A question about the Civil war/Revolutionary war

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Why didn't they use shotguns? Since they fought in long lines in open fields, wouldn't a shotgun hit more people at once?

[Onacara]

Shotguns do not have the same range as rifles..and the pellets that spread that you are talking about are used to kill small game animals like birds and rabbits.

[STAROCEAN980]

Did they even have those back then?
And they weren't fighting the most brilliant way in the first place.

[Hahma]

They used grape shot from cannons I believe in the Civil War. It was kind of like a giant shotgun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapeshot

[STAROCEAN980]

Originally Posted by Hahma

They used grape shot from cannons I believe in the Civil War. It was kind of like a giant shotgun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapeshot

Oh yeah. I remember seeing that somewhere.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Originally Posted by Onacara

Shotguns do not have the same range as rifles..and the pellets that spread that you are talking about are used to kill small game animals like birds and rabbits.

Okay, thank you.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Originally Posted by STAROCEAN980

Oh yeah. I remember seeing that somewhere.

Mythbusters?

[STAROCEAN980]

Originally Posted by ParaGoomba Slayer

Mythbusters?

That or a History Channel special.

[NEMT]

Wikipedia has a really good article here.

[massivenewbage]

Just to elaborate a bit. The technology between Revolutionary and Civil Wars was quite different. After all there was about 90yrs separating the two wars. A musket, while only firing one ball, is practically like firing a shotgun at range. The musket balls had a much lower velocity than current bullets, and were very very difficult to aim. So standing in a big line was really the best way to defeat an enemy, especially a melee enemy. Concentration of fire was the way it was done. I've read that the on field kill rate of REV. War battle was about 2% from gunfire.

The Civil War introduced the rifle. Grooving inside the barrel rotated the bullet causing it to be much more accurate. So now soldiers had a much more accurate weapon at long range. And if you can defeat your enemy at long range, your going to. No reason to get the enemy close enough to use a shotgun. Shotgun style weapons were used, but not as prevalently, and definitely not at long range.

So thats my mini history lesson for the day. Shotguns are glamorous but there is a reason soldiers still carry rifles today.

[John Smith]

Originally Posted by massivenewbage

Just to elaborate a bit. The technology between Revolutionary and Civil Wars was quite different. After all there was about 90yrs separating the two wars. A musket, while only firing one ball, is practically like firing a shotgun at range. The musket balls had a much lower velocity than current bullets, and were very very difficult to aim. So standing in a big line was really the best way to defeat an enemy, especially a melee enemy. Concentration of fire was the way it was done. I've read that the on field kill rate of REV. War battle was about 2% from gunfire.

The Civil War introduced the rifle. Grooving inside the barrel rotated the bullet causing it to be much more accurate. So now soldiers had a much more accurate weapon at long range. And if you can defeat your enemy at long range, your going to. No reason to get the enemy close enough to use a shotgun. Shotgun style weapons were used, but not as prevalently, and definitely not at long range.

So thats my mini history lesson for the day. Shotguns are glamorous but there is a reason soldiers still carry rifles today.

Good points. Also, the Henry debuted right before the Civil war which was revolutionary. No longer would a solider have to load his weapon from the muzzle. He could now "load on Sunday, and shoot all week" from the breech. Neither side adopted the repeating rifle, however, which could fire around 25-28 rounds per minute as opposed to a muzzle loader shooting 2 to 3 rounds a minute (skilled rifleman). Unfortunately for Confederate soldiers, many Union soldiers purchased these rifles with their own money. The Henry would have been much more prized than a shotgun, due to the rapid reloading and accuracy of this weapon.

[Aldin]

...and just because it is a favorite adage of mine, let us remember that war is most emphatically NOT about killing the enemy - it is about destroying his will and ability to fight. Killing the enemy is an admittedly effective way of accomplishing this at times, but in the Civil War a great deal of the attrition on the armies was from people running away, getting scattered, getting lost, etc. Though better rifles in the North were a big advantage, the ability to out-manufacture, out-manoeuver and better supply their armies were what truly won the day.

~Aldin, who grew up playing games like A House Divided and Chickamauga