The cartridge pictured above is a Williams cleaner.  It is wrapped in green paper and tied with tan twine at the nose.  The tail is crimped and then folded.  The overall length is 2¼".  The story of the Williams Cleaner bullet is one of intriguing negotiation between its inventor, Elijah D. Williams, and the Ordinance Department of the Federal Government.  

In 1861, Williams applied for a patent for a newfangled bullet which he hoped would ultimately replace the elongated .58 caliber minie ball.  It was lighter than the government issue minie ball and cast without any cavity at its base.  Instead, it had a flat plunger slightly spaced from the base of the bullet which was attached by a small throat at its center.  The void was filled with zinc.  Upon discharge of the firearm, the disc compressed against the base of the ball, forcing the zinc outward where it scraped against the lands inside the rifle's barrel while passing down the bore.  This process removed black powder fouling from inside the barrel and alleviated the need to periodically cease firing and clean the bore.

There were additional advantages asserted by Williams.  With its reduced weight, more bullets could be cast from the same amount of raw material, and it was claimed that the Williams cleaner’s trajectory was flatter and more accurate than the traditional minie ball. According to Williams, the cleaner bullet was also less expensive to produce and he offered to prove it by a sale of bullets to the Ordnance Department for 20% less than the standard minie.

Williams applied for and was granted trials from the War Department.  His applications were accompanied by a letter from Colonel Hiram Berdan of the famed U.S. Sharpshooters who, after testing the bullet, noted that it was "the most perfect projectile for Army use I have ever seen.”

By the Spring of 1862, Williams cleaners were being purchased by the War Department and orders were then given to the troops that their use was to be intermingled with the standard cartridges.  Although no official document exists for the early instructions, tradition states that the ratio was one cleaner in ten rounds fired.  In order that they be differentiated from the standard cartridge, they were wrapped in colored papers, mostly blue or green.

As the cleaners began reaching the armies, minor improvements were made in the design of the bullet.  But controversy also arose.  Some well meaning officers in the War Department conducted tests of their own with less than satisfactory findings.  As a result, more official tests were conducted with mixed results.  As was common with military affairs, controversy reigned supreme.  During the process, in November 1862 the ratio of cleaners to be fired was increased to two for every ten standard rounds, and in August 1864 orders increased it further to six of every ten, although it is doubtful that this directive was widely practiced in the field. 

On January 29, 1864 E. D. Williams & Co. delivered their largest shipment of ammunition to the Ordnance Department, made up of 21,000,000 cartridges.  But the Ordnance Department was now flooded with unused ammunition and put a temporary halt to additional orders.  Then suddenly, on May 1, 1864, Elijah Williams died and the marketing energy behind his revolutionary bullet faded away.  Supplies on hand proved sufficient to conclude the war and the advent of rimfire cartridges brought the interesting saga of the Williams cleaner bullet to a close.

Above left: Pulled .58 caliber mini ball.  This bullet became lodged in the breech of a muzzle loader rifle barrel, either from fouling of the barrel by black powder residue, or loading with inadequate or absence of black powder.  An attachment known as a worm, equipped with a pointed screw shaped tip was fastened to the threaded end of a ramrod.  It was sent down the barrel and screwed into the tip of the mini ball, after which the bullet was pulled from the breech of the barrel and discarded.  A hole is visible at the tip of the bullet where the threads of the worm were inserted.

Above 2nd from left: A pulled .69 caliber mini ball also showing the threaded markings where the worm was inserted into the tip of the bullet for removal.  Note how the threaded tip flared out the soft lead as it was tightly screwed into the nose of the bullet.

Above 3rd from left: Another type of worm, this one with claws wraps itself around the tip of the lodged bullet and extracts it.  Pictured are the worm and a mini ball showing markings at its nose from the claws of the worm.

This is a near perfect condition .52 caliber cartridge for either the Hall rifle or carbine.  It is made of heavy buff colored paper wrapped around a round ball, which was then tied with tan string at the nose of the cartridge and again at the base of the ball.  The paper was closed at the tail with a long flat fold.  The cartridge is 2” long.

The Hall firearms were produced in Harper’s Ferry Arsenal in Virginia and were one of the first breach loading firearms used by the US military. They had been manufactured in large numbers prior to the Civil War, but by the time the conflict was fully involved, the Halls had become obsolete. Many carbines were issued to the Western troops, who disliked and disposed of them as quickly as possible.

This cartridge is in excellent condition. It was probably produced either just before or early in the war. Hall cartridges have a fairly low survival rate, especially in this condition.

Two different models of Merrill carbines were manufactured during the war years by H. Merrill of Baltimore, Maryland.  They fired a .54 caliber bullet which was packaged with either red or white paper, the red wrapper being more common.  The paper is usually quite thin and is glued against the bullet, then folded and sealed at the base.  Each round is 1½” in length.

The Merrills were a well accepted military issue carbine and large quantities saw service during the war. There were also  a limited number of Merrill rifles issued.

During the Civil War, extended periods of weaponry caused the barrels of firearms to foul with the residue of black powder.  After a number of rounds had been fired in succession, it became difficult for the soldier to ram ammunition home to the breech of the barrel while reloading.  

In 1861, Elijah D. Williams applied for a patent with the U.S. government for a unique minie ball intended to resolve this problem in the field.  A specialized .58 caliber ball which was to bear his name, was cast with a small plunger at its base, slightly spaced from the base of the bullet and attached by a small throat at its center.  The space was filled with zinc.  Upon discharge of the firearm, the disc compressed against the base of the ball, forcing the zinc outward where it scraped against the lands of the barrel while passing down the bore.  This process, at least to a degree, removed the fouling inside the barrel.  A common practice in the Federal armies was to fire a "Williams Cleaner” at regular intervals between discharges of normal elongated bullets in an effort to keep the bore of the rifle clean.

This cartridge is a Confederate copy of the .58 caliber Williams cleaner, produced at Fayetteville Armory.  It is wrapped in buff paper, tied with tan twine at its nose.  The tail is folded closed. This specimen is 2¼” in length.  Fayetteville Arsenal in North Carolina produced a variety of weapons and ammunition until its capture and razing by William Tecumseh Sherman in March of 1865

The .50 caliber Smith carbine was a breech loading arm used by Cavalry during the Civil War.  Pictured here are two cartridges used by the Smith carbine.  The first is a paper and foil wrapped cartridge.  It was made under the Poultney Patent and was a disposable cartridge, the paper wrap being consumed during discharge.  It is 1⅞” in length.  The paper is pleated and wrapped at the back, with a small hole for the flame from the percussion cap to enter.

The second cartridge (forward in the image) is the rare rubber version of the same cartridge.  Rubber wrapped ammunition was thought to be more durable against the jostling of cartridges while on mounted duty, but the rubber casing required extraction after discharge.  This proved to be a touchy undertaking while under fire.  Furthermore, as the barrel heated during use the rubber fouled in the hot breach of the barrel and made extraction even more difficult.