This past weekend I loaded and shot a rifle not unlike the one he was probably using. I am not that surprised. Actually, I'm surprised he never shot *himself* in the head. People fought WARS with those things?
I just can't understand how this brilliant soldier was in the bottom of his class at West Point.
Sometimes the spurs just don't convey your true feelings.
It's like his entire life foreshadowed his ignominious end...
People fought WARS with those things?
It's a big part of the reason that armies used stand right in front of one another in nice straight lines. Before the advent of breech-loaders and rifling*, in order to do any damage at all, you needed a lot of people shooting all at once.
Of course, if you actually hit someone, dear God, the bullet was the size of a marble, moving nice and slow, for maximum damage. They didn't saw off all those limbs because it was a good time.
But usually the guys in lines just made a lot of noise and smoke, at least until they got within bayonetting range.
* both of which came into their own around the Civil War
The horse got the last laugh a few years later >
Of course, if you actually hit someone, dear God, the bullet was the size of a marble, moving nice and slow, for maximum damage. They didn't saw off all those limbs because it was a good time.
I thought they sawed those limbs off because that was the state of medicine at the time. I relatively minor flesh would would kill you, because they didn't have the medical technology to save you. Most of the amputees probably died from infection anyway. This is what I thought I knew, anyhow.
I think the rifles of that time were .60 to .70 inch diameter. The ball have been moving around 1000 fps. They relied on the mass of the ball, which would have wieghed about 400 grains. The ball would have been pure lead, dead soft, and would flatten somewhat when it hit.
The energy of this would be about half of a .30-06 sprindfield (150 grains, 2700 fps).
The energy of this would be about half of a .30-06 sprindfield (150 grains, 2700 fps).
True enough, but the important number is the difference between the energy the bullet has going in and the energy it has going out 
Looking at the infirmary on the USS Constitution (so cramped that the surgeon had to kneel) and a medical kit from the Civil War (lots and lots of bone saws and syringes the size of fountain pens), it's amazing to me that soldiers and sailors didn't mutiny every single time they were ordered into combat.
Commenting by HaloScan
