Rifles in the American Civil War During the American Civil War , the rifle was the most common weapon found on the battlefield . Most of the rifles during that time were loaded with a small lead musket ball or with a minnie ball ( or Minié ball ) and black powder . Most rifles of this era were muzzle loaded rifled musket s . These rifles were used by both the United States of America ( " Union " ) and the Confederate States of America . Background . In the decades leading up to the Civil War , numerous advances had been made in weapons . The flintlock , which had been in use for almost two hundred years , had been replaced by the caplock in the 1840s . Rifles had been in use for many years , but prior to the civil war had been rare in military use . The black powder at the time quickly fouled the barrel , making reloading slower and more difficult . Round balls did not fit so tightly into the barrel , and therefore did not suffer from the slow loading problem common to rifles . Black powder also quickly obscured the battlefield , which led military leaders of the time to conclude that the greater range of rifles was of little value on the battlefield . Military leaders therefore preferred the faster loading smooth bore weapons over the more accurate rifles . The invention of the Minié ball solved the slow loading problem , allowing smoothbore muskets to be replaced by rifles in the decades just before the civil war . In addition , most existing military doctrine was based around the smoothbore musket . Since the 17th century , infantry normally fought in a tight shoulder - to - shoulder line and fired volleys at each other . When one side gained the upper hand , they would finish off the attack with a bayonet charge . These tactics developed because smoothbore muskets were only accurate at short ranges . Rifles made this type of fighting obsolete because of their much greater range . In Civil War battles , infantry typically fought in a widely - spread out line , with the men using trees , rocks , buildings , etc . for cover . Linear formations were thus rarely seen any more ( although it did occur in the Battle of Brawner ' s Farm the evening before Second Bull Run ) . However , most American army officers in 1861 had been schooled in obsolete Napoleonic tactics , especially since many of them had served in the Mexican War , which was still fought in the old way with smoothbore muskets and linear formations . As such , officers typically failed to realize the power of rifles and continued to launch massed attacks against fortified enemies , which invariably resulted in heavy losses . For years , one of the standard manuals used in the US Army had been an 1835 translation by General Winfield Scott of a French work . Shortly before the Civil War , William J . Hardee ( later to become a Confederate lieutenant general ) updated it to include information on rifles , but he still assumed the use of linear formations in the book . Nonetheless , Hardee ' s book was produced in a huge variety of editions during the war , often for different types of infantry . For instance , one was produced specially for African - American troops , and another for Zouave units . There were many Southern editions , and at least one Northern edition that omitted Hardee ' s name from the title page . Even worse was the state of cavalry tactics . Traditionally , mounted soldiers carried a lance , sword , or pistol and could sweep enemy infantry weakened by artillery or musket fire . Napoleon normally always tried to rout opposing armies from the field after softening their line with massed artillery barrages . The Napoleonic cavalry charge was thus made both obsolete and suicidal by rifles . At least two major battles in the Civil War , Gaines Mill and Gettysburg , saw such attempts , both with predictable results . As a result , cavalry came to be used mainly for raiding and scouting , and seldom participated in major battles . Mounted charges gave way to dismounted combat where men would tie up their horses and fight on foot . When the American Civil War broke out in April 1861 , neither the North ( about 360 , 000 small arms ) nor the South ( about 240 , 000 ) had enough weapons to fight a major war . Stockpiles of rifles and handguns carried by individual soldiers were limited . As the war escalated those arms stockpiles were quickly diminished . Soldiers were often forced to use older smooth bore and flintlock muskets , which had been considered to be obsolete , simply because the newer rifles were not available in sufficient quantities . Many soldiers were forced to use their own personal hunting rifles , which were typically Kentucky or Pennsylvania type rifles . These rifles , while more accurate than smoothbore muskets , had been designed for hunting , and fired less deadly smaller caliber ammunition . To combat the arms shortage , the Union and Confederacy both imported large quantities of rifles from Europe , with each side buying whatever they could get . The relatively poor South only bought 50 , 000 by August 1862 , while the North bought 726 , 000 . Accordingly , during the first two years of the war soldiers from both sides used a wide variety of rifles , including many that were over 50 years old and were considered obsolete . At the same time , Northern rifle and gun manufacturers such as Sharps , Colt , Remington , and the United States armory at Springfield , Massachusetts quickly increased their production of rifles ; Springfield alone increased its annual output from 20 , 000 to 200 , 000 . The North was thus able to supply its own small arms needs while the South had to continue to rely on foreign sources , eventually purchasing 580 , 000 rifles . Types . Springfield Rifle Musket . This was a single shot , muzzle - loading gun that used the percussion cap firing mechanism . It had a rifled barrel , and fired the . 