From the Field of Gettysburg: Two Unusual Bullets from an Early Collection
There were many different types of bullets used by the opposing armies during the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. Cavalry troopers used brass, rubber, or paper cased bullets for their carbines, while infantry used a wide variety of types and calibers of lead bullets. The “bullets,” more accurately called minie balls in honor of their French inventor, Claude-Etienne Mine (1804-1879), could once be found all over the battlefield, but have become very scarce in recent years.
The Devastating Effects of Small Arms Fire
Photograph of Private Frederick A Bentley, Company A 185th New York Infantry, wounded at Petersburg, Virginia on March 29th, 1865. Bentley enlisted at age 15 in 1864, and survived his wounds, living until age 71. (National Museum of Health & Medicine) Students of Civil War history often recoil from the image of military surgeons who seemed all too eager to subject wounded soldiers to primitive medical techniques, such as amputation, during the war. Much of this modern critic
