Can anyone answer me this question: Why didn’t soldiers wear helmets during the U.S. Civil War?

Question

I am curious, because I just finished reading “The Killer Angels”, a civil war novel about the Battle of Gettysburg. According to the novel (and subsequent movie), most soldiers just grabbed a rifle, fixed bayonets, and took their chances on the battlefield, hoping not to get hit by a random cannonball in the meantime. Consequently, even the victors of any given battle often took heavy casualties. Seems unthinkable today…

Answer 1

Any metal available that could have been used for helmets would have been used to make cannons and rifles.

There was a different idea to warfare back then. The idea was to rush the line and try to break thru. Since most of the rifles of the Civil War could only fire once and then take time to reload, once you got then enemy to fire they would have to depend on bayonet and hand to hand fighting.

This is much different today. In fact, when repeating rifles were introduced in the Civil War, the rush the front line tactic was already falling into disfavor. Trench warfare was becoming the norm.

Answer 2

Helmets can't stop bullet rounds even today. If they were made to stop bullets, they'd put an unbearable strain on the user. Helmets were worn in the Great War and ever since as a means of reducing hideous head-wound casualties caused by pieces of shells and shrapnel. Head-wounds weren't quite as numerous in the Civil War.

Also, heavy casualties were accepted back then much more than they were today. Even in World War II they were accepted, as long as the battle in question wasn't fought questionably.

Answer 3

Good question! Even by the first year of the Great War (World War I) 1914 the British soldiers had not taken to helmets, and there were machine gun rounds whizzing by! What the Civil War soldiers did start to do was to start to dig trenches. I can only answer - no one at that time had designed a working model that was actually easy to mass produce.

Answer 4

wouldn't have done much good as the Civil War was one of the first " modern " wars and with the development of rifled muskets the death rate was increased because of more accurate firing than when armies were armed with smooth bored muskets. a helmet would be almost useless against a .58 caliber Minnie ball weighing 460 grams propelled by 60 grains of black powder.

Answer 5

Why do people who were never involved in the crusades discuss it? Or people who never fought in the Revolutionary War? Or people who never saw Helen of Troy? I mean, seriously, the pride of these people, giving opinions freely on something they cannot possibly know anything of! They should leave it to the the people 100 years old and up in the nursing homes. For that matter, why are people who never saw the world evolve or be created the most adamant about what actually happened??? Were you there?

Answer 6

Just a sidenote, a helmet does not stop a rifle bullet, it's meant to protect against grenade fragments.A rifle bullet can pierce up to 30 cm (some more) of solid wood, the 5 (or so) mm steel or synthetic material nowadays used in helmets is no match for that.
Of course, artillery was used in the civil war too, so that's no explanation.

see following link fora picture of jap. helmets with bullet holes:
http://www.guadalcanal.homestead.com/files/t_GIFU___JAP_HELMET_WITH_BULLET_HOLES.JPG

EDIT : nowadays bullet proof helmets exist

Answer 7

I don't think there was a real standing Army back then or factories that made helmets. Plus, the South didn't have access to any metals, so it would have had to be imported.

Most of the fighting was in the South and it would have been too hot to wear the helmets.

Answer 8

maybe they wanted to die