Quote Originally Posted by Galloglaich View Post
That is interesting about the rifles in the US Civil War I thought it was mostly still smoothbore muskets at least in the early part. I know by the end the North had lever-action rifles which must have conferred a huge advantage I would guess?

G
Basically. Smoothbore muskets were around in large numbers at the start of the Civil War, whereas the newer rifle musket design (referred to as M1855, but not entering production until 1857), was only available in limited quantities. Some smoothbore muskets had been rifled as well, a conversion process that continued during the war. At the beginning there was so much need for muskets of any kind that they imported all sorts of weapons. Gradually as the war progressed you would see fewer and fewer smoothbores, but they never disappeared completely, even in the Union armies (especially in the western theater).

Rifle muskets were the "standard" design at the time. There were several forms of breechloader available, and even a few repeaters -- but they were rare. While it is true that a Union soldier would be more likely to have a repeater, they were never widespread among the Union army. At the end of the war, some of the cavalry regiments seem to have been well equipped with Spencer repeating carbines -- but the army abandoned these during the late 1860s for single shot breechloaders.