The year: 1861. The problem: Pro-slavery states had broken away from the Union, rising up in armed revolt as the treasonous ...

His approval led to the purchase of 107,372 Spencer repeating carbines and rifles (of 144,500 made), and the Spencer became the principal repeating gun of the Civil War. 1861 - Breech loaded guns ...

Library of Congress Though the confederates had bombarded Fort Sumter two months earlier, signaling the start of the Civil War, there had ... On June 11, 1861, delegates from 32 counties in ...

Photograph showing Union soldiers with rifles at attention in front of the Capitol. May 13, 1861. Courtesy: Library of Congress Whitman was forty-two years old when the Civil War started.