The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat: Reality and Myth

Description

Author: Hess, Earl J.  (1955-)

Publisher: University of Kansas Press

Pub Date: 2008

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Book: Good.  Binding tight.  No marks, tears, bends or folds.  Very light edge and corner wear.  Dust Jacket:  Fair to Good.  NOT price clipped (no price indicated).  Some light wear along upper front cover edge.

Notes:  You wouldn’t think a single-shot, muzzle loading musket would be a revolution in warfare, and you’d be partially right.  The musket, with a rifled barrel, had a range of up to 500 yards, compared to the more popular smoothbore’s range of 100 yards or so.   Hess argues the new musket’s role was primarily confined to operations like sniping and skirmishing, as opposed to close combat.  Bullets from the new musket had a parabolic path, and often passed over the heads of the enemy.  Not everybody’s happy when a new weapon is introduced (the M-16 in Viet Nam as another example).