The first military conflict to use iron-clad gunboats, metallic cartridges, and submarines, the Civil War also introduced such inventions as the telegraph and the military balloon, utilized by the Signal Corps. This comprehensive reference brings a fresh perspective to wartime victories and defeats, with vivid descriptions of how the war was fought and what materiel was available to armies and navies of the Union and the Confederacy. Profusely illustrated with hundreds of the author's own drawings, Jack Coggins's remarkable encyclopedia of military hardware and technology also describes such equipment as pontoon bridges, corduroy roads, "Excelsior" percussion grenades, "freak guns," siege artillery, mines, and submarine torpedoes. Offering a new view on how military resources decided the outcome not only of battles, but of the war as well, the text also includes on-the-scene comments by Union and Confederate soldiers about equipment and camp life in general. Book jacket.