French Weapons in The American Civil War - Firearms

Firearms

The Minié rifle as well as the ammunition going with it, the Minié ball, developed by the French Army captain Claude-Étienne Minié, was the most widely used firearms system of the American Civil War. The Minié system was also used extensively by various manufacturers, such as Springfield, so that Springfield Model 1861 became most widely used rifle of the American Civil War.

The Minié ball produced terrible wounds on those struck in battle. The large-caliber rounds easily shattered bones, and in many cases the attending surgeon simply amputated the limb rather than risk a typically fatal secondary infection. The American Civil War, which often had many thousands of infantrymen armed with this type of ammunition, resulted in mass casualties on a scale which was inconceivable to contemporary strategists.