Question on Repeaters

Gasmask134

Cadet
Joined
May 10, 2018
So I was reading older threads on here about repeaters and I came across someone mentioning that soldiers might save up money to buy one on their own.

Which left me wondering, if a soldier did purchase a repeater to use with his own money how would that even work in the context of the rest of his unit? I can't imagine everyone in a company or regiment going along with "Everyone has rifled muskets, except that one guy who has a repeater."

Would the man with the repeater take on a more specialized role instead?

To expand on the question a little bit, what if a whole company of infantry has breech loaders or repeaters while the rest of the regiment has rifled muskets? Would that company become designated skirmishers for the regiment?

I'm just a bit confused on the role of soldiers using something other than a rifled musket in an infantry unit...
 
I was not a common practice as ammo was the major issue. Just cause a soldier bought his own repeater didn't make him a sharpshooter etc. The Henry is the most prominent one in the question you asked as it could fire 16 44cal rounds. The Union army only purchased 1700.

For a Civil War soldier, owning a Henry rifle was a point of pride.[5] Letters home would call them "Sixteen" or "Seventeen"-shooters, depending whether a round was loaded in the chamber.[citation needed] Just 1,731 of the standard rifles were purchased by the government during the Civil War.[6] The Commonwealth of Kentucky purchased a further 50. However 6,000 to 7,000 saw use by the Union on the field through private purchases by soldiers who could afford it. The relative fragility of Henrys compared to Spencers hampered their official acceptance. Many infantry soldiers purchased Henrys with their reenlistment bounties of 1864. Most of these units were associated with Sherman's Western troops.

When used correctly, the brass-receiver rifles had an exceptionally high rate of fire compared to any other weapon on the battlefield. Soldiers who saved their pay to buy one believed it would help save their lives. Since tactics had not been developed to take advantage of their firepower, Henrys were frequently used by scouts, skirmishers, flank guards, and raiding parties rather than in regular infantry formations. Confederate Colonel John Mosby, who became infamous for his sudden raids against advanced Union positions, when he encountered the Henry in battle he called it "that damned Yankee rifle that can be loaded on Sunday and fired all week."[2] Since then that phrase became associated with Henry rifle.[7] Those few Confederate troops who came into possession of captured Henry rifles had little way to resupply the ammunition it used, making its widespread use by Confederate forces impractical. The rifle was, however, known to have been used at least in part by some Confederate units in Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia, as well as the personal bodyguards of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.[8]
 
As an additional note to ucvrelics excellent post some units utilized their Henry's in a reserve role. At Allatoona Pass the 7th IL VI did exactly that (those of the Regiment not armed w/ the Henry carried the P53 Enfield) an ad-hoc company of approx 60 men with Henry Rifles was formed and placed somewhat behind the works of Rowett's Redoubt. When the CS Assault crested and appeared ready to break through that ad-hoc group of men stepped forward and emptied their rifles as fast as they could lever them into the faces of the Confederates. This staggered and slowed the assault enough that the majority of the defenders were able to reach the safety of the Star Fort and continue the defense of the position. They did something similar at Atlanta, though not to the same effect.

They sent something in the neighborhood of 1000 rounds into the faces of the assaulting troops. At a time when a similar number of troops would only have been able to reply with a couple hundred rounds.
 
They sent something in the neighborhood of 1000 rounds into the faces of the assaulting troops. At a time when a similar number of troops would only have been able to reply with a couple hundred rounds.

Sounds like one heck of a reserve to have on hand for emergencies. Then again as noted above the Union army only purchased 1,700 Henry Rifles, with that little amount of rifles it seems like the only way you really can use them is for ad-hoc or more specialized roles.

Speaking of which, would you happen to know how common was the Spencer among Union cavalry by the end of the war ?
 
When the CS Assault crested and appeared ready to break through that ad-hoc group of men stepped forward and emptied their rifles as fast as they could lever them into the faces of the Confederates.
Would you say this was the first example of the "Mad Minute"
 
Speaking of which, would you happen to know how common was the Spencer among Union cavalry by the end of the war ?

