Category: Arms & Armament

  • The End of the War in Western North Carolina

    Rob Neufeld, a writer for the Asheville Citizen-Times, pens an excellent article about the closing days of the war here in Western NC. I have already linked to a previous article about the last Confederate victory here, but this time he takes up the sack of Asheville and the treatment of civilians in the area […]

  • Steam Trains and the Last Confederate Victory

    Sorry to be missing in action but several projects have left little time for blogging. However I did want to pass on a few items of interest. One is a lengthy look at the effect that steam trains had on warfare in the 19th Century. They were unknown to Napoleon and only began to be […]

  • Springfield Breech Loading Conversions

    An interesting item is currently up for auction on Gunbroker – a Springfield rifle musket converted to a breech loader with a rolling block action. For those not familiar with the action, the Remington Rolling Block rifle was one of the best – I think the best – of the late 19thC crop of breech […]

  • A Look at Some Period Firearms

    Very nice article by Bill Adams, one of the foremost CW-era firearms authorities, on the Kerr (pronounced “Carr”) rifle, second only to the fabled Whitworth as a sharpshooter’s rifle. Also info on modern attempts to make a shootable reproductions. (PDF file) And a compendium of videos from CapAndBall, a Hungarian web site (it’s in English […]

  • Sharpshooter Shorts

    Couple of short sharpshooter items. First from Berry Benson, South Carolina sharpshooter and scout; To each brigade in Jackson’s corps, – and also, I believe, in all of the corps of Lee’s army – was attached a body of sharpshooters; men picked from their regiments, not merely for skill in marksmanship, but also as best […]

  • Short Takes

    Most students of the Civil War have at least heard of Clement Vallandigham, an Ohio lawyer who served in Congress and stood for governor of Ohio during the Civil War. Vallandigham was a prominent Copperhead Democrat who advocated a peaceful solution to the bloodshed, and was arrested, convicted by a military court martial, and eventually […]

  • Some Nice Period Rifles On The Block

    Three very nice Civil War era rifles up for auction, but you’d better have some extra cash as I think all their estimates are rather low. Nevertheless these are fine examples of the British arms used by both sides but the more so by the Confederacy. However, none of these have any actual connection to […]