Another interesting fight involving the Henry rifle was the Battle of Altoona Pass. Over 3,000 Confederate troops under the command of Major-General S. G. French attacked a smaller Union Force guarding the pass. The 7th Illinois Infantry was the primary regiment engaged. They were armed with 190 Henry rifles and 93 single-shot Springfield muskets. They fired 31,000 rounds from their Henrys and utterly crushed four Confederate attacks, leaving 897 dead and wounded on the field, with another 274 carried off by the Confederates. Other Union units were also engaged and total Confederate losses were higher. Captain John A. Smith of Company E, 7th Illinois gives a figure of 1800 killed and wounded by researching of the records of the battle.
One company of the 7th was cut-off and fought until forced to retire. However, they shot down about 300 enemy before yielding ground.
Total regimental casualties were 150 killed, wounded and captured (17 captured).
Testing of the Henry by the Ordnance Department concluded that a soldier could fire 15 aimed rounds in 11 seconds. Even with reloading time factored in, they determined that a typical soldier armed with a Henry could send 38 aimed rounds at the enemy every minute, as compared to 3 rounds a minute for a muzzle loading musket. The Spencer was capable of 27 rounds per minute.
Both the Henry and Spencer were frowned upon by the old farts in the Ordnance Department because they thought they would result in excessive use of ammunition....
Lincoln intervened after actually test firing a Spencer, and ordered the Army to buy and issue the Spencer.
My regards,
Widewing