The Spencer was THE carbine by the end of the war, during the winter of 1864 - 65 Gen Wilson was preparing his cavalry ready for raid into Alabama & Georgia. It wanted ALL his troops armed with Spencer. He even left 2 brigades behind as they could not get enough Spencer's for them.
 
There was a sizeable number of Illinois 66th that purchased Henry's at Corinth. Some officers advanced funds in able for the men to purchase a superior advantageous firearm that helped give them an edge in battle.
Henry 1860 Ser.#2541  #9.JPG
Henry 1860 Ser.#2541  #63.JPG
 
So to clarify what I am reading here, in the context of infantry:

Infantrymen would be armed with their standard rifled musket, but a (small) number of soldiers could be armed with repeaters if the situation called for it and there were some available?
 
The majority were cavalry and besides the Henry there were other flavors to choose from Burnsides, Gallagers, Maynards, Sharps, Spencers and several others.
 
Was there much complaining about soldiers with repeaters shooting too much?

You come across that a lot when reading about European armies of the 19th century talking about repeating rifles.
The only exception I can think of off the top of my head is the Ottomans who used quite a few Winchesters during their war with Russia (and friends) in 1877.
 
I really don't about during the CW but from my many years is the US Army Armored Branch, I never heard any of my guys complain about to much shooting now they did complain about humping ammo:D
 
As ucvrelics stated above only 1731 were purchased by Uncle Sam. Most of those were issued in protecting Washington. They were not widely distributed to the troops. Col. Wilder wanted to arm all his men with the Henry, but supply was limited and he settled on Spencer's.
 
I really don't about during the CW but from my many years is the US Army Armored Branch, I never heard any of my guys complain about to much shooting now they did complain about humping ammo:D

But hey, any ammo you use up now, you don't have to carry back later!


As ucvrelics stated above only 1731 were purchased by Uncle Sam. Most of those were issued in protecting Washington. They were not widely distributed to the troops. Col. Wilder wanted to arm all his men with the Henry, but supply was limited and he settled on Spencer's.

Did the Spencer also have an advantage of lower cost per rifle? Because that can be a big factor as well.
 
Not really as they work as advertised and were a deadly weapon in the hands of a good cavalryman. During the CW if you made a gun that would shoot straight the US Gov. would buy it and cost really wasn't a major factor.
 
The Spencer quickly received a reputation for being quite robust and a good rifle out to a couple hundred yards.
After the War Winchester bought Spencer and made certain there would be no competition.

The French were quite fond of the Spencer issuing it to their Cav and later to colonial troops. It was still in service w/ the French Army as a 2nd line arm at the time of WW1.
 
Was there much complaining about soldiers with repeaters shooting too much?

You come across that a lot when reading about European armies of the 19th century talking about repeating rifles.
The only exception I can think of off the top of my head is the Ottomans who used quite a few Winchesters during their war with Russia (and friends) in 1877.

Union Ordnance Chief James Ripley* was reluctant to adopt breech-loading rifles out of concern that the soldiers would consume ammunition too rapidly. This actually happened early in the fighting at the February 1864 Battle of Olustee in Florida when the Spencer-armed Seventh Connecticut got too far ahead of the rest of the army and was forced to withdraw for want of ammunition.**

*Ripley was replaced in September 1863, three months after John Wilder's Lightning Brigade first demonstrated the Spencer's effectiveness at the Battle of Hoover's Gap.

** Willam Nulty, Confederate Florida, (Tuscaloosa, University of Alabama Press, 1990), 133-36, 152
 
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Here is one from my personnel collection that I acquired from a lady in Centerville Alabama. It was left behind by one of Gen Croxton's troopers and the serial traces back to a unit that gave up their Spencer & Horses to Croxton before they left Gravelly Springs Al on the raid into Alabama in March of 1865. In the gun world its a boat anchor but in the CW collector world is has a history.
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