Battle Field Technology of the Early 1800’s United States of America By Ben Bejune

How did the navy fight and what weapons did they use in the early 1800’s? Warships used different types of cannons to sink the enemy ship. The typical warship. carried around 44 cannons. Cannons were classified by the weight of the cannon ball. There were 12, 22, and 32 pound guns. Cannons shot solid balls made of iron or steel. The cannons shot single cannon balls and they shot grape shot. Grape shot is a shell that holds a number of smaller cannon balls. Grape shot was used in chase guns. Chase guns were intended to take down the other ships sails. Warships of this era were powered by wind power, they used sails. Most ships were made from wood.

The most Famous American Warship of the early 1800’s The most famous battle ship in the early 1800’s was the U.S.S Constitution. Its nicknamed Old Iron sides. It’s most famous victory was against the British ship the Guerriere The Guerriere’s cannon balls bounced off of the oak sides of the ship. British sailors called the U.S.S Constitution Old Ironsides because it’s oak sides seemed impenetrable. Old Ironsides hull was very strong because it had three layer oak hull. Old Ironsides would carry over 50 guns at a time. It sits in the Boston harbor in Massachusetts. It is the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy.

What technology was used by the army in the early 1800’s? The most advanced weapons of the early 1800’s were cannons. Cannons were used as an offensive and defensive weapon. They could be used to defend a fort or to attack an oncoming army.

Infantry Equipment of the early1800’s Most Army's used mini ball muskets. They use a capsule the has a recess in the back. The mini ball spins in the barrel so that it is more accurate. Most rifles used a mini ball. A mini ball is loaded from the muzzle of the gun. Most muskets had bayonets on them. The most famous bayonet is the 3 sided bayonet. When some one was stabbed it would leave a 3 sided wound that would be hard to close up. This is a mini ball

How did muskets work in the early 1800’s? A musket would be loaded in the following way: The soldier would take out a cartridge. The cartridge had a lead ball or oblong shaped projectile wrapped in a paper cartridge which also held the gunpowder. The bullet was separated from the powder charge by a twist in the paper. The soldier then bit off the bullet end of the paper, and held the bullet in his teeth or mouth. The soldier then pulls the hammer back to half-cock, flips the frizzen (used to make a spark) up, and pours a small pinch of the powder from the cartridge into the priming pan. The butt of the musket is dropped to the ground and the soldier then pours the rest of the powder into the barrel. Finally, the butt is brought back up and the soldier will pull the cock back and the musket is ready to fire. With practice, it takes an average of 30 seconds to load and fire a musket.

What fighting techniques were used to fight in the early 1800’s? Armies fought in rank’s so they could shoot and then re-load. A rank is a line of men Most armies fought with three to five lines of ranks Using ranks was the quickest way to move troops into battle. They would shoot volleys of shots so that they could kill more people. A volley is many muskets fired at the same time. Volleys were useful because a musket was a very inaccurate weapon. This is a lot of ranks. The soldiers would fire and go back to the back of the line.

Resources I used the fallowing website’s and books to conduct my research… http://images.google.com/imgres? http://www.warof1812.ca/ucmilitiaarms.htm http://www.warof1812.ca/ yDcvSvwgDM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcivil%2Bwar%2Bguns%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1 imgurl=http://www.kidport.com/reflib/UsaHistory/CivilWar/Images/Rifles.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.kidport.com/reflib/UsaHistory/CivilWar/Weapons.htm&usg=__Nxytti5pcBI9nwKehpcVih9jGFU=&h=320&w=400&sz=36&hl=en&start=12&um=1&tbnid=YhU- I used the book Civil War from DK books by John Stanchak I also used http://military.discovery.com/ to conduct some of my research.