Civil War Fighting Men

Civil War Fighting Men. . Soldiers who fought on foot were called infantry. Those who fought on horseback were called cavalry. Artillerymen fired cannons and mortars. Each group of soldiers used different types of weapons and belonged to separate units., There were other types of units as well as these three. Engineer units built fortifications and bridges. Medical corps and supply corps did what their name implied. Can you think of additional types of specialized military units?, Captions (clockwise from top right): , . Officers and cavalrymen carried pistols. This is a Colt pistol, widely used in both the .32 and .44 caliber size. Caliber means the size of the bullet or ball. Some enlisted men who owned a pistol also carried it into battle. , . This was the standard issue U.S. Cavalry saber. Some officers and cavalrymen had their own privately-made saber. Confederate officers and cavalrymen used Southern-made sabers of a similar style. , . Artillerymen had to learn to load a cannon properly and quickly. Their officers would determine the gun's lay (how it was aimed). Cannon balls were heavy, and the barrel became extremely hot with repeated firings. The Noise deafened many artillerymen. This “Harper's Weekly” engraving is of the Fifth Indiana Artillery at Resaca. , . On horseback, Genera! Benjamin Harrison led troops of the 70th Indiana Regiment, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, XX Corps, into battle at Resaca. Harrison later became our 23rd president. High-ranking officers, especially generals often rode during battles so that they could see how the battle was progressing and communicate quickly with other leaders. Notice how he used his saber. The infantry men are all carrying Enfield rifles. , . Many Confederate soldiers carried their own smoothbore musket into battle. These were the same type weapons used in the Revolutionary War, some 90 years earlier, but had the earlier flintlock replaced with a percussion lock or firing mechanism. Muskets fired round lead balls instead of bullets like the Minie. The South could not buy enough rifles to replace all of these older weapons. , . Soldiers on both sides carried .57 caliber Enfield rifles. These fired high-velocity Minie balls that could break bones quite easily. They could be equipped with saber bayonets.