Cannon

• The most common cannon used by Confederate armies was the Napoleon. Because this weapon commonly fired a solid lead ball weighing 12 lbs through a bore which had no rifling (spiraled grooves), this weapon was also called a 12 lb. smoothbore. The weapon was also made from solid bronze, which made it much easier to manufacture than other sorts of cannon. On the other hand, the accuracy and range of the Napoleon compared poorly against other sorts of cannon which had rifling.
  
  

Muskets

• Confederate firearms were far from standard. Soldiers of the South constantly picked up superior weapons from fallen Union soldiers. Most commonly, Confederate troops could scavenge the .58 Springfield or .577 rifled musket. These weapons were fairly accurate and compared favorably with Union counterparts. Unfortunately for them, the Confederate troops were not always able to find one of these rifles, and were forced to the outdated .69 smoothbore, which had an accurate range of only 75 to 100 yards against the Enfield or Springfield's 300 to 600 yards. Sometimes the Confederacy could not even supply its troops with the .69 smoothbore. Many soldiers had to rely on whatever weapon he brought with him from home, such as a crude shotgun.
  
  

The William's Gun

• Despite the lack of resources, the Confederates successfully fielded a handful of early machine guns invented by R.S. Williams. This weapon relied on a three-man crew: one to place ammunition into place, another to place a percussion cap, and a third to aim and fire the weapon by constantly turning a crank. A good team could make the weapon fire a 1.57 caliber bullet at a rate of 65 a minute. Perhaps as many as 15 of these guns saw action in the Civil War, but its effectiveness was limited by the gun's tendency to jam due to overheating.
  
  

Improvements

• As the war progressed, Confederate troops actually managed to obtain more and better weapons from fallen Union troops. At the same time, some Union troops were supplied with new firearms that could fire up to 15 rounds per minute against the Enfield or Springfield's two to three rounds per minute. So even when the Confederates managed to obtain a significant number of rifled cannon and newer rifles, most of these were already a technological step behind those the Union used.