China’s introduction of using gunpowder as a weapon was a huge discovery that would forever change the way wars were fought. During the American Revolutionary War, guns were very unreliable and inaccurate. But the changes made to weapons during the American Civil War changed the gun from being a weapon no more effective than a bow, to being one of the deadliest weapon in history. There is a reason that the American Civil War was able to cause so much death and destruction in only 4 years. Not only did standard issue firearms improve, but several experimental weapons were deployed by both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War.
During the American Revolution, weapons and equipment were in relatively short supply for both sides of …show more content…
The Union side manufactured the first hand grenades in the form of the ketchum grenade. This was a projectile explosive that was thrown like a dart. The ketchum had varying results of success. Confederate soldiers quickly learned that they could stop the grenades by putting a blanket over their fortifications, and then throwing the grenades back at the unsuspecting Union soldiers. Primitive rocket launchers were used by both sides of the war. While powerful, these weapons were rather ungainly for infantry and were mostly used in the navy The Confederacy deployed the congreve rockets. These were used by the British army during the War of 1812. This weapon was very inaccurate, and proved unsuccessful. The Union army used the hale patent rocket launcher. While more effective than the congreve, it was still rather unwieldy. The Civil War created the world’s first machine guns. No example is more infamous than the gatling gun, a six barreled weapon that could fire 350 rounds in one minute. While intimidating, the Union never ordered this weapon in bulk. However, a Union general by the name of Benjamin Butler secretly bought several gatling guns, which he then used during the Petersburg