Pea Ridge NMP: The Infantry - Weapons & Tactics

"Did you ever hear the wh’st-wh’st, the zip-zip of rifle balls as they passed your head? You don’t hear the one that hits you."

Confederate Soldier James C. Nisbet

As thousands of young men signed up for military service, the two respective governments scrambled to arm them. All available arms stored in the state and federal arsenals were pressed into service. Most of these were outdated smoothbore muskets left over from the Mexican War. Some were antiquated flintlocks made soon after the War of 1812.

Government purchasing agents rushed to Europe to buy all available arms from the foreign governments. The European powers were more than happy to sell their surplus weapons to the two combatants. While some, such as the British Enfield, were modern and as good as the best US-made arm, most of the foreign arms were obsolete, barely functional and down-right dangerous to use. When the men of the 4th Iowa Infantry Regiment (which saw action at Pea Ridge) fired their Prussian (German) smoothbore muskets for the first time, 13 of the barrels exploded.

Photo: Springfield Armory National Historic Site

U.S. Musket, Model 1842

The .69-caliber Model 1842 was the last smoothbore shoulderarm accepted by the U.S. Army. Prior to the start of the Civil War, 10,000 were sent back to the arsenals and had their barrels rifled and were given improved long-range sights. These were known as the Model 1842 Rifled-Musket. They fired a .69-caliber Minnie ball.

Photo: Springfield Armory National Historic Site

Bayonet for M1842 Musket

This is a socket type bayonet. It fit around the end of the end of the musket and was locked into place by a ring on the middle of the socket section. The small metal disk is a museum idendification marker.

Nearly all of the infantry shoulder-arms used during the Civil War were single-shot muzzleloaders. They were grouped according to the type of bore (inner surface of the barrel) that the weapon had, either smooth or rifled.

Photo: Springfield Armory National Historic Site

M1842 Musket, Lockplate & Hammer

The hammer (the S-shaped part) is resting on the nipple or cone. A percussion cap was placed on the nipple. When the hammer hit the percussion cap, the cap would explode, sending a small flame through a hole in the barrel, setting the main powder charge off.

Smoothbore shoulder-arms, called muskets, were, on average, about 57" long and weighed about 9 pounds. They fired a round soft-lead projectile and were accurate to about 50-100 yards. Most were .69 caliber, like the U.S. Model 1842 Musket (shown above), although some foreign-made muskets were as large as .75 caliber. Due to the large size of the projectile, the soldiers sometimes referred to these as "Pumpkin Slingers". Since thousands of these were stored in the state and federal arsenals prior to the war, they were the most commonly-used weapon during the first year of the war and would see extensive use through 1863.

There were three types of rifled shoulder-arms - the rifle, the rifle-musket and the rifled-musket. The rifle-musket was similar to the musket in size and appearance, but had a rifled barrel and long-range sights. The rifle was shorter than the rifle-musket, about 49" in length. It was designed for skirmishers and mounted infantry (soldiers who rode to battle then fought on foot), where the shorter length aided maneuverability. The rifled-musket was originally manufactured as a smoothbore but had been sent back to an arsenal to have the barrel rifled and long-range sights added. They all had grooves that spiraled the length of the bore (rifling). The rifling caused the bullet to spin like a football as it left the barrel, giving the weapon greater range and accuracy. In the hands of the common soldier, rifled longarms were accurate between 200 - 400 yards; although expert marksmen could hit targets as far away as 1000 yards.


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