"A New Kind of Firepower that gave Union Soldier a..." Topic

… FEARSOME EDGE

"On August 18, 1863—a day that saw fighting in Virginia, Kentucky, and both Carolinas—President Abraham Lincoln stood in the Oval Office with Christopher Spencer, very carefully examining his guest's repeating rifle. "Handling it as one familiar with firearms," Spencer would later recall, "he requested me to take it apart to show [him] the ‘Inwardness of the thing.'" Intrigued, Lincoln invited the inventor to return the next day so that he could, as Spencer recalled, "see the thing shoot."

At the appointed hour Spencer met the president, his son Robert, and a Navy Department officer at the White House. The men walked to a spot near the unfinished Washington Monument, where the officer set up a target—a three-foot-long pine board with a black spot for a bullseye. Spencer then handed Lincoln his loaded seven-shooter, and the president paced off a suitable distance. "Mr. Lincoln's first shot was low," Spencer later wrote, "but the next hit the bullseye, and the other five were close around it." When it was the inventor's turn, he bested the president by a bit. Lincoln, according to Spencer, said, "Well, you are younger than I am, have a better eye, and a steadier nerve."…"

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Armand

I can just envision an arms manufacturer walking into the Oval Office today to show POTUS the new Squad Automatic Weapon and then taking it outside to test fire it.

Wolfhag

(smile)

Armand

Heads of state no longer meet with the inventors of infantry skirmish weapons. Heads of state have to be concerned with weapons that can destroy fleets or cities in a moment.

And, long ago in a galaxy far away:

Darth Vader looking at his schedule: "Who is this at 1100 hours? the inventor a new kind of blaster that makes a … 'disorienting "pewpew" sound"? When is the inventor of that planet-destroying beam finally giving us a presentation?"

Ha!…

Armand

Troops armed with repeaters did tend to fire off their ammunition load too quickly, as logistics did not keep up with the requirements of the new weapon.

There was at least one regiment (either 1st or 2nd D.C. Cavalry) that was armed with the Henry, and I think some infantry regiments armed their color guards with them. But the Spencer was a more robust weapon. Both could have their troubles when the troops got down and dirty. I remember reading about a Union soldier fighting at Fort Fisher who had to clean sand out of his Spencer before he could lower the lever to seat another round.

Two of the improvements of the 1866 Winchester over its Henry predecessor were: Moving the loading door from under the tubular magazine (what looks like a second barrel) to the side of the part that houses all the internal workings, and (consequently) the addition of a wooden fore-stock, which not only gave the shooter a place for his left hand (without getting it burned by a hot barrel) but made the barrel-magazine combo more sturdy.

None of this compares with Harry Turtledove's "Guns of the South", where the Confederacy is suddenly presented with AK47s by racists time travellers from South Africa, (naturally) but it still struggles to win the ACW.

One of his better books. No lizards from space, no ACW continuing into 1940s, no WWII starting in 1938.

I think time traveling racists could be real…

Have not read Turtledove, good alternate history?

I liked the lizards from space (they show up in the middle of WW2 expecting to fight knights on horseback), but I don't remember the titles (think it was more than 1 book).

But his girlfriend, Lois McMaster Bujold, is a far better writer.

From what I have read, by the end of the war, large scale issuance of the Spencer repeating carbine had transformed Union cavalry into a highly mobile force able to fight dismounted and defeat close order musket-armed Confederate infantry.

B

"But his girlfriend, Lois McMaster Bujold, is a far better writer." Amen to that! She's the best SF&F writer of our time. And wow, is this off topic!!!! :)

Yes, sorry. My fault,I was interested. Now I'll check out Bujold.