58 caliber Minié ball . The first rifled muskets had used a larger . 69 caliber Minié ball , since they had simply taken . 69 caliber smooth bore muskets and rifled their barrels . Tests conducted by the U . S . Army indicated that the . 58 caliber was more accurate at a distance . After experimenting with the failed Maynard primer system on the Model 1855 musket , the Model 1861 reverted to the more reliable percussion lock . The first Model 1861 Springfields were delivered late in that year and during 1862 gradually became the most common weapon carried by Union infantry in the eastern theater . Western armies were slower to obtain Springfield rifles , and they were not widely used there until the middle of 1863 . Rifles were more accurate than smooth bore muskets , and could have been made using shorter barrels . However , the military was still using tactics such as firing by ranks , and feared that shorter barrels would result in soldiers in the back ranks accidentally shooting front rank soldiers in the back of the head . Bayonet fighting was also important at this time , which also made militaries reluctant to shorten the barrels . The Springfield Model 1861 therefore used a three - band barrel , making it just as long as the smoothbore muskets that it had replaced . The 38 - inch - long rifled barrel made it a very accurate weapon , and it was possible to hit a man sized target with a Minié ball as far away as . To reflect this longer range , the Springfield was fitted with two flip up sights , one set for and the other for 500 . Along with a revised 1863 model , it was the last muzzle - loading weapon ever adopted by the US Army . By the end of the war , approximately 1 . 5 million Springfield rifle muskets had been produced by the Springfield Armory and 20 subcontractors . Since the South lacked sufficient manufacturing capability , most of the Springfields in Southern hands were captured on the battlefields during the war . Many older Springfield rifle muskets , such as the Model 1855 and 1842 , were brought out of storage and used due to arms shortages . Many smooth bore muskets dating all the way back to the Springfield Model 1812 were brought out of storage for similar reasons . These old and obsolete weapons were replaced by newer weapons as they became available . Enfield Rifle Musket . The second most widely used weapon of the Civil War , and the most widely used weapon by the Confederates , was the British Pattern 1853 Enfield . Like the Springfield , this was a three - band , single - shot , muzzle - loading rifle musket . It was the standard weapon for the British Army between 1853 – 1867 . American soldiers liked it because its . 577 cal . barrel allowed the use of . 58 cal . ammunition used by both Union and Confederate armies . Originally produced at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield , England , approximately 900 , 000 of these muskets were imported during 1861 – 1865 , seeing use in every major battle from Shiloh onward . Many officers , however , preferred the Springfield muskets over the Enfield muskets — largely due to the interchangeability of parts that the machine - made Springfields offered . see The Enfield had a stepped flip up sight , which was adjustable from ( in later models ) in 100 yard increments . Realistically , though , hitting anything beyond 500 yards was mostly a matter of luck . Lorenz Rifle . The third most widely used weapon of the Civil War was the Lorenz Rifle . This rifle was invented in 1854 by Austrian lieutenant Joseph Lorenz . This rifle had first seen action in the Second Italian War of Independence . The Lorenz rifle was similar in design to the Enfield rifle - musket . It used a percussion lock , was similar in length , and had three barrel bands , like the Springfield and Enfield . The Lorenz rifle was originally . 54 caliber . A large number were bored out to . 58 caliber so that they could use the same ammunition as the Springfield and Enfield rifle - muskets . The quality of Lorenz rifles during the Civil War was not consistent . Some were considered to be of the finest quality , and were sometimes praised as being superior to the Enfield . Others , especially those in later purchases , were described as horrible in both design and condition . The bored out versions were not consistent in caliber , ranging from . 57 to . 