How did Civil war soldiers handle Blackpowder weapons?

Question

I mean, loading a black powder revolver takes about 2 minutes to load; a rifle maybe a minute to load. How fast did an average Civil war soldier take?

Answer 1

A trained Civil War Soldier could clean, load and fire a musket 3x a minute. Since both sides had similar weapons, there was no disadvantage to this.

In our world with automatic weapons shooting multiple rounds a second, it's hard to believe.

Answer 2

There was a difference between the two sides and their sources of soldiers. The Royalist party comprised many landowners with large numbers of tenants and agricultural workers. All the evidence is that these workers were simply pressed by their landlords or employers, to fight on the side of the king. Therefore, the bulk of the Royalist army was untrained, unwilling and not very well disciplined. But there was a strong belief at the time that the king's party would prevail and therefore fighting on his side would be safe and working families would not suffer when the war was over. The Parliamentary party did not include so many rich landowners and a high proportion of the army were volunteers with strong religious beliefs, similar to those of the Pilgrim Fathers who settled America a few years earlier. At the start of the civil war, these bands of volunteers were not well trained or equipped, and somewhat also lacking in discipline. After all they were farm workers, merchants, artisans and tradesmen: not soldiers. But they had a much greater motivation to fight and win because their actions would be considered treason if Parliament lost, and their families would suffer for generations to come. Therefore, they fought with greater vigour. From January 1645, the Parliamentary forces were reformed and a volunteer professional (paid and trained) army was formed under the name New Model Army. These corps had uniforms, standard weapons and equipment, rations and lodgings, and a rigorous training programme. Some infantry regiments did have to be filled by impressment but still soldiers were paid and worked to a book of regulations that promised decent treatment and conditions. From this point onward, the Royalists could not match the Parliamentary army and resorted to employing foreign mercenaries. The impressment of farm workers had to stop because food production was being affected and by late 1646, the two armies were (a) the professional volunteers for Parliament, and (b) largely foreign mercenaries for the Royalist party. Shortly afterwards, the first stage of the civil war came to an end with the "escape" of the king to the Isle of Man. His defiance of Parliament led to the Second Civil War, which ended in his capture, trial and eventual execution in January 1649. So the armies were not feudal hoards. True feudalism had died out in England by about 1371. Some civil war soldiers followed their employers; others followed their consciences - on both sides. By the end of the Third Civil War (basically against the Scots) in 1652, the English army of Parliament comprised professionally trained and paid regiments, and it has remained that way ever since. The Wiki page below is not clear on soldiers' backgrounds but explains much of the timetable and activites surrounding the two armies.

Answer 3

Besides the previous answers, the Civil War era was also one of huge advances in firearms technology. The first reliable repeating rifles and revolvers were developed and put into general use during that time, mostly for the North, giving them yet another advantage on the battlefields.

Answer 4

That's about right. First you have to load the powder in the muzzle, then you have to put a patch over the barrel, and ram it down tight. Then you have to prime the pan. Soldiers often took to alternating fire so one would load while one would aim and fire.

This played an important part in tactics. After a volley fire, the opposing side would charge.

Answer 5

Paper cartidges that held loose powder behind the bullet or ball. I believe they tore off (with their teeth) the end with the powder and poured/shoved the whole mess down the barrel, with the paper acting as wad and sabot.

Was pretty fast. Three shots per minute is reasonable.

Answer 6

if enough men were available i told by a buddy of mine that they would have a some loading and others doing the shooting..
im sure they had a few record loading times less then you stated

Answer 7

You stod there and reloaded while the other side shot at you. The other is you charged into the enemy before the could reload and fought hand to hand combat to the death.

Answer 8

that's awfully slow for a combat situation. then again remember that they probably had people dedicated to loading. (ideally). i imagine the accuracy was much better, since they couldn't just spray, they had to be good or be dead.