Cartridges for Small Arms

The cartridges I produce and the method in which these products are fabricated require me to provide some pertinent background information on the development of Civil War small arms ammunition.

The Rifle Muskets and the .58 Minie Ball

Taken together, there were 1,472,614 .58 Rifle-Muskets manufactured in the United States between 1857 and 1865 (4). This included the US Model 1855, US Model 1861, Contract Produced Model 1861, Special Model 1861, US Model 1863, and US Model 1864. Although the Ordnance Manual of 1861 makes no mention of the Enfield Rifle-Musket, because it was not intended to be a regulation weapon, there were an estimated 500,000 .577 Enfields imported from Britain to be used by the Union Army. In addition to the ammunition made for the .58 Springfield Rifle-Muskets, ammunition would also be supplied, beginning in early 1862, for the Enfield Rifle-Musket as a smaller ball, .574, could be used to make cartridges for both weapons. Supplying ammunition for the Union Army during the Civil War fell primarily upon the Federal Arsenals. Each arsenal was commanded by an Army Officer and included, but was not limited to, the Allegheny Arsenal in Pennsylvania, the Frankfort Arsenal in Pennsylvania, the Kennebec Arsenal in Maine, the St. Louis Arsenal in Missouri, the Washington Arsenal in Washington D.C, the Watertown Arsenal in Massachusetts, and the Watervliet Arsenal in New York. Thousands of men, women, young boys, and young girls performed the enormous task of fabricating the ammunition necessary to the Union war effort. It is important to note that not all of the ammunition produced to be used in the .58 rifle-musket was the same. Indeed, there were important differences in ammunition that was manufactured and important changes made to produce ammunition more efficiently.

Small Arms

In June of 1855, it was recommended to the Secretary of War that “a smaller caliber than that of our present musket, but greater than our rifle, viz: .58 is proposed for all our small arms” (5).  This proposal was approved by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis on July 5, 1855, and thus a new weapon was to be the principal small arm of the United States Army.  The elongated and expanding ball commonly known today as the Minie Ball was the bullet of choice. A better name for this bullet is the Burton Ball, after James Burton, Master Armorer at the Harpers Ferry Armory who made improvements upon Minie’s design, but I will refer to this bullet as the Minie Ball to avoid confusion. A new method for making cartridges was developed at this time which marked a change from what was in common use.

The process for fabricating these cartridges was specified in the 1856 Reports of Experiments with Small Arms for Military Service by Officers of the Ordnance Department (commonly known as Small Arms). A powder case made of a stiff “rocket” paper was wrapped by “common” cartridge paper in the shape of a trapezoid to form a powder case that was then pasted closed. The hollow of the bullet was placed next to the pasted end of the powder case and then wrapped by a larger paper trapezoid, choked off, and tied at the tip of the ball. The inner case was charged with 60 grains of power and the cartridge was folded closed. Balls for the converted .69 rifled- muskets were made in the same fashion. The new cartridge was described thusly by the Ordnance Department:

     Cartridges constructed on these principles present a neat     
     and convenient form for carrying the powder and ball
     attached to each other, and they obviate two important
     defects of the elongated ball cartridge in common use, viz:
     the reversed position of the ball in the cartridge, and use of
     the paper wrapper as a patch. So far as they have been tried
     in the hands of the troops, they have been found to answer in
     good purpose (6).

Later in 1856, the method of fabrication was changed but the finished product was much the same. Instead of rolling the inner sheet of paper that would form the powder case, a machine punched a circular piece of paper into the form of a cylinder. Ten cartridges were bundled together in a paper wrapper, packed in wooden boxes containing 1000 cartridges, and were ready for use.

Before the Civil War, the United States army numbered only about 16,000. At that time, there was not an overly urgent need to make cartridges quickly or to have a large store readily available: in fact, B.G Baldwin Commander at the Kennebec Arsenal was told, “a large store of ammunition is not needed at your post. It will not be necessary to prosecute that work except at times when you cannot be otherwise employed to advantage” (7).

