Okay thanks for making my point. One wealthy union general bought some Gatling guns on his own and now here we are reading about them at the same time and in the same context as crude hand grenades that accomplished nothing for those using them. One would conclude that the Gatling gun was of equal importance.
The article you reference makes them sound like a curiosity and an abberation suited more for defensive action than offensive as was the case of the union forces attacking Petersburg.
None in use at Gettysburg Antietam or anywhere else the union was on defense. No disrespect but your assertion that Gatling guns were regularly used is an exaggeration.
But back to your real point - with observers here, with the technology obviously evolving and with with visionaries like Longstreet spelling it out for them its hard to understand in 2014 how the Europeans didn’t see it coming.
Maybe they just didn’t GAF and just wanted to throw a really big war.