The Modernization of War

Among other inventions the Civil War popularized the hot air balloon, railroads and the Gatling Gun, the ancestor of the machine gun. Morse code became popular, and submarines also became used in combat for the first time. The H.L. Hunley was one of those submarines.

A Product Of Advanced Technology

The Hunley was elegant and highly advanced, and most modern naval ships are modelled after it. Its torpedo may also have been electrically detonated. It was a shipbuilding marvel, and the Southerners hoped that she would be instrumental in helping them win the Civil War.