TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Arms & Armament

  • Short Takes

    The Wisconsin Historical Society looks at election chicanery in 1864 when the Republicans, like the Democrats today, faced a stunning defeat. They did, however, have an ace to play, the military vote. Since they controlled the Legislature, Republicans passed a bill in September that enabled soldiers to vote while serving in the field, and authorized […]

  • Short Takes

    After 235 years the US Army has dropped bayonet training from its basic training curriculum. The bayonet has been very much a part of military history since its introduction in the 17th century as a replacement for the pike. Early “plug” models simply fit into the muzzle, making it impossible to fire the gun. The […]

  • Late 19thC Infantry Attack

    I came across this illustration of an infantry attack in the late 19th Century, specifically in 1892 at the famous British Army School of Musketry at Hythe. Established early in the century the school served to “train the trainers” of the army in rifle shooting, and you can see from the inset the various types […]

  • My Whitworth Article in Civil War Times

    My article on Sir Joseph Whitworth is out in the new issue of Civil War Times. It’s a very much expanded version of a post I did a couple of years ago and delves more into the man’s prickly personality as well as his rifles and other accomplishments. I mention but do not really get […]

  • Short Takes

    UPDATE II:  Amazon.com has a special on Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary—less than forty bucks today only! UPDATE: I watched an interview on After Words with David Kilcullen, a former Australian soldier and counterinsurgency adviser to US commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan on C-SPAN last night. It’s definitely worth watching not only for what’s going […]

  • Engels on Artillery

    Fredrick Engels is best known for his political partnership with Karl Marx, especially his editorship of Das Capital after the latter’s death. However, Engels was one of the few political radicals of his time with some actual military field experience, having served in the Prussian army and having taken part in the abortive revolution of […]

  • Some Interesting Guns

    Couple of interesting CW period guns. One is the Norwich rapid fire cannon, which was to compete with Gatling’s gun. This prototype Norwich rapid fire “Gatling type” cannon was made in Greenville, Connecticut by James D. Mowry’s company which became the Norwich Arms Company.  It was made in about 1862 as a prototype for competition in […]