Weapons used in the war of 1812

Weapons used in the war of 1812 were knives, swords, bayonets, pistols, muskets, rifles, cannons and crude bombs. The most commonly used weapons were muskets and rifles with bayonets. In fact, these were considered the weapons that won the battles between the two opposing armies (Britain and American). The reason for this is because most battles were fought by soldiers facing each other, separated by a wide distance. 

When it came to close combat fighting, the weapons used were bayonets witch were sharp stakes attached to the ends of rifles and muskets, Swords, knifes and pistols. Pistols however, were usually 

used by army officers and they were rarely used in close quarter fighting among soldiers. The muskets and rifles were credited for the winning of the war because in most situations fighting was in close combat. 

Cannons which were the artilleries weapons used in the war of 1812 were primarily used for the bombardment of buildings and perimeter defenses of string holds. These cannons were in no case labeled accurate for hitting their target and therefor were not depended upon to win any battles. 

There were several kinds of cannons used in the war. Some were designed for use on ships which was a specialty of the British naval forces. Cannons used on land were known as the earliest form of mortars that could carry cannon balls to far distances over the battlefield. Cannons that would be used for an attacking force were called artilleries.  These cannons had to be movable. They were mounted on wooden wheeled contraptions that could be carried to its location by horses. There were many different models and types of cannons used by the British and American forces durning this war.  The type of cannons would depend on the weight of the cannon ball that it could fire. 

Another weapon used in the war of 1812 was the crude bomb. This bomb was intended to explode above the enemy lines. When they explode junk hardware from inside the bomb (like nails and other hard items) are sent flying over the heads of the enemy. One of the many kinds of crude bombs was called the grapeshot.  This bomb contained many musket balls and clearly caused devastating destruction to the enemy if it actually did explode  over enemy lines. Most of these kinds of weapons used in the war of 1812 were undependable to function and therefor not relied on for winning battles. 

• listed below are pictures of the weapons described in the above passages