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“...’That Old Fogey’ Ripley felt the muzzle loader was good enough for a Civil War soldier! No need of breech loaders at all!” [Ruy Dias de Bivar, post 6]

This conceit is widely believed among US civilian gun enthusiasts, but has no substance.

James Wolfe Ripley, Chief of US Ordnance from 1861 to 1863, did indeed oppose adoption of repeating rifles, but as a one-star he had no power to impose any different policy all by himself even if he had a mind. The other senior Union army officers held the same views and would not have tolerated any changes.

Repeaters seem obvious to us now, but in 1861, no proven models existed. And a thousand and one snake-oil salesmen were desperately trying to sell their pet notions - most absurdly unworkable - to an already-overworked Union War Dept.

Repeaters don’t merely burden the supply system by heavy expenditure of ammunition: they cost more than muzzle loaders, were more complex and fragile. An entirely different approach to maintenance, parts supply, and repair was needed. The Union had no time to create one, nor any in-house personnel to train a flood of new technicians.

Besides, even when they did work right, repeaters were inferior to the standard issue muzzle loading rifle-muskets on a shot-for-shot basis. The 44 Flat rimfire round fired from the Henry barely qualified as a pistol cartridge, and rimfire cartridges for Christopher Spencer’s rifle were only a little better. The single-shot rifle-musket greatly exceeded repeaters in effective range, penetration, and energy on target. A unit armed with rifle-muskets could wipe out the same number of soldiers armed with Henry or Spencer rifles before the latter could even get in range.

Repeaters might have been a better choice for ambush and raiders, or isolated individuals caught off-guard, but the Union Army could not base its doctrine on ambushing and raiding. Disciplined fire from masses of troops had been decisive for generations, and the new rifle-muskets (issued for only a few years before 1861) were expected to be even more decisive - at ranges previously unheard of.

Ripley had earned a reputation for efficiency and careful adherence to regulations, having modernized Springfield Armory in the 1850s in ways admittedly revolutionary. His orders in 1861 were to maximize Union production of issue rifle-muskets and he stuck to that course of action single-mindedly.

Repeaters capable of matching performance of muzzle loaders or single-shot cartridge rifles did not appear until the 1870s.