Flick Lives wrote:
“Three rounds a minute was also the standard for the Union troops in the Civil War.
That’s amazing. 20 seconds to clean the barrel, load in the gunpowder, wadding, shot, aim, and fire.”
You ‘cleaned the barrel’, at the end of the battle, if you lived!
It was Fire; open paper cartridge; open to half-cock, move the frizzen plate, and load the frizzen pan, then close with the frizzen plate down; put buttstock on ground; pour the rest of the powder down the barrel; put the torn paper cartridge and ball in the muzzle; remove ramrod and ram home the charge; return the ramrod to the stock; shoulder the musket; cock the lock; aim; fire.
These battles went for hours in this manner. Otherwise, it was at the end of a three-bladed bayonet.
The Civil War was almost completely percussion cap, there were very few flintlocks.
I believe using cap and minie ball, 4 rounds a minute was a good rate of fire from a Springfield/enfield muzzle loader.
“...it was Fire; open paper cartridge; open to half-cock, move the frizzen plate, and load the frizzen pan, then close with the frizzen plate down; put buttstock on ground; pour the rest of the powder down the barrel; put the torn paper cartridge and ball in the muzzle; remove ramrod and ram home the charge; return the ramrod to the stock; shoulder the musket; cock the lock; aim; fire. ...”
Close.
From “baron” Von Steuben’s regulations, the commands for loading:
Carry firelock (starting from any position, soldier moves musket in front of body, muzzle up and tilted a little left, butt in front of or a little below right hip, left hand gripping at a natural balance point between lock and lower band, right grasping wrist of stock)
Handle cartridge (soldier releases grasp of right hand on stock wrist; without looking, places right hand on cartridge box (at right hip, strap over left shoulder), flips up cartridge box lid, pulls out a cartridge, raises right hand, thumb and forefinger holding cartridge by its folded end (ball down), poises hand a few inches below and to right of chin)
Tear cartridge (soldier inserts folded end between teeth, bites down, and tears off folded end, pinching paper tube shut with thumb and forefinger to keep out rain (if any) and prevent powder loss) (prudent supplement: soldier spits out torn end)
Prime pan (soldier lowers muzzle to level, pointing slightly left; checks frizzen (pan cover) position and flips it open if not already so; cock is pulled back with lower three fingers of right hand to the half-cock position; pours small amount of cartridge charge into pan)
Shut pan (pinching shut opened cartridge once more with thumb and forefinger, soldier uses lower three fingers of right hand to pull frizzen backwards, shutting pan; returns musket to previous orientation commanded by “carry firelock” without additional command)
Charge with cartridge (soldier turns musket muzzle to point a little right and lowers musket to where left wrist can rest on left hip, muzzle visible; angles muzzle up; pours remaining charge down muzzle, pushes now-empty cartridge paper and ball into muzzle as far as fingers permit)
Withdraw rammer (with right hand, soldier grasps ramrod with thumb pointing down along its length toward lock, pulls ramrod from its channel under the barrel; ideally done in two pulls. Soldier grips ramrod at a convenient point behind its flared (muzzle) end, flips it to point flared end down, inserts that end into the muzzle, then pauses. Musket is still held in left hand, tight against body, muzzle up angling out a little and to right across body)
Ram down cartridge (soldier pushes ball and paper down barrel to seat at breech with as many repositionings of right hand as required; without further command, soldier pulls ramrod back out of barrel, grasps it near its middle, flips it 180 degrees so the flared (muzzle) end points up and a little right, parallel to musket barrel, inserts rear tip of ramrod into thimble or front band aperture of ramrod channel, and pauses)
Return rammer (solider fully seats ramrod in its channel, then without further command flips the muzzle from right to left and reassumes the “carry firelock” position)
Commands to fire:
Poise firelock (from the “carry firelock” position, solider lifts muzzle straight up until able to see lock without tilting head forward; trigger guard faces forward; affords a final check of flint position and pan status)
Cock firelock (solider releases grasp on musket wrist with right hand, and pulls cock all the way back to full cock using lower three fingers of right hand)
Take aim (soldier lowers muzzle to level, pointing exactly ahead, and moves right foot half a step backward, turning toes 90 degrees right, at the same time)
Fire (trigger is pulled. After the main charge goes off, soldier reassumes the “carry firelock” position without further command. Right foot is returned to position just right of left foot)
It was not required that the musket’s butt be grounded for loading (though it helps). Troops were drilled until able to load on the march.
“Take aim” was a generic sort of command, considering the rudimentary sights on muskets of the day. It was said that supplementary commands like “shut eyes” and “turn away head”
were sometimes issued, to lessen chances of injury from sparks, flint fragments, powder gases, and the like.
All this might sound overly anal-retentive and fussy, but when one ponders the battle formations of the 18th century - troops lined up squeezing together, shoulder-to-shoulder - sureness of movement, alacrity of response, predictability of muzzle angles, etc, mean something. So it all sounds a little more critical.
An entire additional sequence of commands was used to fix bayonets. The triangle cross section socket bayonet of the day was a major component of the system, unlike later conflicts (casualties by bayonet in the American Civil War were statistically minuscule).
And there were yet more commands soldiers had to learn and practice, to march in formation, to change from road-march order into battle-line order, to reform, to perform ceremonies like parades and reviews and whatnot.
So, eight to ten hours of drill a day, every day but Sunday, were indispensable in the training of footsoldiers.