OK, in a similar vein as outfits like Berdan's Sharpshooters were established for crack rifle marksmen, could similar units have been setup by either side comprising specifically shotgunners ?
OK, in a similar vein as outfits like Berdan's Sharpshooters were established for crack rifle marksmen, could similar units have been setup by either side comprising specifically shotgunners ?
Shotguns were very popular with cavalry, especially in the Confederacy after the effects of the Union Blockade started to kick in and standard carbines became scarcer.I am not sure that such a unit would be terribly practical in the Civil War. Shotguns are a pretty short ranged weapon in a war where engagement distances were significantly increased from those of previous wars... I am sure would be some situations were such a unit would be useful.. but would there be enough to justify its existence?
Shotguns were very popular with cavalry, especially in the Confederacy after the effects of the Union Blockade started to kick in and standard carbines became scarcer.
Give me an hour or two and I could find more info to back myself up here.
The problem I see here is reloading time. A civilian muzzleloader shotgun takes at least as long, probably longer to reload than a military muzzleloader rifle, and at shorter engagement ranges that's a more serious disadvantage. For all the scatter effect you can get in trench fighting I'd rather have a bayonet at the end of a less effective rifle, or a revolver that gives me five or six tries.