The Role Of The Musket In The Civil War

Many people know what happened during the Civil War but what most people don’t know is what they used to fight it. There were many different technologies used in the Civil War but they all changed the war. Now let take a look at what they were.
Now let's talk about the most commonly used technology the musket. The musket where used on both sides of the war and where issued to every type of soldier. The typical soldier carried the Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle musket during the war. These muskets could carry one bullet at a time and had a ragne off about 250 yards. Although it had this big of a range if you wanted to use it efficiently you would have to be about 80 yards away. They used small little pellets that where spherical. The muskets had to be reloaded every time they shot. They had to use a mallet to push the bullet down too. It wasn’t a very efficient gun. At the end of the barrel they had a bayonet attached to it. These where long knives attached to the gun. These were used to kill the enemy if they got to close or when they ran out of bullets. They would use there gun as a spear almost. …show more content…
The invention or the rifle let the soldier carry more than one bullet in there gun at a time. It had a range of 1,000 yards and didn’t need reloaded after every shot. The rifle had a drawback though most bullets where to big in diameter to fit in the rifles barrels or the rifle. But this changed after the invention of the Minie Balls. These were bullets with semicircle for the tip of it and a cylinder base. They were smaller than the normal bullet at the time so they fit in the rifles much easier. This proved to be much more useful and efficient than the musket. Although this was true rifles weren’t used as much during the war compared to muskets. This was because they were harder to produce and more