Saphroneth
Lt. Colonel
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2017
This is tricky. The theoretical range of the small arms was considerably greater, but the range as actually used was about the same - ACW troops simply did not use their rifles as well as you can use a smoothbore musket, so the rifles didn't improve anything.Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia has one great advantage over the Le Grande Armee. And that’s it’s firepower. The effective range of both artillery and small arms fire exceeded that of the Napoleonic armies and the Hardee Tactics developed a system where on the field of battle, Civil War era soldiers actually advanced at a much faster pace than what Napoleon had.
It depends on the situation. The smoke isn't that much of an issue if you have a force dispersed in skirmish line and firing deliberate aimed shots, unless the weather is very unusual, but it can quickly become a major problem if you have a force in a two-deep line firing as fast as possible - the difference is the amount of smoke generated per meter of front.I've seen it noted by several authors that said the theoretical increased accuracy of rifled muskets was negated by the fact they were still using old powder, which threw up lots of smoke that essentially made en masse sharpshooting impossible after the first few volleys.
We do know that French troops in 1870-1 could achieve useful hit rates on targets several hundred yards away using black powder rifles, and indeed the only major war of 1854-71 which doesn't see long range infantry fire as a major focus is the Civil War.