During the Civil Centennial, when historians wer less aware of historical firear it was commonly believed that Brigadier General John Buford’s horse soldiers were armed with Spencer repeating carbines when they conducted their holding ac tion on July 1 at Gettysburg. This was, however, not the case As dawn broke on July 1, 1863, Buford’s Division was deployed on ridgelines north and west of the little Pennsylvania town. Buford’s job was to seek out the Army of Northern Virginia while shielding his own Army of the Potomac from prying enemy eyes. That morning both armies, primed for a climactic, perhaps war-ending, fight, were converg
including muskets, carbin inventory of historic ant collectors level and rang
As Confederate infantry warily approached his position, 2nd Lieutenant Marcellus E. Jones grabbed his sergeant’s Sharps carbine, dropped the lever, slipped a linen cartridge into t open chamber, closed the action, cocked the hammer, and capped the nipple. Using a fence rail f a rest, he jacked up the sights what he thought was an appropriate height for the range and squeezed off a shot at the advancing enemy some 600 yards away. The bullet hit the ground in a puff of dust halfway to the Rebs. Jones had miscalculated the range but accomplished what he set out to do. Forever after lieutenant, of Milton, Ill., and 8th Illinois Cavalry, could clai the honor of firing the first sh perhaps the greatest of American
es and accoutrements. Our d firearms begin at the early e way up to the advanced
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cavalry was indeed a heavily armed force, with each trooper carrying a breech loading carbine, saber, and cap and ball revolver. At first glance, dismounted horse soldiers, with their faster-firing shoulder arm backed up by six shot handguns, might seem to have an advantage over infantrymen armed with single shot muzzle loading rifle muskets. However, Civil War cavalry did not engage in standup fights with infantry, as the mounted arm’s tactical role was quite different than that of foo soldiers. In addition to not bei schooled in infantry tactics, a dismounted cavalry force immediately lost a quarter of its potential firepower, as ever fourth man was required to hold horses behind the skirmish line.
long been preferred for cavalry, as they could be fired and r loaded on horseback. Such use in the Civil War was rare, however, as carbines were primarily used for dismounted skirmish-
ing. In addition to the Sharps, men in Buford’s cavalry screen
were equipped with a variety of carbines, including the Burnside Gallager, Smith, Merrill, and
fired .50 to .54 caliber cartrid es with 40 to 45 grain powder charges. All, save the Smith and Merrill, were operated by lowering a trigger guard lever to e pose the chamber for loading. All but the Sharps and Hankin used semi-fixed ammunition, a cartridge containing powder and bullet with priming supplied by a percussion cap placed on an external nipple. Civil War carbines used a variety of non-inte changeable specialty cartridges of different shapes and material some of which acted as breech seals, although the Sharps and Merrill depended on mechanical breech sealing. This ammunition
diversity proved an ordnance officer’s nightmare, especially when, as was often the case, a unit was armed with several vari
eties of weapons. The sturdy and accurate Sharps, the most common and
popular tible . it repl allowed into pl plode. a .52 c had to firing, and was
e, use ber li paper powder ere it lager brass ally e with g sly de
Unidentified soldier in Confeder (Liljenquist Family Collection o of Congress)
Two unidentified soldiers with S and Colt Army revolvers, probabl
that jarred the fired case loose opening the action. The .50 caliber Smith employed a rubber cartridge that expanded to seal the chamber on firing, and then shrank for easy manual removal. A well-regarded gun during the war, it has remained so in origi
carbine shooters in the NorthSouth Skirmish Association. The .54 caliber Merrill used a paper cartridge that, like the Sharps
iform with Merrill carbine. l War Photographs, Library
carbines, 1860 sabers, n uniforms. (Liljenquist
paper rounds, was fragile and ten broke up in cartridge boxe due to the “jouncing” effect c veyed by trotting horses. Most spondents to a late war survey carbine effectiveness consider the Merrill “worthless.” The most modern gun on the field that day was the Sharps Hankins, designed by Christian Sharps after he left the compa that produced carbines bearing his name. It fired a .52 calib
Reunion of unidentified Co. M, 5t American flag. (Liljenquist
rimfire cartridge with powder, bullet, and priming compound in one convenient water and jounce proof copper package. Most Sharps and Hankins carbines were purchased by the navy, but New York bought some as well, apparently including those carried by three companies of the 9t New York Cavalry at Gettysburg. Historical myth long held that Buford’s troopers were armed with seven-shot repeating Spencer carbines on July 1 and credits the Spencer’s firepower with delaying the Confederate advance. The cavalry presence forced the Confederates, who did not know where the Union infantry was, to deploy into line of b tle, which took up the time needed for Union infantry to arrive. Casualties were light on both sides. One cavalryman only fired a dozen rounds from his carbine all morning. Were there Spencers at Gettysburg? Yes, rifles in the hands of the 5th and 6th Michigan Cavalry, which made their mark in the cavalry action on July 3. fact, Spencer carbines were not
Joseph G. Bilby received his BA and MA degrees in history from Seton Hall University and served as a lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Division in 1966–1967. H is Assistant Curator of the New Jersey National Guard and Militia Museum, a freelance writer and historical consultant and author or editor of 21 books and over 400 articles on N.J. and military
igan Cavalry Regiment veterans, Collection of Civil War Photogr
history and firearms. He is also publications editor for the N.J. War 150 Committee and edited the award winning New Jersey Goes to War. His latest book, New Jersey A Military History, was publishe by Westholme Publishing in 2017. He has received an award for con tributions to Monmouth County
George Weller Juno 11311 S. Indian River 770-329-49
(N.J.) history Merit from the Commission for the state’s mi He can be cont
