Bayonets, Howitzers and Revolvers of the Civil War
Company L
2nd Heavy Artillery
Civil War

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The soldiers are part of Company L of the Second New York Heavy Artillery. They were armed with rifles provided with musket bayonets. This bayonet was a very effective weapon. The blade was made of steel, eighteen inches long. to give lightness and stiffness, its three faces were grooved in the direction of the length, or "fluted." The blade was joined in the socket, which fitted over the muzzle, by a "neck" which, due to the change of direction, had to be made very strong. During the Civil War there was more actual use of the bayonet than since, but the presence of the bayonet still gives a moral effect both to the defender and assailant. The upper photograph shows two 24-pounder smooth-bore guns in Fort C. F. Smith in the defenses of Washington. The carriages are those usually used with siege guns, the heavy scooped-out block on the trail being for the purpose of holding the base of the gun when it was being transported. These 24-punders were for short range.

Taken from Photographic History of the Civil War Volume V Forts and Artillery, Francis Trevelyan Miller, editor-in-chief. New York: the Trow Press, 1911, page 125.

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