The Whitworth rifle

The Whitworth rifle

The Whitworth rifle shown here was of British manufacture and was used primarily by the Confederate army. It was a muzzle-loading weapon with a 33 inch barrel (49 inches overall) and a .451 inch bore. What made this rifle so popular in the South was it's remarkable accuracy.

It's long range precision was the best of all weapons used in the war. When the telescopic sight was used, the rifle had an effective range of about 1,800 yards. This rifle, as with the cannon which the English company also made, had a hexagonal bore which required a hexagonal bullet. Both sides called this bullet a "bolt". In fact, it was a six-sided bolt from a Rebel sharpshooter that killed Union General "Uncle John" Sedgwick during the fighting at Spotsylvania Court House just after he had remarked to a frightened soldier that Confederate sharpshooters could not hit an elephant.