3.5 Progress Report - April 6, 2013 - NEW UPDATE

[pappagoat]

I've read that confederate logistical notes would not always differentiate between the enfield types.

College Hill Arsenal has a few on their website. I'm not sure where or how they do their research, but the information they give with the items they have is fairly extensive.

Here's an example from a P56 that has a good body of information with it: http://www.collegehillarsenal.com/sh...productid=1038

Short rifles were lighter and handier than rifle muskets and were preferred for use not only by Confederate infantry that functioned as skirmishers and sharpshooters, but by Confederate cavalry that tended to operate as mounted infantry, rather than as traditional heavy cavalry. Confederate cavalry commanders J.E.B. Stuart and Nathan Bedford Forrest were both proponents of issuing short rifles to their cavalry troopers. Short rifles with saber bayonets are known to have been issued to Confederate infantry regiments serving in Kershaw’s South Carolina Brigade, the 10th, 16th, 18th & 51st Georgia, the 13th, 17th, 18th & 51st Mississippi, the 41st Tennessee, the 1st Battalion of Texas Sharpshooters, and the 5th Texas. Mounted Confederate units that are known to have been issued the “short Enfield rifle” were Cobb’s & Phillip’s Legions of Georgia, the 18th & 19th Mississippi cavalry (McCulloch’s Brigade of Forrest’s 2nd Cavalry), the 2nd North Carolina cavalry, the 3rd, 6th, 9th & 27th Texas cavalry (Ross’ brigade) and the 7th Virginia cavalry. Today, a multi-decade survey of extant surviving Confederate marked and inventory numbered short rifles reveals that less than 100 of these guns have survived (about 1% of the total purchased). While some are in private collections, others reside in museum or other public collections where they can be viewed, but never owned by a collector.


The short rifles were a mixture of standard P-1856 and P-1856 Type II (also known as the P-1858 “Bar on Band”) iron mounted rifles, as well as non-standard brass mounted P-1856 and P-1856 Type II rifles. A handful of the brass mounted P-1858 Naval Rifles, and iron mounted P-1860 and P-1861 rifles were also purchased.

The P1860 & P1861 short rifles were the muskatoons, more likely the choice for cavalry usage.

[pappagoat]

Most things I read say that Confederate sharpshooters preferred the 2 band Enfield short rifles over the 3 band P53. Most things I read also refer to them as simply having "Enfields" and not specifying which kind. If it were me, I'd maybe assume for the game that it may of been more likely for the sharpshooters to have short rifles than the P53. But that is my inclination.

For the other infantry units of Kershaw's Brigade, it's hard to say who had a majority of short rifles as their primary arm.

[pappagoat]

Apparently:

In the Official records of the War of the Rebellion Series IV, Vol III, p. 383 in December 1862, J. Gorgas provides a summary abstract to Secretary of War Seddon of purchases made by Caleb Huse as follows: “131,129 stands of arms consisting of 70,980 long Enfield rifles,9,715 short Enfield rifles, 354 carbine Enfield rifles, 27,000 Austrian rifles, 21,040 British muskets, 20 small bore Enfield, 2,020 Brunswick rifles. There were also 23,000 Enfield rifles in London awaiting shipment...”

21,040 British Muskets could refer to a meddle of patterns in production in the UK, however most manufacturers followed Board of Ordnance standards. Thus many patterns mirror the 1839 and 1842 Land Pattern Muskets http://www.loyalistarms.freeservers.com/1839tower.htm

The majority of the companies of the 17th South Carolina Volunteers has 39/42 Land Pattern Muskets. There's one hanging up in their museum in Greenville. Other than that I'm not to sure at the moment.