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Book Reviews These are some reviews from a recent issue of
The Civil War News:
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Round Ball To Rimfire: A History of Civil War Small Arms Ammunition, Part Two, Federal Breechloading Carbines & Rifles
by Dean S. Thomas.
Illustrated, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, 522 pp., 2002. Thomas Publications, P.O. Box 3031, Gettysburg, PA 17325, $49.95 plus shipping.
In his Preface author Dean S. Thomas states, “You do not know your Civil War gun unless you know and understand its ammunition!” This book then proceeds to detail the ammunition that was produced for 24 federal breechloading carbines and rifles purchased or ordered by the Ordnance Department during the war. Firearms and the related ammunition covered are the Burnside, Colt, Cosmopolitan/Gwyn & Campbell, Gallager, Gibbs, Greene, Hall, Joslyn, Palmer, Remington, Sharps & Hankins, Spencer, Warner, and the Wesson. The ammunition and their weapons are divided into those that are externally primed and have powder cases of such materials as nitrated paper, India rubber, linen, and drawn brass, and the internally primed cartridge which we know as rimfire. A few examples of arms that fall into the externally primed category are the Colt, Cosmopolitan, Gallager, and Smith. Rimfires take in such weapons as the Henry, Remington, and Spencer. Ammunition for firearms such as the Burnside and Spencer are covered quite extensively while lesser-known guns such as the Wesson and the Gibbs receive their due but in a more limited way. The chapters on the weapons and their ammunition are loaded with a wealth of information such as Patent Office applications, drawings of various arms, cartridges, and manufacture of cartridges. There is also Patent Office material dealing with loading machines used to make rimfire cartridge cases. After so much data on the manufacture of cartridges there is even a copy of a directive on “Breaking Up Small-arm Ammunition.” A most important part of this book are the pages of photographs showing the actual cartridges, pasteboard and paper cartridge packages with labels, and wooden ammunition boxes with their stenciled markings. The camera work is extremely sharp and shows excellent detail. Each cartridge is duly noted along with weight, diameter, length and remarks. There are 709 specimens pictured throughout the book. Thomas also covers correspondence between the various manufacturers and the government, production problems, plant explosions, and production figures. The 18 appendices deal with such subjects as the 1856 trial report on the Burnside, an 1861 publication on patents and patent law cases, the Maynard “stopper” cartridge, “Recommendations for the best caliber for bore of carbines designed to use the copper cartridge, October, 1861,” and two pages devoted to the deliveries of Spencer ammunition to the government from Dec. 31, 1862, to the end of June 1865. There is an extensive section of notes and a bibliography that will be of great help to those interested parties. Dean Thomas has done an outstanding job with this publication. It is in hardcover with excellent paper and binding qualities. There is material that will be useful not only to the owners of the firearms covered but will also be of major interest to the cartridge collector, relic hunter, historian, and general Civil War reader. The book is also a history of Civil War arms and ammunition technology, and will take it rightful place in that field. Kudos to Thomas and his staff for a most enjoyable trip through the subject of federal Civil War breechloading ammunition.
by Dale E. Biever
Dale E. Biever received his M.Ed. in American history from Kutztown University. He is Governor and Vice President for Administration of the Company of Military Historians. A retired educa-tor, he was registrar at the Civil War Library and Museum in Philad
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