NF Weapons

[Bscox3]

Hello friends

What is the quintessential book on weapons of the civil war?

Thanks as always everyone!

Billy

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

For serious students of Civil War arms I would recommend the following:

Confederate Rifles and Muskets
Confederate Carbines and Musketoons
American Military Shoulder Arms, Vols. 2 and 3
Firearms from Europe
The English Connection

That would give you a well rounded reference library on most longarms excepting Federal carbines. You would still be lacking books on handguns, artillery, and blade weapons.

 

[novushomus]

You can't go wrong starting out with this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0939631253/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

 

[John Winn]

When you say "weapons" that's a big subject. If you mean only small arms that's one thing but "weapon" would also include artillery; not sure if you are making a distinction.

For a nice introduction that you can get in paperback for cheap I'd say start with:

Coggins, Jack. (1990). Arms and Equipment of the Civil War. (Dover Publications, Mineola, New York).

It has line drawings and is only a 150 pages or so but is remarkably detailed and is often referenced in bibliographies; a classic. If you want to delve into only small arms or artillery (which actually has several sub-genres: field, siege, naval) then there's classic works that address those specifically in detail.

 

[Bscox3]

Great just bought:

Coggins, Jack. (1990). Arms and Equipment of the Civil War. (Dover Publications, Mineola, New York).

 

[JOHN42768]

Welcome, enjoy. A fairly inexpensive, but great book on the Carbine is "Carbines of the Civil War" by John D. McAulay

 

[John Winn]

Great just bought:

Coggins, Jack. (1990). Arms and Equipment of the Civil War. (Dover Publications, Mineola, New York).

Well, I hope you like it. As I said, it's an introduction so doesn't get into great depth although it does pack in a surprising amount of information given its length and is a very good overall introduction. Once you've read it then if one thing in particular interests you you can pursue a detailed study.

The work noted in post #3 would be a good place to start if you are interested in small arms. If you find artillery to be of interest I can provide the classic titles (but, as I said, there's different types and each requires a different reference). We've got several members who know all about navy and cavalry stuff (which I don't) and if that's your fancy you could ask for titles specific to that.

Anyway, hope you aren't disappointed. Luckily, a Coggins copy isn't usually very expensive.