“The Union army didn’t issue lever action rifles during the Civil War because an idiot general in charge of ordinance thought it would be a waste on ammunition.”
It was Congress, not a general, that decided to ban multi-fire guns from Army procurement. The thinking was that the soldiers would just fire lots of un-aimed rounds. If you read the book “On Killing; the psychological cost of learning to kill in combat and society” which examines Civil War battles in detail, you’ll see that Congress was right. Also, the lever action guns cost about $26 while the muzzle loaders cost from $4-8.
The way multi-fire rifles worked their way into combat was: a rich man would raise a regiment, equip them with his own money, declare himself a colonel and they’d all join together. Also, individual soldiers often brought their own uniforms and equipment.
Incidentally, the WWII Japanese never fielded a machine gun like the Tommy gun because the old generals running the show said no, they wanted every shot aimed.
That kind of thinking shows how little policymakers care for their own soldiers.
Bullets are,or at least should be, much cheaper than soldiers’ lives!
The Southern Confederacy didn’t have the manufacturing base to make thousands of lever-action arms or even sufficient revolvers,else I believe thay would have used those weapons.The Union soldier was on a political mission,the Southern was defending his home..
The Japanese did indeed have a submachine gun, the Type 100.
It was never taken seriously (this was an army still in love with the cold steel of swords and bayonets), never produced in large numbers despite the demand for it in the jungle, and it was underpowered beyond words.
Apparently some unit commanders thought otherwise. A guy I met once allowed me to hold a Civil War Henry rifle. I forget the unit name, I think a Massachuusets unit, and the commander bought his men the rifles with his own money.
So it would seem that going outside official procurement channels is nothing new.
The next Henry he allowed me to hold came with a caution not to drop or bang it, or mar it in any way. I thought this odd since it looked pretty beat up. He replied it was used at Little Big Horn, on the winning side.