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Short Essay: Weapons Used During The Civil War

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Civil War Weapons
In the Civil War multiple weapons were used. At the beginning, of war the soldiers used the same type of muskets as used in the American Revolution. The muskets had smooth bores and this made the muskets inaccurate from forty yards or more. They took a long time to reload and sometimes would not even fire. In the wars, before rifles were made both sides would line up on each side and fire. This tactic soon left because it was like committing suicide. The Commanders were not quick to adapt and this caused huge results in casualties (Civil War Weapons, Nelson). In 1861 War broke out and weapon technology advanced greatly from the American Revolution to the Civil War. Both the Union and the Confederates switched from …show more content…

The first military balloons were used in 1790’s. To help the soldiers know the enemy’s location they used hot air balloons. They would fly above to see their enemy’s number and location. The soldiers soon realized and used their rifles to kill them and shoot all the air balloons (Emerson 33-36). The Union was a step ahead compared to the confederate when it came to air. In the beginning, Balloon Corps was a big success and one of their greatest weapons. At first the Army Commanders disagreed with the idea. The Commander Winfield Scott did not want to accept the Balloon Corps. Many other commanders did not want to accept the Balloon Corps either because many of them though scouts on horses were just as good as balloons in the air. President Abraham Lincoln finally stepped in and changed all their minds about using balloons (Emerson 33-36). The balloons were not easy to move at all and were very complicated to use. The balloons weighed hundreds of pounds and required numerous pieces of equipment to deploy. To inflate the balloons it took many hours and it took dozens of army men to tie down the big air balloons. The Balloon Corps helped the Union know the Confederate 's location and were they were attaching and when (Emerson

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