Most Technologically Advanced Civil War

Congressman

Banned
In another thread, someone asked what if the Spencer Repeating Rifle was standard issue at the start of the American Civil War.

Someone said that had the US Army truly wanted, they could have spread up development and spread of advanced rifles. They also said that they could have had Thompson Guns if they truly tried and put enough effort.

Is this possible? The idea of modern weapons in the Civil War seem cool. What's the most advanced weapons we could have seen? And try to keep the Civil War as close to OTL, like Lincoln as President and relative same time (1861-1865)

Maybe Thompson, Gatlings, Colts, maybe primitive cars and airplanes? Use any POD you need.
 
... this is far too close to the AH That Shall Not Be Named!?
Steampunk has a hell of a lot to answer for. How you get the idea that the Union army could have had submachine guns when 10% of the troops at Gettysburg had smoothbore muskets is beyond me. Unless, of course, you don't read the thread properly and assume a comment about the AEF in 1919 is actually meant to refer to the Union army in 1861.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
Oh Dear ...

... this is far too close to the AH That Shall Not Be Named!?

Do you, perhaps, mean Stars and Stripes HNNNNNG - sorry, Stars and Stripes HURK-

...F...Forever?

I know that in the third book of that, set in something like 1863-4, the Americans invade Britain from Ireland with tanks.
 
In another thread, someone asked what if the Spencer Repeating Rifle was standard issue at the start of the American Civil War.

No. No. No. The infrastructure required to make this happen was decades away, as were the money and the know-how.

Read "Guns of the South" if you must insist on having automatic weapons on the ACW battlefield. Even the author, Harry Turtledove, recognizes the impossibility of the scenario and does a very tounge-in-cheek portrayal of how such a war might play out with AK-47s provided by time travellers. It's poorly written Confederacy-apologist General Lee worship but it is well thought out and a seminal piece in the genre of alternate history.
 
I now want to buy these books just so I could do dramatic readings of them on YouTube. I'm sure all sorts of hilarity would ensue.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
What.

And I thought the political ideas for that dreck were bad. :eek:

Well, I can't recall offhand if it got as bad as tanks. There were definitely 20-round magazine rifles in the first book, though, which means they were basically using the SLR (of course in the hands of the Americans) while I believe they also had someone (Grant? Sherman?) inventing Blitzkrieg.
 

jahenders

Banned
That could get silly pretty quick (and it sounds like it has done so in other related timelines).

However, they COULD easily have had some form of chemical weapons in the ACW without any significant technological development. It was proposed for the ACW and (earlier) for the Crimean War.
 
Well, I can't recall offhand if it got as bad as tanks. There were definitely 20-round magazine rifles in the first book, though, which means they were basically using the SLR (of course in the hands of the Americans) while I believe they also had someone (Grant? Sherman?) inventing Blitzkrieg.

There were definitely steam powered armoured vehicles with at least machine guns. I THINK they were roadable, not just armoured rail cars.

Calling them tanks, well, that's a bit of a stretch, if I remember them correctly. But not quite unfair, perhaps.
 
It was proposed for the ACW and (earlier) for the Crimean War.
Earlier than that- Thomas Cochrane, the inspiration for Jack Aubrey, submitted a plan for gas ships to the Prince Regent during the Napoleonic Wars. However, a panel of experts including the Duke of York, Sir William Congreve and two admirals forbade its use.

At one point I sketched out a steampunk world where the Confederates assassinated Lincoln, and a lot of other people, at his 1865 inaugural ball with hydrogen cyanide. Digging out my notes, apparently I had it masterminded by Richard Sears McCulloh and Thomas A Harris. I can't now remember why I thought the latter would be involved, but the former did invent a chemical weapon late in the war. Hydrogen cyanide is the most likely candidate- I either read it or worked it out from the descriptions of his experiments.

I could see a much increased of breech loaders. Perhaps an improved Hall Rifle
There was a breech-loading conversion for the Springfield called the Marsh, which would be much easier than making an entire new production line for an obsolete rifle. However, it ran into the same problem as the rest of the Union war effort- lack of capacity. 25,000 were ordered in October 1861, but none were ever delivered
 
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