59 . Many of these poorer quality weapons were swapped out on the battlefield for Enfield rifle - muskets whenever one became available . The Union purchased 226 , 924 Lorenz rifles , and the Confederacy bought as many as 100 , 000 . Whitworth Rifle . The Whitworth rifle was designed by Sir Joseph Whitworth , and was manufactured in Manchester , England . The Whitworth rifle featured a unique hexagonal shaped bullet ( with a matching hexagonal barrel ) that gave it superior accuracy . This rifle was mostly used by Confederate snipers . The accuracy of the Whitworth was often exaggerated , but it was capable of hitting a man sized target beyond 1 , 000 yards . Whitworth rifles were equipped with either Enfield style sights or telescopic sights . The telescopic sights were more accurate , but had a reputation for bruising the user ' s eye due to the rifle ' s recoil . Other rifles used . Other rifles used during the Civil War were the British P - 1841 - Bored Brunswick Rifle ( not common ) , Burnside carbine ( used only by cavalry ) , Henry rifle ( privately purchased by soldiers only ) , and the Spencer rifle ( used almost exclusively by cavalry ) . There was also the Model 1859 Sharps rifle , a single - shot breechloader . They were expensive to manufacture and only 11 , 000 were produced , most of which were unissued or went to sharpshooters . However , the Sharps carbine was very common , with over 90 , 000 produced . The rifles differed from each other mainly in the different " actions " they had . Almost all rifles were made with iron barrels , while only some , like the Burnside , used steel , which then was expensive . Model 1855 rifles were fairly common . Most of the regular army was equipped with them in 1861 , and the Confederates had a few thousand that had been stored in Southern arsenals . They acquired more through battlefield pickups and would use them throughout the war ( although the 1855 rifle was eventually replaced in the Union ranks by 1861 Springfields ) . The Model 1841 Mississippi Rifle , the progenitor of the Model 1855 and 1861 Springfield , was still used in the Civil War to a fair degree , especially by Confederate non - commissioned officer s ( NCOs ) and sharpshooters . The Confederacy also produced a variety of weapons itself , standardizing on . 58 caliber in 1862 . These were usually clones of existing designs and tended to be poor quality due to shortages of raw material and skilled labor . Some such weapons included clones of the Sharps carbine , the Richmond / Fayetteville rifles ( a Springfield clone ) and imitations of Enfield rifles and musketoons . The only breechloading rifle ( not built as a carbine like the Burnside ) firing a primed - metallic cartridge ( a . 50 cal . rimfire ) made by the Federal Government ( at Springfield Armory ) and actually designed for issue to infantrymen was the Model 1865 Springfield Joslyn Rifle , of which only 3 , 007 were made . In fact , this rifle was the first breechloader ever made in any national armory that fired a primed metallic cartridge . It was basically a Joslyn Carbine action fitted to a 1863 Springfield barrel and stock ( though heavily modified ) . It was issued to disabled soldiers of the Veteran Reserve Corps very late in the war ( April , 1865 ) and likely was never used in action . However , it established the single - shot metallic cartridge breechloader as a standard infantry weapon , which eventually all modern armies adopted in one form or another . The US adopted the breechloading 1866 Springfield " Trapdoor " infantry rifle built from surplus rifle - musket parts after the war . The new repeater rifles would see fairly limited use in the Civil War . The first such weapon adopted by the US Army was the Model 1855 Colt Revolving Rifle ( and a companion carbine ) , but it had a serious defect in that the gun would often discharge several chambers at once , the extra rounds flying straight into the hand that was holding the barrel up . Some soldiers tried to get around this dangerous problem by loading only one chamber , however this defeated the purpose of having a repeater rifle . Most Colt Revolving Rifles were eventually sold off by the War Department for 55 cents just to get rid of them . The unfortunate experience the army had had with these led to a stigma against repeating rifles , combined with the old fear that they ( and single - shot breech loaders ) would encourage men to waste ammunition . Spencer rifle s were the first successful repeater used in the United States . After attending a demonstration firing , President Lincoln was impressed enough to give it his approval . The seven - shot Spencer was produced in rifle and carbine versions , although the latter was more common . By 1864 , some Union companies were armed with them , although rarely whole regiments . A few fell into Confederate hands , but proved largely unusable due to a lack of ammunition ( the Confederacy had insufficient supplies of copper to manufacture the Spencer ' s rimfire cartridges ) . The Henry rifle had a copper or brass cartridge that effectively sealed the breech of the gun so that the hot propellant gases would be held inside of the gun . The ignition source was a folded rim on the inside of the gun . The inventor of the gun was able to mass produce a cartridge that had a powerful powder charge . The power of a Henry Rifle was comparable in power to military pistols , but that was not enough to be used as a shoulder fired rifle for the military . While most shoulder fired rifles during the time fired a bullet between 350 and 500 grains propelled by 40 to 60 grains of powder the Henry rifle shot a small . 44 bullet of only 200 grains and 26 to 28 grains of black powder , giving it a quite short range . While the Henry was carried and used by men in the Civil War it was not widely accepted or popular by the military . Nonetheless , Henry and Spencer rifles were used at the December 1864 Battle of Nashville to quite devastating effect .