Weapons What kinds of arms were there? Artillery (Cannons) Small Arms (Guns) Ammunition Other Types Weapon Range

The artillery used at Gettysburg included:

• 142 12-pound “Napoleons”

• 4 10-pound “Parrott” rifles (Confederate)

• 146 (USA) and 73 (CSA) 3-inch wrought iron rifles

• 2 (USA) and 26 (CSA) 12-pound Howitzers Questions:

Which artillery type(s) gave one side or the other the greatest advantage?

What factors have an impact on the artillery effectiveness? Source for this information:

Gottfried, Bradley M. The Artillery of Gettysburg, First edition. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing, 2008.

The Union had several types of small arms:

1. Model 1861 Springfield Rifle Muskets

2. P53 Enfield Rifle Muskets

3. Austrian Lorenz Rifles

4. US Model 1842 Muskets

5. Saxon 1857 Rifle Muskets

6. US Model 1841 Rifles The Confederates had:

7. Richmond Arsenal Rifle Muskets

8. Fayetteville Rifles The average rifle measured 4 feet 8 inches long and weighed about 9 pounds. An average ten-year-old child is about 4 feet 8 inches tall. Questions: What does “rifle” mean? What is the scientific reason why “rifling” improves a weapon?

When was the last time you walked 20 miles in one day? Sources for this information:

Battle of Gettysburg: Weapons and Tactics

Growth Chart for Boys, 2 to 20 Years

In all, 250 TONS of musket and rifle ammunition were used at the Battle of Gettysburg. If a car weighs about 2 tons, that’s the equivalent of about 125 cars! A male African Elephant weights about 3.5 tons, so that’s about 71.4 elephants! On the Union side, it was reported that about 4 million rounds of ammunition were issued at the Battle of Gettysburg and that on the Confederate side, about 3 millions rounds were used. That’s a total of over 7 MILLION rounds of ammunition, NOT including artillery fire. In comparison, McDonald’s sells about 6.5 million hamburgers each day. One estimate is that it took 100 rounds to inflict one casualty at the Battle of Gettysburg. NEXT

Other weapons used at Gettysburg included:

1. Swords (straight)

2. Sabers (curved)

3. Knives (Bowie Knives)

4. Colt and Remington Revolvers

5. Derringers

6. Pistols

7. Grenades

8. Gatling (Repeating) Guns—an early machine gun that could fire up to 600 rounds per minute. Question:

What types of weapons were new at the time of the Civil War?

Were any of them still in use during World War II? In Iraq and Afghanistan?

Can you find examples of a war where one side had the newest weapons and that helped determine the outcome of the war? Source for this information:

List of Weapons in Civil War