Civil War Thought /? of the Day.

[Davers]

I may be Under-Informed but I have always heard about the Henry Rifle Playing a Huge Roll in the CW
for being the Rifle that really put a hurtin on the South.
"load on Sunday ,shoot all week"
BUT
In my (fairly short experience) I have found ;In my area N. GA at-least that the Spencer Rifle Ruled the roost for Calvary & others.
Just saying I have dug 0 Henry Bullets ( fired that I can ID) or any Drops as in Whole Cartridges or broken ones. I do know a few who have tho.
BUT
I have dug many Spencer Bullets 'fired & dropped' along with quite a few Complete cartridges.
Over a Pretty wide area.
I know 'Think' The Henry Won the West. but It seems the Spencer was the more popular or available Carbine in the Civil War , at-least in N,GA.

What Say You?
Thanks
Davers

 

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[fyrffytr1]

The Henry rifle was used in small quantities by the Union army whereas the Spencer saw widespread use.

 

[JimK]

We have dug two or 3 Henry cartridges in the Union camp that we hunt. Not a large quantity considering we have found over 100 bullets there so far

JimK

 

[d2]

The U.S. gov't wouldn't pay for the Henry rifles. Cost too much and probably a waste of ammunition they thought. One or two commanders outfitted their units with them but most I do believe were bought and paid for by the soldiers themselves. Because of the War of Northern Aggression the military started streamlining arms and ammo. I think at Gettysburg the Yankee's had to supply 43 different types of ammo for the guns that were being used. I remember reading that somewhere and have not tried to look it up for confirmation but it was an ass load of different ammo for all the types of arms that they used. And I am sure the South was no different. We used what ever we could scrounge up or what ever came through the blockade. I have found Henry rim fire hull's here and pistol pin fire hulls also and they were all found in association with Yankee camps and such...d2

 

[Davers]

Thanks for the reply's.
& The informative info.

Just always here more about the Henry's repeating Capabilities More than the Spencer's .

 

[parsonwalker]

Agree. I have found hundreds of bullets and only ONE henry casing near Winchester. I remember reading somewhere that the U.S. war department set a (very low) limit on the number of (paper) cartridges a soldier could possess at any one time. They believed if their soldiers had LOTS of bullets, they would waste them. Yeah, right. Tell that to the poor yankees at Bull Run, the Wilderness, Gaines Mill and Cold Harbor. Crazy. "Those blasted Henry's will cost us a fortune in ammo!" Guess the gov't has changed a LOT. (See "EBT" cards) Or maybe it hasn't changed at all. Massive welfare fraud and scrimp when it comes to the military. Oops. Got political there. I apologize.

 

[CaptEsteban]

A LOT to read, but very interesting.

http://44henryrifle.webs.com/civilwarusage.htm

 

[corpsman]

I first started hunting in and around Chattanooga, and spencer bullets was what I used to find. I never found a henry until I moved to Nashville.

 

[Digger70pa]

I hunt pretty much all Gettysburg campaign spots. I've never found a Henry bullet or case. I have found Spencer carbine bullets & cases.