Aspects: Artillery, Small Arms, Edged Weapons

Artillery-

Artillery, or cannon, is defined as all firearms larger than small arms. They are mainly divided into two types: smoothbore (firearms without rifling, or spiral grooves within the gun barrel) or rifled cannon. The most popular piece of artillery between the Union and the Confederacy was the Napoleon—a smoothbore, muzzle-loading, 12-lb "gun-howitzer." It first came into use in American armies in 1857, and was used both as an offensive and defensive weapon and could fire effectively for about 1700 yards. Its best distance was 250 yards or less, and it was also relatively light and portable for its construction.

The most commonly used among the rifled guns were the 3-inch Ordnance and the 10-pdr Parrot rifles. Their ranges went up to about 2300 yards, and these rifled guns were more accurate than their smoothbore counterparts. Despite that fact, however, as in a battle one does not have the time or mindset to see his target and aim, the accuracy was ineffective. The longer range, too, was not useful, since battles involved close-range fire, for which the Napoleon was of greater use. Rifled guns were, instead, effective in knocking down fortifications.
       Ammunition consisted of solid shot, grape, canister, shell, and chain shot. Solid shot and shell were used for long-range fire and fixed targets. Chain shot (two balls connected by a chain) was mainly used against masts and riggings of ships. The canister and grape shot were scattershot projectiles made up of small iron balls encased in containers. These projectiles came packed in tin cans for canisters, and were wrapped in cloth or canvas for grape shots. A gun loaded with canister or grape shot acted like a large, sawed-off shotgun—it was made lethal around the firing range of 250 yards.

The North was more industrially more advanced, and therefore had an overall advantage over the South in having more artillery.
      

Small Arms-

Small Arms are defined as any weapons smaller than cannons and able to be carried by a solider. Examples of small arms are the muskets, rifles, shoulder guns, carbines, and handguns. The muskets were smoothbore, and were long-barreled shoulder arms that were only accurate at short range. Rifles were shoulder guns with spiral grooves cut into the inner surface of their barrels, and carbines were short-barreled rifles.  Handguns were smaller and included the pistol and revolver. The rifled musket, the Harpers Ferry Rifle, was widely used in that they fired "minie ball"s, cone-shaped lead bullets that made it possible to rapidly load and fire a rifle. These new bullets provided increased accuracy and extended range.

Before the entrance of the rifled musket, the armies used smoothbore muskets, which, since even at 100 yards it could not inflict damage, made it most effective for the soldiers to mass together and run directly into their enemies. The rifled musket made it possible to fire from a greater distance with better accuracy, and therefore made the frontal assault the preferable war tactic in that it could inflict much damage.

As it was with the artillery, the North still enjoyed having an advantage over the South in
supplies of small arms. The South filled in their gaps by importing foreign small arm models from France and England.

Edged Weapons-

Bayonets, sabers, swords, short swords, cutlasses, Bowie knives, pikes, and lances made up what we call ‘edged weapons’. They were not used to inflict damage upon the enemy—rather, they were made decorations and items for collection. They held a more meaningful position in that the edged weapons became a symbol of strength. Beautiful sabers, never meant to be used in battle, were given as gifts of esteem or distinguished service. 

Pictures from:
http://www.germantown.k12.il.us/html/weapons.html
http://www.midtenrelics.com/guns/richmondlockplate.JPG

Sources:

Shotgun. Weapons of the American Civil War. 11 Feb. 2004 <http://www.civilwarhome.com/weapons.htm>.

• Excellent site; it summarized the various groups of weapons used in the civil war, gave footnotes, and also explained some of the unique traits of various weapons.