TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Category: Arms & Armament

  • British Books on Tactics I

    I’ve been reading a series of book on tactics from both the Napoleonic and Revolutionary wars as a background for my ongoing study of Civil War tactics. Part of this is to try to determine, as British military pundit Paddy Griffith had it, if the American Civil War was another Napoleonic war. How much, if […]

  • Sharps Conversions

    The Sharps rifles and carbines used during the Civil War used a soft combustible case of paper or linen that burned when the weapon fired. The Sharps used a falling block breech that sealed off the combustion gasses during firing, at least most of the time. Occasionally the system got out of order and gasses […]

  • Whitworth Double Rifle

    Bill Adams sends along a link to a very nice Whitworth double rifle on Gunbroker. Many manufacturers made double rifles, primarily for hunting when a quick followup shot was often needed, particularly for dangerous game. As you’d expect that extra barrel made them rather heavy which limited their use in military applications. This particular example […]

  • Short Takes

    Bryn at 67th Tigers has posted some trajectories based on calculations of the ballistic coefficient of a Burton Minie ball. More realistic than the ones usually used from Jack Coggins’ book (and Coggins was using them for illustration only). The figures confirm something that Joe Bilby has been saying for some time—that using a “center […]

  • Short Takes

    Confederate general Ambrose Powell Hill, a man controversial enough in life, continues to cause problems 145 years after his death—or at least his portrait does. Nine years ago, amid considerable controversy, Hill’s portrait was removed from the county courthouse and put on display at the Museum of Culpeper History. During all that time, further controversy […]

  • More on Battle Ranges II

    I’ve done several posts on battle ranges and how and why they differ in various wars. Other bloggers have also addressed the subject either directly or indirectly. One is Sven Ortmann, a German blogger who specializes in international defence issues. In a recent post on Battlefield Visual Images he quotes and Israeli soldier on ranges: […]

  • Short Takes

    I am happy to report that Lt. Alonzo Cushing, USA, will almost certainly receive a long-overdue Medal of Honor. Cushing died defending his guns at the climax of one of the most memorable events of American history—the Confederate attack on Cemetery ridge on July 3 at Gettysburg. Before Gettysburg, Cushing fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg and […]