A Think Quest 99' Project

Weapons

The Starr Carbine

The Starr carbine rifle, equipped with a 21 inch, .54 caliber barrel, was the 4th most popular rifle used by the Union soldiers. It incorporated many features from the Sharps, Smith, and Burnside rifles, but its most remarkable feature was its zero misfire rate and its high degree of accuracy.

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The Spencer Rifle

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The Whitworth Rifle

The Whitworth rifle shown here was of British manufacture and was used primarily by the Confederate army. It was a muzzle-loading weapon with a 33 inch barrel (49 inches overall) and a .451 inch bore. What made this rifle so popular in the South was it's remarkable accuracy. It's long range precision was the best of all weapons used in the war. When the telescopic sight was used, the rifle had an effective range of about 1,800 yards. This rifle, as with the cannon which the English company also made, had a hexagonal bore which required a hexagonal bullet. Both sides called this bullet a "bolt". In fact, it was a six-sided bolt from a Rebel sharpshooter that killed Union General "Uncle John" Sedgwick during the fighting at Spotsylvania Court House just after he had remarked to a frightened soldier that Confederate sharpshooters could not hit an elephant.

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Model 1861 Springfield Musket

The Model 1861 Springfield Musket was the most widely used shoulder arm of the Civil war and saw service in every major battle. It was made in the North at a cost of $15 to $20 to the federal government at the Springfield Armory in Mass. as well as 32 other private manufacturers and was a very modern weapon for its time. Its rifled bore, interchangeable parts and percussion cap ignition system incorporated the major innovations of the prewar years into an accurate, dependable rifle. It weighed in at 9.25 lbs, was 58.5 inches overall, came with a triangular 21 inch socket bayonet and fired a .58 calibre conical minie ball at a muzzle velocity of 950 ft/sec. A later "improved" 1863 model was also produced, but the 1861 remained the basic combat weapon of the war.

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The Lorenz Rifle

The Austrian Model 1854 rifle-musket was imported in large numbers during the Civil War. The South received approximately 100,000 in .54 caliber, mostly with fixed sights, from early 1862 through 1863. They were apparently purchased from existing Austrian stocks as the Austrian government was converting from black powder to gun cotton and found these rifle muskets surplus to their needs. The type was primarily used by the Army of Tennessee and by other units in the Central and Trans-Mississippi theaters. The Lorenz was often referred to as "Enfields" as some had blued metal parts however most were natural metal without finish. This weapon was very serviceable and saw considerable use. It was the second only to the P1853 Enfield (400,000) as the most used Confederate type but it never has seen the recognition of the Enfield. The Confederates would issue ammunition for this weapon that could also fire in the Confederate "Mississippi" rifles. The North imported 225,000 of these rifle-muskets, mainly to pre-empt additional purchases as the Confederates had approached the Austrians first, most with long-range adjustable sights. However, as they proved well made and reliable they were issued in 1863-64 to over one hundred federal regiments. The North used the Lorenz in .54 caliber but some were re-bored to .58 so that they could utilize standard .58 cal. ammunition. Many of the Lorenz's shipped to the United States for the federals were newly manufactured in 1861, 1862, and 1863 and like all Lorenz's were dated with a three digit number on the side plate, 861, 862, 863. A quadrangular socket bayonet was used with both the Federal and Confederate Lorenz.
The Lorenz was somewhat shorter and lighter than the Springfield or Enfield but was longer than the two-band Enfield and the Mississippi-style rifles. It is one of the most undeservedly ignored rifles of the period. The rifle-musket photographed for this page is dated 1858, "858".

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The Enfield Rifle

The rifled muskets generally referred to as Enfields got their name from the British government's Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, England. An Enfield had a bore diameter of .577 inches and weighed 9 lbs 3 ounces with bayonet. It fired a bullet similar to the minie ball and was very accurate at 800 yards and fairly accurate at 1,100 yards. Although called Enfields, they were not made in Enfield since the British government, as owner of the factory, was sensitive about maintaining neutrality and could never sanction such sales to either North or South. Instead, the rifled muskets used in the Civil War were made in England by private contractors in London and Birmingham. A few other models, primarily two-banded rifled equipped with a sword bayonet were also imported from England. Each side imported approximately 400,000 of these weapons during the course of the war; making them second only to the Springfield in popularity.

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