CSA Small Arms

[wtexas]

Does anyone have any information or resources about the small arms assigned to CSA infantry by 1864?

By this stage in the war, were most armed with rifles or a mix of smoothbore and rifles?

I know a lot of Texas cavalry arrived unarmed in Louisiana in the spring of 1864.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[RedRover]

Regarding Lee's army of Northern Virginia in 1864, a synopsis of the arms described in the inspection reports can be found here. Lee's army was primarily armed with .577 Enfield or .58 Springfield rifled arms by that year.

Arms | Blue and Gray Marching

Here's some example regiments from the main armies in 1864...

Confederate Regimental Ordnance Statements | Blue and Gray Marching

The above website being archived, unfortunately not all of the pages/articles were saved, but there's still lots of good stuff there.

Finley's Florida brigade with the Army of Tennessee was fully outfitted with .69 cal. smoothbore muskets in the spring of 1864, and commenced the Atlanta campaign with them... but in late May was rearmed with .577 cal. Enfield rifled arms, etc.

A report of the arms of Wheeler's Cavalry Corps, January, 1865...

 

[wtexas]

Regarding Lee's army of Northern Virginia in 1864, a synopsis of the arms described in the inspection reports can be found here. Lee's army was primarily armed with .577 Enfield or .58 Springfield rifled arms by that year.

Arms | Blue and Gray Marching

Here's some example regiments from the main armies in 1864...

Confederate Regimental Ordnance Statements | Blue and Gray Marching

The above website being archived, unfortunately not all of the pages/articles were saved, but there's still lots of good stuff there.

Finley's Florida brigade with the Army of Tennessee was fully outfitted with .69 cal. smoothbore muskets in the spring of 1864, and commenced the Atlanta campaign with them... but in late May was rearmed with .577 cal. Enfield rifled arms, etc.

A report of the arms of Wheeler's Cavalry Corps, January, 1865...

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Thank you. This is helpful though I am thinking that things were quite different west of the River by 1864.

 

[RedRover]

Thank you. This is helpful though I am thinking that things were quite different west of the River by 1864.

Some references from the Trans-Mississippi Department, or therabouts...


Parson's Cavalry...

 

[Caddo Militia]

In the Trans-Mississippi, Confederates were armed with whatever weapons were available. One soldier of the 28th Louisiana Infantry (Gray's) who participated in the rebel charge at Mansfield on April 8, 1864, noted that "the air seemed alive with the sounds of various projectiles, from the spiteful, cat-like spit of the buckshot, the 'pouf' of the old fashioned musket, and the 'zing' of the Minie bullet".

 

[wtexas]

Some references from the Trans-Mississippi Department, or therabouts...


Parson's Cavalry...

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So it looks like the small arms were a very mixed lot! This is what I suspected. Thank you!!

 

[wtexas]

In the Trans-Mississippi, Confederates were armed with whatever weapons were available. One soldier of the 28th Louisiana Infantry (Gray's) who participated in the rebel charge at Mansfield on April 8, 1864, noted that "the air seemed alive with the sounds of various projectiles, from the spiteful, cat-like spit of the buckshot, the 'pouf' of the old fashioned musket, and the 'zing' of the Minie bullet".

Thank you! May I ask what your source is please?

 

[Caddo Militia]

Thank you! May I ask what your source is please?

History of Colonel Gray's 28th Louisiana Infantry by Jeff McFarland. My photo is of granddad's uncle, Pvt. George S. Stovall of Co. E.

HISTORY OF COLONEL GRAY'S 28TH LOUISIANA INFANTRY.

 

[wtexas]

History of Colonel Gray's 28th Louisiana Infantry by Jeff McFarland. My photo is of granddad's uncle, Pvt. George S. Stovall of Co. E.

HISTORY OF COLONEL GRAY'S 28TH LOUISIANA INFANTRY.

Many thanks! I had not seen this before.

 

[Stryker65]

@danny do your notes include information on armaments?

