21. The Union troops came to be better armed than their enemies
Both sides marched to war in 1861 armed for the most part with smoothbore muzzle-loading muskets, similar to the weapons carried during the Revolution. In some cases they were the same weapons, handed down through the generations. As the war went on, developments in weapons and the superiority of Northern industry led to the troops of the Union army carrying weapons which provided them with a greater rate of fire than the Confederates, as well as increased range and accuracy. Although the Confederates received some modern weapons via blockade runners and smugglers, by 1863 the army was thoroughly outgunned by the Union, in small arms and artillery.
