WEAPONS USED IN THE BATTLE OF MILL SPRINGS
Compiled by Geoffrey R. Walden

Part 2. Infantry Ammunition

Ammunition for muskets and rifles in the Civil War was generally supplied to the soldiers as fixed cartridges; that is, bullet and powder together, ready to load. Most of the cartridges of the period were made from tubes of paper, containing the powder and bullet, and tied or twisted closed. These cartridges were issued to the soldiers in packets of ten, which they carried in their cartridge boxes until needed for use.

The powder used was black powder, which produces a dense white smoke when fired in quantity. This powder smoke did much to obscure the battlefield at Mill Springs, especially in the dark and rainy conditions. The rain also effected the loading of the ammunition in the Confederates' flintlock muskets. The main powder charge of a flintlock is ignited by a smaller priming charge, located in the pan. When the trigger is pulled, the flint hits the steel frizzen, producing sparks that are directed into the powder in the pan, which ignites and in turn ignites the main powder charge in the barrel. This system is very vulnerable to moisture, and highly unreliable in rain. Percussion muskets, in contrast, are fired using a waterproof percussion cap, which ignites the powder charge in the barrel.

The other main ingredient besides the powder charge is the bullet. Many different types of bullets were used at Mill Springs. The flintlock and conversion muskets and the M1842 muskets had smoothbore barrels, and fired round lead balls. A favorite cartridge for this type of weapon was called "buck and ball," because it consisted of one .65 caliber lead ball, and three .31 caliber buckshot. This gave four potentially deadly projectiles fired with each round. None of the smoothbore ammunition was very accurate at ranges beyond about one hundred yards, but in the close-in fighting at Mill Springs, those units firing buck and ball likely had a devastating effect on the enemy. Many examples of buck and ball ammunition have been found on the Mill Springs battlefield.

.69 Caliber Buck & Ball Ammunition
.31-cal. buckshot and .65-cal. round ball (originals)
Paper cartridge for buck & ball (reproduction)
collection of G. R. Walden

The muzzle-loading rifles and rifle-muskets fired special conical lead bullets based on a European design, and often called "minie" bullets. These were cast smaller than bore size, so they could be loaded down the barrel from the muzzle, but they had cavities in their bases so that, when fired, the expanding gases from the ignited powder would push the sides of the soft lead bullets against the bore of the barrel, and into the rifling, so that they would spin as they exited the muzzle. This spin greatly stabilized the bullet in flight, and gave rifles a much greater accuracy and longer range than smoothbores.

"Minie" bullets were similar for all the rifled infantry weapons at Mill Springs. The M1841 "Mississippi" rifles fired a .54 caliber minie bullet. Some of these bullets have been recovered from the field at Mill Springs, showing the characteristic marks of the Mississippi's 6-groove rifling, and the imprint of the heavy brass head on the Mississippi ramrod (and thereby confirming the use of these rifles among the Confederates). The .577-.58 caliber M1855-61 and Enfield rifle-muskets fired a hollow-base minie bullet having cannelures, or grease grooves, cut into the circumference. These are commonly called "3-ring minies," and many have been recovered from the battlefield. To date, none of the distinctive British-style Enfield "Pritchett" bullets have been discovered at Mill Springs, so the Enfields used there must have been firing American style 3-ring minies. There was a special 3-ring minie made for the rifled .69 caliber muskets, some of which may have been in use at Mill Springs.

Minie bullets, .58 and .69 caliber (originals)
Paper cartridge for .58-cal. minie (reproduction)
collection of G. R. Walden

Sharps rifles loaded their cartridges from the breech, so they did not have to use an expanding minie bullet. The Sharps bullets were conical, but had a flat base, or sometimes a small "ring-tail" onto which the paper cartridge was tied. Some of these characteristic bullets have also been recovered at Mill Springs, confirming the use of Sharps rifles among the 1st Kentucky Cavalry.

.52-cal. Sharps bullet, flat base, early style
collection of G. R. Walden

To load his muzzle-loading musket, the Civil War infantryman removed a cartridge from his cartridge box, and tore the folded paper tail away (usually with his teeth) to expose the powder. The powder charge was poured down the barrel (to load the flintlocks, a small portion of the powder was first placed into the pan, then the frizzen was shut to cover this priming charge in the pan, then the rest of the powder was poured down the barrel). The soldier then removed the rest of the paper from the bullet or balls, placed these into the muzzle, then pushed them down the barrel and on top of the powder in the breech, using his ramrod. Sometimes the cast-off paper was also rammed down for the smoothbore cartridges. The flintlock was now ready to cock and fire, but the percussion weapons required one more step -- a small percussion cap was removed from a cap pouch, and placed on the cone, or nipple. When struck by the hammer as the trigger was pulled, this cap went off and ignited the powder charge.

The breech-loading Sharps rifle was much easier to load. The soldier armed with a Sharps simply opened the breech with the operating lever; inserted a prepared cartridge into the chamber, bullet first; closed the breech, and placed a percussion cap on the nipple. The paper Sharps cartridge had to be loaded so that the tail at the back was positioned to be cut off by the sharp edge of the breechblock in closing. This exposed the powder to the flash of the percussion cap, but it also allowed loose powder to fall into the breech mechanism. Later Sharps cartridges were made from linen and specially treated combustible paper, which allowed the cap flash to fire through the paper, without first exposing the powder.

Civil War soldiers were trained to a standard of three shots loaded and fired in a minute. However, several factors could adversely effect such a rate of fire. The flintlocks, while slightly faster to load than their percussion counterparts, were never too reliable, even under ideal conditions (out of every few shots, at least one would "flash" the powder in the pan, without igniting the main charge in the barrel), and in the rain at Mill Springs, most barely functioned at all. But the three-shot standard was also difficult to maintain for the percussion weapons under battle conditions. The confusion, fear, and excitement of combat caused many soldiers to fumble in their cartridge or cap boxes, even dropping unused rounds onto the ground, forgotten (to be found later by relic collectors, their bullets unfired and in pristine condition). Black powder produces a residue that builds up on the inside of the barrel during firing, and eventually makes it hard to ram a minie bullet down the bore. This is evident from the .54 caliber "Mississippi" bullets recovered at Mill Springs; all of these have tips heavily battered by the head of the ramrod, as the soldiers struggled to ram them in the heat of battle. A far more realistic firing rate at Mill Springs would have been one or two shots a minute. Of course, the breech-loading Sharps rifles had a much higher rate of fire.

For main references, see Coates & Thomas, Lewis, and McKee & Mason.

Go to Weapons, Part 3

Copyright © 1998, Geoffrey R. Walden; all rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the author (permission is granted to link to this page from other web pages).
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