 

[danny]

Only vague references here and there---

http://www.penandsaber.com/grays28th/Jones28th.html

After the Regt was organized at Monroe, it departed to Vienna where it was to camp & train. For two hot months Col Gray & his officers drilled the raw recruits & tried to instill military discipline. (10) The 28th, like many other units during the Civil War, was probably forced to drill with sticks or wooden rifles because of the shortage of weapons. Firing practice, as we know it today, was virtually unheard of. Many times, the soldiers went into battle without knowing the proper use of the rifles, attested to by the fact that scores of rifles were sometimes picked up after a battle with several unfired rounds crammed down the barrel.

On July 28, Brig Gen Blanchard, cdr of the Monroe Dept, sent a note to Sec of War Randolph in Richmond reporting the arrival of the 28th & requesting that a shipment of arms be sent to the Dept (11]

Even though 10,000 rifles were sent across the Ms River to the Monroe area, apparently the 28th received very few of them. On Sept 1, a Capt reported to Richmond that there were only 1,200 arms for the entire Dept, most of these being shotguns. (12)

NOTES http://northLahistory.org/index.html The Journal is published 3 times a year & membership is $25/year. 1. John Q. Anderson, ed., Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone 1861- 1868 (Baton Rouge, 1972), 103, 138; Napier Bartlett, Military Record of La (Baton Rouge, 1964), 256. 2.Fowell A. Casey, "Confederate Units from North La," North La Historical Association Journal, VI (Spring 1975), 11 0-111. 3.Bartlett, Military Record of La, 356. 4.Ibid., 61; Taken from individual records in Andrew B. Booth, Comp., Records of La Confederate Soldiers & La Confederate Commands (Baton Rouge, 1920). 5.(n.a.), Biographical & Historical Memoirs of Northwest La (Nashville, 1890), 118. 6.D. W. Harris an B. M. Hulse, History of Claiborne Parish (New Orleans, 1886), 238-240. 7.Bartlett, Military Record of La, 62; taken from individual records i@Booth's La Confederate Soldiers. 8.(n.a.), Memoirs of Northwest La, 492. 9.Casey, "Confederate Units from North La," 111. 10.Harris & Hulse, History of Claiborne Parish, 239. 11.U. S. Congress, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union & Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol. XV, (Washington, 1880-1902), 790. 12.Ibid., 805. 13.Tbi-d., Series I, Vol. XXIV, Part III, 1056-1057; Harris & Hulse, History of Claiborne Parish, 238. 14, Official Records, Series I, Vol, XV, 805. 15. ibid., 388. 16.John.D. Winters, The Civil War In La (Baton Rouge, 1963), 221,- 222. 17.(n.a.) Memoir of Northwest La, 492. 18.Winters ' Civil-War in La, 227. 19.Richard Taylor, Destruction & Reconstruction, ed. Richard B. Harwell (New York, 1955), 155. 20.Ibid., 156. 21.Official Records, Series-I, Vol. XV, 388-396. 22.Morris Raphael, The Battle of the Bayou Country (Detroit, 1975), 114. 23.Official Records, Series I, Vol. XV, 395. 24. Ibid. 25.Bartlett, Military Record of La, 10. 26.Ibid., 39. 27.Felix Pierre Poche, A La Confederate: Diary of Felix Pierre Poche, ed. Edwin C. Bearss (Natchitoches, La., 1972), 23, 256. 28.Bartlett, Military Record of La , 11. 29.Ibid., 270. 30.Ibid., 63, 64. 31.Ibid. 32.Interview with W. I. Warner, whose grand-father was a member of the 28th, June 11, 1977, Winn Parish, La. John W Sutton-author of paper on the Regt in the North La Historical Assoc. 6/3/62 Largely without arms the Regt trained at Camp Jackson After their training, the 28th La moved to Monroe, where it began its active duty. On 7/28/62, Gen Blanchard, commander of the Monroe Dept, sent a note to Sec of War Randolph reporting the arrival of the 28th & requesting that a shipment of arms be sent to the dept