Death by Black Powder

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 1/17/20 | F Jardim

[w1n1]

From the beginning of hostilities on April 12, 1861 when the Confederates attacked the US Army garrison at Fort Sumter, S.C., the American Civil War lasted just over five years and resulted in a greater loss of American lives than any conflict before or since.
Total military casualties numbered 1,125,000, which represented 3.5 percent of the entire US population, in 1861. The total military deaths from all causes, numbered 654,000. Technically, more soldiers were killed in World War II, but the number of soldiers who lost their lives from disease during the Civil War puts that number ahead in overall loss of life. This is the human tragedy of war. The magnitude of this war deeply scarred the people who lived through it.

The Civil War is sometimes described as the last old fashioned, and the first modern, war. It was fought with the final generation of muzzle-loading percussion arms and artillery. These were at the apex of their development as well as other new technologies in the form of breech-loaders, repeating rifles (that used self-contained metallic cartridges) and, of course, the first Gatling guns. The armies fought using linear tactics of previous centuries, but generally with less finesse than the highly disciplined soldiers of Europe.

Rifled-muskets were eventually the standard infantry weapon for both the North and South. They possessed the speed-loading ability of a smoothbore musket and the accuracy of a rifle, thanks to the ingenious Minié bullet. Minié balls varied in detail, but the type commonly used during the Civil War had a hollow base that formed a thin skirt at the bottom, similar to a sewing thimble. It was cast smaller than the rifle bore so it could be easily loaded down the barrel. When fired, the expanding gas forced the Minié ball’s base outward and into full contact with the barrel’s rifling, stabilizing the spin. The result allowed the weapon to fire accurately against individual targets at ranges of 600 yards and against massed targets at 1,000. This increased the range 10-fold over smooth bore muskets.

It is still commonly believed by historians that the horrific casualties of war were the direct result of the range and accuracy of the rifled muskets versus the old fashioned linear tactics. These tactics involved maneuvering large bodies of men in close formations around the battlefield. Each group would line up in full view of each other and fire volley after volley, until one side wavered. At that point a bayonet charge would decide the winner.

On the surface, the combination of better weapons and outdated tactics seems like a good formula for slaughter but the reality is less clear. It seems unlikely that the full potential of the rifled musket was realized since commanders rarely took advantage of its range and accuracy. For one thing, the field artillery’s ubiquitous 12-pounder Napoleon combination guns/howitzers were deadly effective at ranges well beyond small arms. Some historians now believe that artillery fire may have accounted for 20 to 50 percent of all casualties. Statistics on the effectiveness of small arms vary. Some suggest about one casualty for every 240 rounds fired, which is hardly more than the old smoothbore musket days of Emperor Napoleon. Other estimates state that Union forces expended over 1,000 rounds per casualty. It is worthy of note that a declining ratio of rounds fired to casualties produced is consistent with results found in subsequent wars as weapons technology improved. Read the rest of death by black powder.

[Rinnwald]

“...lasted just over five years...”?

[elcid1970]

Maybe it was Pale Rider. With that massive shootout at the end, he would have been reloading a lot.

Actually, swapping Remington cylinders is much faster than reloading a Colt Peacemaker. Kind of the first magazine handgun.

[Oatka]

As the historian Shelby Foote said, “The reason the casualty numbers were so horrific is because the weapons were way ahead of the tactics.”

I read where smoothbores were effective out to about 100 yards and if hit, the ball just plowed through, breaking any bones encountered. The rifled muskets could hit a man on horseback at 500 yards and if you aimed in the center of the crew serving an artillery piece at 1,000 yards, you'd hit somebody. The Minie ball mushroomed on impact and shattered bone clear up to the joint, which is why there were so many amputations.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

As a kid growing up in NJ, my Dad took us to Gettysburg on a day-trip. I had never before nor ever since had such a vivid eerie experience of spooks flying all around that place. Still gives me the chills just thinking about it, over 50 years later.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Apropos of nothing in particular except the word “ago”, I was thinking the other day that in 20 years, Pearl Harbor will be 100 years “ago”, just like the Civil War was when I was growing up.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I often use those sort of ideas to instill in my son the broad sweep of history. He’s amazed that my grandfather fought in WW I on the German side and was a POW in Russia. We often discuss major geo-political and technological changes that our family’s generations have seen through the decades and centuries. We place the big events like wars, the space program, landing on the moon, etc in specific blocks of time. This helps connect the many historical dots.

I think this has given him a better grasp of history than just memorization of dates in history class. It’s really fun that he enjoys these discussions, too.

The funny thing is he hates current “politics” and won’t engage in discussion. I point out to him that everything we discuss about history is just “politics.” He’s finally come to see that — but still doesn’t want to discuss what’s going on today.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

If he’s disgusted by the events of today, it’s a fair bet that you’re educating him properly.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I read where smoothbores were effective out to about 100 yards..."

I think it is important to define "effective range," based on the tactics. For today's infantryman with his M4, we think about "effective range," in terms of how far away he can hit and incapacitate an enemy soldier he happens to be shooting at.

In Napoleonic era tactics, smoothbore muzzle loaders were doctrinally used by massed blocks of infantry firing volleys against other massed blocks of infantry. In such an arrangement, your fire is "effective" even if you don't hit the soldier you're aiming at, as long as you hit the soldier standing to his left, or three soldiers down the rank to his right.

I have a repro Brown Bess (Long Land Pattern). Granted, I don't shoot it that often, but to apply today's definition of "effective range" to that weapon would be very dispiriting. I think at 100 yards I would stand a reasonable chance (60-80%?) of hitting a target the size of a horse and rider, hitting one or the other. I personally would not be confident of hitting a man-sized target at anything at all over 75 yards, and that would be stretching my abilities. Some people hunt with smooth bore muskets during blackpowder season. I won't as I'm not confident in my ability to place an effective kill shot.

[Oatka]

I have a repro Brown Bess (Long Land Pattern). Granted, I don't shoot it that often, but to apply today's definition of "effective range" to that weapon would be very dispiriting. I think at 100 yards I would stand a reasonable chance (60-80%?) of hitting a target the size of a horse and rider, hitting one or the other. I personally would not be confident of hitting a man-sized target at anything at all over 75 yards, and that would be stretching my abilities.

There was a report by a British ordnance guy who tested the Brown Bess at 50 yards. When asked for the results, he wrote "Fired three shots at target. One went high, one went low, and where in Hell did the other one go?"

I used to belong to the Brigade of the American Revolution (think a flintlock version of the Civil War Skirmish Association). I used a beautiful 1842 St. Etienne flint musket, and with the ammo suggested, could occasionally hit a flower pot at 25 yards. We had one guy who could do that regularly and we wrote it off to him using a tighter fitting ball. Turned out out he let his thumbnail grow long, then cut a notch in it and positioned his thumb on the stock's grip as a crude rear sight. We always wondered if anyone thought of that in the old days - or whether it would have mattered.

[Bull Snipe]

After the war ended. the U.S. Army Ordnance Dept. figured it took 24 lbs. of lead to kill a Confederate soldier.

[Bull Snipe]

“It was cast smaller than the rifle bore so it could be easily loaded down the barrel.”

This is incorrect. During the CW, bullets were not cast.
The arsenals swaged the bullets from sheet lead.

[mad_as_he$$]

I know a guy from the range that can reload a Colt in about three seconds flat. Me, 20 seconds on a good day.

[Verginius Rufus]

Five years? April 1861 to April 1865 is four years.

They don't point out that nearly all of the military casualties were men, so it was more like 7% of the male population of the country at the time, and perhaps more than 15% of the adult and late adolescent male population at the time.