page_title: 1st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
section_title: Armament
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment / Armament
caption_attribution_description: English: Springfield Model 1855 rifled musket for Minié ball. From the collections of Armémuseum (Swedish Army Museum), Stockholm, Sweden.
context_page_description: The 1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. It was the first regiment to leave Massachusetts for a three-year term in response to President Abraham Lincoln's May 3, 1861 call for three-year regiments. It was also the first three-year regiment from any state to reach Washington, D.C. for federal service. The core of the regiment was five companies from the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, a peace-time unit which was formed in 1858, replacing an earlier, disbanded unit of the same designation. Five companies of new recruits were added to the regiment and the unit was mustered in by companies beginning May 23, 1861 at Camp Cameron in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  After arriving in Washington, the regiment became part of Major General Irwin McDowell's Army of Northeastern Virginia and saw their first combat during the Battle of Blackburn's Ford. The 1st Massachusetts was engaged during the First Battle of Bull Run. When Union forces surrounding Washington were reorganized, the regiment became part of the Army of the Potomac, with which it was associated for the rest of its term of service.
context_section_description: Because the core of the regiment was an existing militia regiment, they already had stocks of Springfield Model 1855 rifled musket with which they equipped the new companies (some of which were the 1858 modification with simpler rear sight, a patch box on the side of the buttstock, and an iron nosecap). The 1855 Springfield was a was a .58 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading fire-arm. It was issued with a square socket bayonet. The regiment did not use the Maynard tape primer in the field, but standard percussion caps.  The regiment used these rifles through its service.
caption: Right and left side of a Springfield Armory Model 1855 Musket
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