High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! American Civil War weapons refers to weapons that were used during the American Civil War by Union and Confederacy soldiers during the years 1861–1865. During the war, a variety of weapons were used on both sides. These weapons include edged weapons such as knives and swords, firearms such as handguns, rifled-muskets, breech loaders and repeating weapons, various field guns such as artillery, and new weapons such as the early grenade and machine gun.