14th Brooklyn - Platoon Firing (By Ranks)

The 14th Brooklyn Company E, practices firing by platoons by rank.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• 14th
• Brooklyn
• Company
• Civil
• War
• Platoon
• Firing
• Musket
• Red
• Legged
• Devils
• SpringField

[LethalResistanz]

Do that while men are dropping like flies all around you. 18th and 19th century must of been hell.

[14thBrooklynE]

yeah man. Of course, it would have been done at a quicker pace during battle.. rough... stuff.

[scandalousrogue]

*laughing* can ANYONE explain the finer points of "By the Right, By File, Into Line.... MARCH!" lol I cannot wait to meet you guys!

[14thBrooklynE]

He was actually telling me to explain the finer points of on the right by file into line... lol yeah.

[MickeyJWind]

Many reenactors do suffer hearing loss.

[LutzDerLurch]

@LutzDerLurch high accuracy is barely used to its potential in a real fight. On the Shooting range, with modern arms soldiers are damn accurate, but so they were 300 years before with smoothbores, with very effective firing up to 300yards. We all know, whats left of that accuracy on a real battlefield.

[LutzDerLurch]

@IronDave100 As far as I am aware especially during the early War the Confederacy still had lots of Smoothbores.

And once again I maintain, that the improvement of Accuracy was lower than many people think, and in Practise of Wars reality, the gain an ordinary Soldier may have experienced, was so small that it rarely was the decisive factor. up until now, firepower is far more important than the individual weapons accuracy, and the modern soldiers of today are proof, that even modern arms'

[IronDave100]

@LutzDerLurch Im pretty sure the majority of rebels were armed with rifled muskets and at least a few union regiments were sent into battle armed entirely with smoothbores, with catastrophic results to themselves. A good example being the battle of balls bluff

[Ipwnweniwant2]

0:26

Does it look like that guy not shooting towards the middle got hit on the head?

[LutzDerLurch]

@LachoDroogie Yes. E.g. the Rifles from WWI were about the most accurate arms ordinary soldiers ever had at their disposal. Yet semiautomatic weapons with inferior Precision have proven to be more valuable, and this even holds true today.

[LachoDroogie]

@LutzDerLurch I totally agree! If the rifled musket had have been head and shoulders better than the smoothbore, the Union could have used their superior industrial might to overcome the Confederates a lot quicker. Indeed, during 1864/65, especially in the Western theatre, the Union began to introduce the henry repeating rifle. The Confederate soldiers would complain "They could start firing on sunday and keep going all week without having to reload". Rate of fire would ultimately win the day

[LutzDerLurch]

@LachoDroogie Well, It would still be interesting to conduct a direct comparison. But I think the Cap is a bitch to place when under stress under fire.

I find interestig however, that the rifle-musket did not totally overcome the smoothbore. Otherwise the south would have never survived as long as it did. While the very few, hard and dold killer "snipers" had an advantage with these rifles, the vast majority of soldiers hardly gaine much. I thik rate-of-fire, firepower was the biggest influence

[LachoDroogie]

@LutzDerLurch Obviously you have done more research on the subject than i so i will gladly concede the point. I agree that the percussion cap was difficult to put in place although well trained soldiers wouldn't be held back too much by this. The rifled musket changed warfare though, as the extended range meant that cannon crews at the front would be exposed to sharp, accurate enemy fire. It is funny how far warfare went within the span of 50 years - from the musket to the tank :-p

[LutzDerLurch]

@LachoDroogie (cont.) The self-expanding minnie ball and its related designs made it possible to reload a rifle as quick as a musket, while still making use of the rifling, becaus it was undersized while loading, as was the roundball. also, the percussion cap took considerable time and effort to place properly, whereas a flintlock is rather easily and quickly primed. If the Minnieball had to be freed of its paper wrapping before loading, as I read somewhere, this would also cause lengthy reload.

[LutzDerLurch]

@LachoDroogie Well, no doubt the rifled musket has better accuracy. But still when comparing hit-ration under ideal circumstances and those achieved on the battlefield, by ar the most inaccury was due to the man behind the piece and circumstances. As for the Ramming, I have done some research on muskets and with the proper military load, the cartridge will slide down the barrel itself sometimes, even after 40 rounds. I dare say that the ramming on both weapons was equal in effort and time.