Unusual Weapons of the War

From the July 5, 2014, Waxahachie Daily Light "Spotlight on History: Unusual weapons of the war" by Dr. Gary Loudermilk.

Firearms during the war were evolving from muzzleloaders to metallic cartridge repeaters and hundreds of designs were used.  Some of them were Smith & Wesson revolvers and the Henry rifle, prototype of the famous Winchesters of the West.

At the beginning of the war, soldiers were even being armed with War of 1812 flintlock muskets.

Some of the more unique guns were made by  J.P. Lindsay who sold 1,000  "Double Rifle": rifles to the U.S. War Department.  They were a 2-shot, .58 caliber rifle which had one charge loaded on top of the other, ignited by two percussion caps conducting flame through separate channels.

The idea was to have the bullet in the rear load that would seal the flash of the forward one..

Samuel Colt established his firearms company in 1836.  he had his .56 caliber Model 1855 Revolving Rifle.  Several hindred were issued to Col. Hiram Berdan's 1st U.S. Sharpshooters in 1862.  Even though they fired five rapid-fire shots, they were not very well liked.

There were more weapons discussed in the article.

--Old Secesh