Guns and the History of Fort Bragg: The Civil War Edition

If you live in Fort Bragg, or near it, then you may be aware that it is named for U.S. Confederate Army General Braxton Bragg, a native of North Carolina and fought battles toward the end of the war near the area now known as Fort Bragg. His main battles, however, were fought near Wilmington. Many thought that even though his earlier years of military service wear bright at best, his later years were filled with defeat and utter chaos.

The one thing that both sides, the Union and the Confederates, had going for them were the weaponry. Just 90 years earlier the Americas won their independence and now, to an extent some were fighting for it again. The Revolutionary War carried fewer than 10 types of weapons, including cannon, knives, pistols and rifles. During the Civil War there were five to six times the number of that compared to the weapons carried by soldiers of the Revolutionary War. It seems that after the independence of our nation was won, gunsmiths and gun manufacturers jumped on the idea of producing “widow-makers.” 

In this installment, we will be looking at the most used weapons of the day and then taking a look at the most commonly used weapons of today’s military to see how much technology has changed.

Pistols: The Colt Army Model 1860 was the favorite pistol of the time for the Union section of the US Army (of course the Navy had their favorite choice which was a smaller caliber Colt M1861 Navy). The Confederates choice of pistols happened to be the Colt 1851 Navy Revolver.

Rifles: The Springfield Model 1861 was the weapon most widely used throughout both armies during the war and was considered a “shoulder” weapon meaning that you had to use your shoulder/arm as a backdrop because this rifle had one heck of a kick. The Pattern 1853 Enfield was the second most favorite rifle and it was actually used by both sides during the entire war. There was even a rifle used by artillerymen and that was the Pattern 1861 Enfield Musketoon. In some cases, you still had some soldiers using Revolutionary War muskets during battle…how is that for American pride?

Gatling Gun: I saved the best for last. This beautiful piece of hardware was designed by Dr. Richard Gatling and shot out 300 RPM (rounds per minute) with .58 caliber shots flying at you with deadly precision. It was fired by a hand crank in which President Abraham Lincoln called the weapon the “coffee grinder” gun.