Telling lies about Springfield

Nowhere is the air of unreality which permeates Burnished Rows of Steel more apparent than in a throwaway line in the Battle of Berthierville. We are told that 'Enfields and Springfields blazed away as the British came in on a run'. The battle takes place in September 1862.What weapons might the Union battalions have actually been carrying at this point?

Fortunately, we have solid statistics for many of these units for the Battle of Chickamauga. This took place almost a year after Berthierville is supposed to have taken place- an additional year of production at Springfield, in the complete absence of a blockade. So what weapons did these soldiers carry?


1st Brigade
29th Indiana: 180 Enfields, 9 Springfields
30th Indiana: 231 Enfields, 19 .54 Austrian rifles, 74 Springfields
34th Illinois: Not present at Chickamauga, but carried Enfields until 1864.
77th Pennsylvania: 96 Enfields, 76 .577 and .58 French rifles, 35 Springfields

2nd Brigade
15th Ohio: 383 Enfields.
49th Ohio: 434 Enfields and 8 rifled M1842s
32nd Indiana: 259 Enfields and 33 Springfields
39th Indiana: 289 Enfields.

3rd Brigade

1st Wisconsin: 119 smoothbore M1842, 4 Enfields, 2 Springfields.

38th Indiana: 223 Enfields and 95 Springfields

78th Pennsylvania: 456 Enfields and 79 Springfields

79th Pennsylvania: 246 smoothbore M1842.

 

Just taking the weapons we have hard data for, this produces a total of:
2,555 Enfields
327 Springfields
95 miscellaneous foreign rifles
127 rifled M1842s
246 smoothbore M1842s

We were aware already that the Union was almost entirely dependent on foreign imports to arm its troops, but this confirms it nicely. If the British were not foolish enough to sell the Union Enfield rifles, Wood's division would have been armed primarily with harsh language. TFSmith was obviously hoping that none of his readers were intellectually curious enough to do this kind of fact-checking. Fortunately, they may not be- but we are.