All of this would change with the beginning of the Civil War in April of 1861. Very early in the war many soldiers went to battle with smoothbores, but those who were carrying the Model of 1855 rifle-musket or the .69 rifled-musket would have used cartridges based on the aforementioned method of construction. As this was a time consuming enterprise, the process would change to meet the demands of the war.

The St. Louis Method

Making cartridges according to the specifications outlined in Small Arms was a tedious and time consuming endeavor. In July of 1861, James Ripley the head of the Ordnance Department sent a letter to the commanders of the Arsenals:

     The requisition for small arm ammunition renders it       
     necessary that constant supplies of the different calibers
     should be kept up at the different Arsenals. The manufacture
     of cartridges, will therefore, be carried out with dispatch to
     the full extent of your abilities. Report from time to time the
     quantity and kinds that may be made and issued, and what
     might remain on hand (8).

The demand for ammunition as the Civil War intensified necessitated a new method for making cartridges more efficiently. Major G. D Ramsay at the St. Louis Arsenal submitted a recommendation that would change the way cartridges were made. The inner “rocket” paper which held the powder would be discontinued in favor of a single slightly larger paper trapezoid that would contain the powder. This would be pasted at the end and placed behind the ball. Together they would be wrapped in a larger paper trapezoid that was tied at the top, the inner tube then charged with powder, and the cartridge was folded closed. This method would make the construction of cartridges much faster. The St. Louis Arsenal continued to use this method for the duration of the war. By war’s end, the St. Louis Arsenal produced more than 70,000,000 cartridges for the .58 rifle-musket and was the largest supplier of ammunition to the troops in the Western Theater (9).  There is also evidence to suggest that other arsenals, namely the Allegheny and Kennebec Arsenals who supplied ammunition to troops in the east, produced cartridges using this method after the Ordnance Manual of 1861 specified an updated means of production.

The Ordnance Manual of 1861

The St. Louis Method was not without its problems. In fact, the head of the United States Ordnance Department, Henry Knox Craig, expressed in a letter his apprehension that “it will be found very difficult to prevent the powder from escaping from the inner cases” using the St. Louis Method (10).  The Ordnance Manual of 1861 was approved for use by the United States Army in November of 1861 and was available for distribution in early 1862. The new edition thus approved provided new specifications for a more efficient cartridge that could be made faster and eliminate the deficiencies of the St. Louis Method. Two trapezoids of the same size were used. Instead of the inner trapezoid being pasted, it was tied shut and placed at the hollow of the ball. The ball and inner paper trapezoid were then encased by the outer paper trapezoid which was tied at the top, the inner tube charged with powder, and the cartridge was folded closed. It was hoped, cartridges that were made using this technique would not be prone to leak powder. Although the St. Louis Method continued to be used, the cartridges made in accordance with the Ordnance Manual of 1861 were the predominate cartridges used, beginning in 1862, for the duration of the war.

Williams Patent Bullet Cartridges

In 1862, Elijah Williams received a patent for a new bullet that was supposed to increase accuracy.  This bullet also scraped the fouling from the bore as the weapon was fired.  Three million of these bullets were purchased by the US government and delivered to the various arsenals to be made into cartridges. In order to be recognized, these bullets were to be wrapped in blue, or less often red, paper. Later in the war, they were sometimes wrapped in the common paper used for standard cartridges. During its use, the number varied as to how many Williams Patent Bullet Cartridges were typically wrapped in each bundle of ten. In 1863, there were usually three. By 1864, the use of the Williams Patent Bullet was changed in a somewhat confusing manner. The number of cartridges per bundle was increased until it was decided that no additional cartridges using the Williams Patent Bullet would be made.

Smoothbores and the .69 Round Ball

It is worthy to note that for several years before the Civil War, the Model 1842 smoothbore using a .69 round ball, buck and ball, or buckshot was the standard weapon of the United States Army. The smoothbore musket was still in use during the Civil War and cartridges for this weapon were made by the various arsenals. However, production of the .69 round ball cartridges decreased at most of the Federal Arsenals as the war progressed.