with gunpowder that ignited when the lanyard pulled out a serrated wire Field guns were organized into batteries In the Union army batteries were made up of six guns manned by about 150 men commanded by a captain In the Confederate army which had fewer guns a battery was reduced to four guns after 1861 The guns of a battery were positioned 14 yards 12 8 m apart Rifled artillery Rifled artillery began to appear soon after the war began Rifled guns had a spiraled groove cut into the inside of the barrel that gave them greater range and accuracy than smoothbores such as the Napoleon They were made of iron because the rifling groove wore away too quickly on bronze barrels Rifled guns were easily identified by the big reinforcing bands of iron fitted at the rear of the barrel to strengthen the breech Two designs were mainly used in the Union army the 3-inch 7 6-cm Ordnance Rifle and the 10 pounder 4 5-kg Parrott gun Their success led the Confederates to start making copies by 1863 though the Southern guns were generally inferior in quality Like the smoothbore cannon the rifled guns were muzzleloaded Breechloading guns were at the leading edge of technology and both armies imported some from Britain Breechloaders were not used in large numbers however as muzzleloaders could fire just as rapidly Heavy artillery The most powerful guns in the Civil War were those of the heavy artillery They were made of iron and by the end of the war most were rifled Curriculum Context The Union had the advantage of a far more developed iron industry than the South The Napoleon was the standard artillery piece used by both sides in the Civil War It was a smoothbore weapon with a range of 1,600 yards 1,460 m 8 Weapons Tactics and Strategy
Moving and Firing Field Artillery A six-horse team pulled the gun and the two wheeled vehicle to which it was attached known as a limber while another team of six pulled the caisson a wagon with extra ammunition a spare wheel and other accessories Each team had three drivers the rest of the crew either walked or sat on the limber and caisson The pace was usually a steady trot when not under fire galloping was only for emergencies Field artillery was meant to be able to keep up with the cavalry but its ability to do so depended on the condition of the roads which often slowed down the batteries considerably The gun was brought into action by a commander and crew of six who had to go through 14 maneuvers to load and fire The drill was complicated but an experienced team could arrive in position unlimber and fire their first shot in about 30 seconds After that a fire rate of two shots a minute was a good average The heaviest guns a marching army could transport were siege guns such as the 30-pounder 13 6-kg Parrott gun Bigger artillery pieces had to be mounted on a carriage to control the massive recoil and be installed within fortifications or entrenchments Some of these guns were huge The most powerful were the coastal artillery pieces used against shipping The Union Rodman gun could fire a projectile weighing 1,080 pounds 490 kg over 3 miles 5 km Mortars The mortar was the other type of artillery used during the war Mortars had a short stubby barrel that could throw shells in a high arc at short range into fortifications This made them ideal for sieges and they were used in large numbers by the Union army The largest mortars had a caliber of 13 inches 33 cm and were sometimes mounted on railroad flatcars A much smaller bronze mortar called the coehorn was also used in sieges It weighed about 290 pounds 131 kg and could be carried by four men The coehorn was used in the trenches around Petersburg Virginia in the fighting and siege of 1864 and 1865 Recoil The kickback of a gun or cannon as it is fired Curriculum Context You could read more about the use of mortars in Union sieges such as those of Vicksburg Petersburg and Port Hudson Caliber The diameter of a bullet or other projectile Artillery 9
Black Troops In the North politicians soldiers and abolitionists began to debate the question of whether or not black troops should be recruited by the Union army almost as soon as the war began in the spring of 1861 The recruitment of black troops was controversial People who supported the idea believed the Union should use all the men it could to win the war They also saw an opportunity for black soldiers to win a more secure place in society for their race Many of those who were against black recruitment echoed racist attitudes found in the South As the whites debated many free blacks tried to enlist At this early stage in the war however the Lincoln administration was unwilling to enlist black soldiers The government still viewed the conflict as a white-only struggle for the unity of the country rather than a war to end slavery The Union’s changing policy Two new laws of July 1862 reflected a shift in government attitudes The Confiscation Act and Militia Act officially brought black people into the Union war effort and opened the way for the formation of black units in the army The Confiscation Act stated that all escaped slaves who came under Union control would be free and could be employed by the Union to suppress the Confederate rebellion The Militia Act gave the president the power to enroll persons of African descent for any war service including as soldiers Within weeks black regiments under white officers were being raised throughout the Union and in the Southern territories it controlled In New Orleans Louisiana the occupying Union governor Benjamin Butler raised three regiments of black militia enlisting both freedmen and escaped Curriculum Context Curricula might ask you to examine the motives of African American soldiers who fought in the Union armies Militia A military unit that is called upon only in times of emergency 10 Weapons Tactics and Strategy
slaves On the South Carolina coast former slaves formed the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Regiment while in the North freedmen joined the 54th Massachusetts In the west the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Regiment was made up of ex-slaves from Arkansas and Missouri This unit fought the first engagement by a black unit against the Confederates at Island Mound Missouri in October 1862 Although Union enlistment of black troops was underway by the end of 1862 discrimination was still widespread Doubts were raised whether African Americans could fight and many Union commanders saw black units merely as a source of labor to do menial or manual tasks It was only in summer 1863 that black soldiers had the chance to prove their worth On July 18 the 54th Massachusetts charged the Confederate stronghold at Fort Wagner South Carolina Although the assault failed the regiment’s courage proved the fighting quality of black soldiers Unequal pay Black soldiers were not paid the same as white soldiers A white Union soldier received on average 13 a month plus a 3 50 clothing allowance a black soldier only 10 a month less a 3 clothing deduction Black soldiers received no financial bounty on enlistment as white volunteers did Equal pay became a serious point of dispute with the Lincoln administration Abolitionists campaigned for it Men of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment having been promised equal pay on their enlistment refused any pay until the injustice was ended It was only in June 1864 that Congress finally gave black troops equal pay Remember Fort Pillow The Southern reaction to Union enlistment of black troops was violently hostile The Confederates did not regard black soldiers as prisoners of war but treated Curriculum Context Learn more about the 54th Massachusetts by watching the 1989 movie Glory which tells their story Bounty A one-off payment made to encourage men to enlist in the army Black Troops 11
