INFANTRY (Part the Second)

Percussion cap seated on a Civil War-era rifle musket.

Minie bullets (note hollow base)

In which we discuss the principal shoulder arm used by Union & Confederate infantrymen during the Civil War: the rifle-musket.

Our book recommendation for this episode is The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth by Earl J. Hess.

“Hess hits a bull’s-eye with this fresh, provocative look at the impact of the rifle musket on Civil War combat.  His persuasive challenge to many old assumptions about the revolutionary role of the rifle requires a broad re-evaluation of what we have long thought happened on the battlefields of 1861-65.” ~ Daniel Sutherland, author of Seasons of War: The Ordeal of a Confederate Community, 1861-1865

Listen to Episode 46: InfantryPartSecond