weapon that would turn the war in their favor. One of the least known and most ridiculous weapon used was the the hot air balloon. These hot air balloon were used by the Union against the South. They were for reconnaissance and to infiltrate enemy positions. The South eventually caught on and was able to camouflage or shoot them